Niya tenth birthday
Niya turned ten. Still remember her just born face looking around as I held her for the first time in a white towel wrap in Thalassery hospital. Now, she is ten and at times shows better maturity than her parents. Her idea of a birthday party was a game arcade with all her friends. So that is what we did - at Johns' Incredible Pizza, Newark.
We had invited our neighbors , couple of my college mates(Abil,Shaji) and a couple of family friends(Amruth & Anjana, Sajna & Arun) . Niya's best friend from school- Disha came in as well with her father. Everyone came in to a full party. I had left home early, to first get the birthday cake and then setup the return gifts etc at the hall. When I reached John's, mine was the only car. Had to wait till about ten minutes after ten to have the door opened. Felt very special to be early for the event. Spoke to one of the hosts(Johns) and walked down the return gifts from the car to the host in a couple of rounds and then another trip for the cake. Once that was done, requested the main entrance to be cleared up a bit from the trash glass etc that were lying around. Soon, Niya, Divya and Amey showed up - Niya dressed up in her new white birthday dress, Amey in his birthday suit, Divya and myself in our new clothes as well. It was indeed a special time for everyone in the family.
Next, we made the payment and were ushered into the party room. First few minutes into our one hour forty five minute window in the room was a bit lonely. Would all the guests turn up around twelve only - we wondered? The mild anxiety was quickly set to rest as Abil and family walked in first, followed pretty soon by Aditya and family. Then Amruth came in and soon, one by one, everyone came in. The plan was to distribute the game cards after the cake cutting so that the kids would be around when the birthday was being wished. Well - when a child is in a games arcade, what he/she needs is to play. So, some of the kids were getting their parents to buy the games card. I went out of the room and distributed the games cards to their parents.
Eleven to twelve is the time for the guests to have the buffet. Twelve is the cake cutting. And once the room time slot is over, kids would enjoy in the arcade, and parents would watch over and could also gather outside for continued buffet. Everyone did one quick round of food, but after the cake cutting was over, the regrouping did not happen as everyone had other plans to catch up on for the rest of the day.
Ultraviolet lights came up for the cake cutting. Light colors in the guests' attire shone, setting a party vibe as Niya blew the ten candles. Kittu was disappointed that Niya blew the candles before he could and started crying. Cake cutting would be done by "Johns' Incredible" host duo. We had bought the cake from Anderson bakery and as per their specification- a half sheet cake is to serve 24-36 people, but should work for 40 as well. There is still a challenge of the cake left in the fridge. Good that we did not decide on a full sheet cake.
Nikki, six year older, who was here a few hours back, based out of Iran,was our international guest, where as the rest of the guests were all Indians. There had been a string of neighborhood get-togethers over the past few months, and the same group(Aditya,Mahidhar,Siddharth,Uday) joined for Niya's birthday party as well. In one of those parties is where Abil, my college mate showed up and that is how I got a chance to get into the Abil-Shaji college group.Our immediate neighbor Karim got introduced to this group at the party.
At the end, there was only Amruth's family and us. We sat around at the table. I took a few buffet rounds while our kids played at the arcade.
Niya is still to open all the wonderful gifts that she received at the party. It was a great party for us and even better for Niya. Kittu was sick on the day of the party and hence could not enjoy the arcade as much as we would have liked him to. We truly are grateful to have had so many of our friends come in for Niya's birthday. Most importantly, we are super grateful for our wonderful daugher Niya.
We had invited our neighbors , couple of my college mates(Abil,Shaji) and a couple of family friends(Amruth & Anjana, Sajna & Arun) . Niya's best friend from school- Disha came in as well with her father. Everyone came in to a full party. I had left home early, to first get the birthday cake and then setup the return gifts etc at the hall. When I reached John's, mine was the only car. Had to wait till about ten minutes after ten to have the door opened. Felt very special to be early for the event. Spoke to one of the hosts(Johns) and walked down the return gifts from the car to the host in a couple of rounds and then another trip for the cake. Once that was done, requested the main entrance to be cleared up a bit from the trash glass etc that were lying around. Soon, Niya, Divya and Amey showed up - Niya dressed up in her new white birthday dress, Amey in his birthday suit, Divya and myself in our new clothes as well. It was indeed a special time for everyone in the family.
Next, we made the payment and were ushered into the party room. First few minutes into our one hour forty five minute window in the room was a bit lonely. Would all the guests turn up around twelve only - we wondered? The mild anxiety was quickly set to rest as Abil and family walked in first, followed pretty soon by Aditya and family. Then Amruth came in and soon, one by one, everyone came in. The plan was to distribute the game cards after the cake cutting so that the kids would be around when the birthday was being wished. Well - when a child is in a games arcade, what he/she needs is to play. So, some of the kids were getting their parents to buy the games card. I went out of the room and distributed the games cards to their parents.
Eleven to twelve is the time for the guests to have the buffet. Twelve is the cake cutting. And once the room time slot is over, kids would enjoy in the arcade, and parents would watch over and could also gather outside for continued buffet. Everyone did one quick round of food, but after the cake cutting was over, the regrouping did not happen as everyone had other plans to catch up on for the rest of the day.
Ultraviolet lights came up for the cake cutting. Light colors in the guests' attire shone, setting a party vibe as Niya blew the ten candles. Kittu was disappointed that Niya blew the candles before he could and started crying. Cake cutting would be done by "Johns' Incredible" host duo. We had bought the cake from Anderson bakery and as per their specification- a half sheet cake is to serve 24-36 people, but should work for 40 as well. There is still a challenge of the cake left in the fridge. Good that we did not decide on a full sheet cake.
Nikki, six year older, who was here a few hours back, based out of Iran,was our international guest, where as the rest of the guests were all Indians. There had been a string of neighborhood get-togethers over the past few months, and the same group(Aditya,Mahidhar,Siddharth,Uday) joined for Niya's birthday party as well. In one of those parties is where Abil, my college mate showed up and that is how I got a chance to get into the Abil-Shaji college group.Our immediate neighbor Karim got introduced to this group at the party.
At the end, there was only Amruth's family and us. We sat around at the table. I took a few buffet rounds while our kids played at the arcade.
Niya is still to open all the wonderful gifts that she received at the party. It was a great party for us and even better for Niya. Kittu was sick on the day of the party and hence could not enjoy the arcade as much as we would have liked him to. We truly are grateful to have had so many of our friends come in for Niya's birthday. Most importantly, we are super grateful for our wonderful daugher Niya.
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