Tuesday, April 19, 2011

after the rain....RAINBOWS!!! (long post)


As you all know- we live in a big sandy desert (with a sandy beach on one side).
it doesn't rain much.
and birthdays only happen once a year.... odds are in our favor for dry, outdoor festivities, but would you believe that the first party Ivy had in Dubai (age 2) and the first party Asher had in Dubai (age 5) both had to be resourcefully moved indoors due to RAIN!

this winter has been nice and long, but also dry. I had a suspicion that we'd get rain before summer heat set in so I decided to thwart the skies and only think about having a party on Ivy's actual birthday. Then at the last minute, decide to wait 5 days and have a party for Ivy on the first morning of spring break the following week.
---ok, actually, I just wasn't feeling well and got a bit lazy and we had a busy week/ weekend ahead, plus an afternoon party on a school day with a bunch of 3-5 yr made me tired just thinking about it--
BUT
Would you believe it- my plan worked!
On April 10th and 11th, it rained all night. Awesome loud thunderstorms. On all accounts it was a good excuse to wait to have a swim party (even if the weather was warm and sticky and made everyone want to jump in the pool as we got our first taste of the summer heat that is setting in!)

So, although we tossed around many birthday themes, RAINBOWS proved to be quite timely and a hit with the birthday girl.

Because Ivy had been counting the days til her birthday, I wanted to do something on the actual day- since we were delaying the party. Birthday treats at school are a no-no (I'm assuming this is becoming the norm for our children?) but I asked if I could bring something healthy and the teachers were all for it.

I surprised Ivy with a birthday fruit rainbow and she thought she was the stuff- and referred to the fruit platter as her birthday cake!
I should also note she was upset the day before her birthday thinking that the teachers forgot to celebrate and make her a crown, so after school she pre-empted their tradition and made one herself (with help from Asher). First thing in the morning it was on her head! AND she couldn't wait to get to school.


After dinner that night- I took the kids for a quick bike ride to Baskin Robbins for some birthday ice cream! (read: again I was lazy/ caught without a plan and decided we needed to celebrate a little more since the festivities were still 5 days off)!



AND...
the party! It was a sad evening when I uploaded pictures of the birthday party. For one reason or another all but a few photos from the party became corrupted files- unable to read. I was disappointed, but we still have some cute ones. I made the party pretty low key (which just meant that I scrambled and stayed up late the night before getting everything together- it's amazing how sometimes things just fall into place- so I guess losing the photos

invitations: casual mentioning in conversation and an official text message to friends with the details the day before
location: neighborhood pool/ pool house 10:30 am til whenever
guests: 15-20 kids plus moms
food: 2 rainbow fruit trays, 1 rainbow veggie tray, pasta salad, popcorn, cute clown cones (made by my friend Joey as a surprise treat), juice and CAKE!
games/ activities: swimming and last minute water balloons. with not much need for the 2 other party games I planned. We did have a little dancing- mostly by Asher and Ivy and their friend Elise.
thank yous/ favors: homemade play dough, small box crayons, pkg skittles, a few chocolate coins and a cookie cutter, all packages cute and tied with string.


low stress, low cost, lots of great friends, fun gifts and one happy birthday girl (plus 2 siblings of the birthday girl). I should add that Asher was super helpful and concerned with making Ivy's party great too. (that's not to say he didn't whine about wanting presents too, or wanting to jump into the goodie bags before the party was over- but he was just being a 6 year old).

Happy birthday Ivy- we're so glad you're finally FOUR!!!
(and I can't believe you've celebrated your first, second, third and fourth birthdays ALL in Dubai!)

5 comments:

  1. Love the cake and the fruit tray, great little 4 year old.

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  2. And thanks for the pictures.

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  3. You always have the cutest parties. Toria, you are so talented. What a fun party. Love the play-doh idea.

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  4. Hi Toria.. I live here in UAE as well.. so I perfectly understand what its like not to rain.. and absolutely loved the simplicity and the colors of thge bday.. i myself just celebrated my 2 yr olds elaborated birthday! twinkle twinkle little star_ pik and yellow birthday party!! you can view all the details here http://deeppurpleandblue.blogspot.com/.. hope you like it..

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