Now that Anya's third birthday party is over, there is a quiet contentment in my heart. Birthday parties are like mini-weddings; you have to go through the whole rigmarole. Starting from invitations to thank you notes, guest list to vendor list, return gifts to prizes, dress to decor, cake to food, activities to entertainment, enlisting support of friends......the task list is endless.
I enjoyed putting together her animal and jungle themed party. Three is a fun age. Anya knows a lot about animals - she can identify them, name their young ones, tell about their sounds and habitats. She has been to a couple of zoos. There is hardly a day when we don't talk about animals. So it was only apt that I choose animal theme for the party.
After last year's message-in-a-bottle invitation, I had to do something which was more or at least equally creative. While surfing pinterest, I came across this monkey-wrapped-around-a-banana. It was an instant like, like, like! This was a food presentation idea for kids' party but I found it just perfect for an invite too. Thanks Anneke of Villa Figura for the sketch and clear instructions. I found a brown sheet and drew a monkey. As I don't have a printer at home, it was easier for me to trace from the first monkey and then cut the monkeys individually. I wonder now if I could have stacked them in twos or threes and cut them together to save effort. However, to save time, I drew and cut the monkeys whenever I had lengthy conversations over phone:) Over a period of a week, I had my bunch of monkeys swinging away to glory!
It has now become a ritual to write a little rhyme for Anya's birthday invite.
But rhymes don't come easily. It's such an effort! This conversation between Calvin and Hobbes perfectly reflects my frame of mind when it comes to writing a rhyme. (Read 'rhyme' instead of 'story' below)
And so 5 days before the party, my grey cells did a panic dance and came up with these words:
The party was on Sunday. Print outs were ready by Wednesday. On Thursday, bananas were ordered.
By Thursday evening, monkeys went into a banana hug with a scroll of poem in hand and were ready to go! On a few bananas, I wrote" Because you will need all the energy......
Don't they look like little violinists?
I spent a lot of time taking pictures. Just couldn't get enough of the monkeys....they looked so adorable! Then away went Anya and I to all her friends to hand deliver the monkeys with their bananas.
