A Murder at the Souk

Last weekend in the presence of 48, including royalty, sultans, merchants, genies, shoppers, a crazy beggar and many other interesting characters, there was a murder near the Oasis Bar and Baba's Banquet right smack in the middle of the souk, ahem..actually smack in the middle of Jenny's living room, the home I helped transform into a magical Arabian marketplace.







Six mom's including myself hosted an Arabian nights murder mystery party as part of a fundraiser for Aidan's school. With weeks of preparation, and yards and yards of fabric, a zillion stings of lights, and lots of gold and glitter we were able to create an amazing setting, transforming a home into a full oasis of Arabian fun. It was almost painful taking it down after the party, considering how much work went into it.



We served a feast fit for a Sultan, grilled meats, curries, kapsa, couscous, cucumber yogurt, falafels, a variety of rice dishes plus much, much more and ended with exquisite desserts, turkish delights, stuffed dates, cardamom rice pudding, semolina cake...all of which we the hosts made. It was my first time cooking Arab cuisine, not only was the food exotic but it was delicious too! We had belly dancers perform during dinner. We sent our guests home with a CD of the magical music played that evening and some incense so they could recreate the atmosphere at home.
Needless to say, our extraordinary efforts we put forth to create a magical Arabian evening was all well worth it. We had so much fun, with everyone dressing up and role playing through the murderous plot. Definitely a fundraising event worth repeating.

A Star Wars Celebration

I took Aidan to a Star Wars birthday party today and I have to say, despite the fact that I'm not a Star Wars fan (never even seen any of the movies) it was one of the best kids party I've been to (and I've been to lots). Mom had every detail covered, great craft activities, a variety of games, a home made pinata a "death star", the birthday boy's family wore costumes of which she had made half, sweet personalized party favors , but the real "ohhh awww moment" was when you laid your eyes on the most amazing R2D2 cake that of course she made herself. This cake was 12 layers of 3different flavors and legs made of rice krispy treats. I'm so glad Aidan's party was before and not after this one because it sure is a hard act to follow.

The best thing about this party though was that Aidan got to spend some time with a few of his new class/school mates and I got to meet some of the parents....a nice ice breaker to help both of us ease our way into his new school.

The Overdue Birthday Party or Miles & Liam Turned 3

As many of you know we had to cancel Miles and Liam's birthday party a couple of weeks ago due to the stomach flu. So, we finally made it up to them this Saturday. We celebrated their birthday in a very low key (and may I add low budget) fashion and yet, I think the kids had a good time. We served pizza, the frozen variety. Shoshana our next door neighbor was kind enough to preheat her oven us, so that I could bake 4 pizzas at a time. This worked out perfect, It was Digiorno all the way ;) Setting a side the small detail that Liam was crying and being clingy for about half the time, I think they had fun with their friends. They all sat around the table and had pizza in a very civil manner, another reminder to how they're all growing up. Before lunch, hanging out in Aidan's room around the train table was the place to be for the twins and their friends.


The older boys enjoyed themselves outside riding on the sidewalk.


Cake time came and it was a true surprise. Especially Miles who was so thrilled to see that darn blue train on his cake, it sent him into a stuttering frenzy "mama it's th-th-th-thomas". While, Liam decided to shove Mcqueen down into his cake, I'm glad I caught that before it got messy.



The true highlight of the day was the spontaneous trip across the street at Robin's to see our neighbors the chickens. The kids got to feed them, find an egg in their nest, and hang out in Robin's wonderful yard. (Robin's backyard is magical to me because it brings back so many childhood memories, but that's another story.) I just love seeing all the kids out there in the natural outdoor setting, exploring and enjoying themselves. It sure beat any jumpy house moment I could have caught and it really reminds me how grateful I feel to have such great neighbors.

Train Party Has Left The Station

Aidan had his 5th birthday party, it was a train party, sorta. I'd been fretting over this birthday party and what train activities to have. I went on the search for stuff, with no luck, dinosaurs sure, cars sure, trains sorry. I was really trying to stay away from having a full fledged Thomas the Train party. Although we had a Thomas cake I had to draw the line there. I was having a creative block on this whole train thing and really couldn't come up with anything. I ended up creating a mural at midnight (yes, midnight and at 1 am I was making a t-shirt with the number "5" on it, call me crazy) using a roll of butcher paper and a roll of duck tape. The duck tape was used for train tracks and I made a train with Aidan's photo in the window. The kids got to decorate this mural with construction paper and markers. The only other activity at the party was the jumpy house. I ordered some train conductor hats as party favors which bombed. I envisioned seeing all the kids running around with their hats on, but in fact nobody wanted to wear them expect for maybe Miles for a short while.

I wanted to make it pleasing for adults too. Since it was a late morning party, we served Peets coffee and mimosas for adult drinks. Bagels, cream cheese, lox, baked ham (one of Aidan's favorites), an artichoke heart fritatta, and a variety of cheeses and fruits. The biggest hit there was the tray of egg rolls my brother-in-law and sister-in-law showed up with. Thanks!

Anyways, despite all this, as my friend Rachel stated, "the minimalist party was a hit" The kids were entertained long enough, right up to cake time. Aidan had a great time!

A Review of Birthdays

Aidan's 5th birthday is coming up and he's going to be celebrating it with a train party. Still not sure what activities we'll be having other than the jumpy house. I decided I wasn't going to make his cake this year, I just couldn't pull it off. So after a thorough search, the only train cake I could find was Thomas Train. I had been trying to stay away from a Thomas party and just have it be a classic train party but I caved in on the Thomas Train cake. Oh well, although I may not be, Aidan will be thrilled. In my quest to find activities for the party, I started to review his past birthdays..

Aidan's 1st birthday party , he had a drum cake because he was always drumming on everything and I made a sign to compare his newborn to 1 yr old photo.



2 yrs old - party at the Little Farm, kids got to feed the animals, followed by an Elmo pinata, bubble play, and cupcakes. After the Elmo pinata, I never bought another character pinata again. There was something not right about watching the kids beat the pulp out of Elmo. I remember thinking "what message are we sending here?"




3 yrs old - we had a party at one of his favorite parks. It was a morning brunch party, bagels and OJ, coffee for the adults. The twins weren't quite a year old. As you can probably imagine, I surly did not have it in me to plan a big theme party (which I think starts around this age). I was barely keeping afloat caring for infant twin boys and a toddler. So the party was a free for all play at the park, followed by a cupcake tower of confetti cupcakes


4 yrs old - a travel back in time to the age of dinosaurs. We made a dinosaur sign to let everyone know where the party was. Aidan wore a dinosaur t-shirt. There were lots of activities, including having your photo taken as a dinosaur, making Dino masks and necklaces with dinosaur beads and a good ol' game of pin the horn on the triceratops. The day ended with yummy dinosaur cupcakes.







So now here I am 3 days before his 5th birthday party with no idea how I'm going to entertain 10+ kids. 2 hours of jumpy house?? I don't think so. Well, keep posted to see what I come up with.