Harps, Author at Baby Brain Memoirs

Posted on July 30, 2015April 25, 2020 by Harps — 2 Comments

Personalised Keepsake Box for Nani Ji!

Monday marked my mummy’s birthday and we wanted to make it special for Arjun’s Nani Ji!

For his first year of life, Arjun’s made his grandparents homemade cards so I thought we’d do something a little different this year given their fridge doors are predominantly taken over by Arjun crafty spam! This year we decided to make Naniji a personalised keepsake farm themed box using Arjun’s very smudgy hand and footprints.

We started by doing all the hand, finger and footprints.

Arjun I then painted in the other bits – the tree trunk, the flower stems, the grass, the vines, the monkey (Arjun’s farm has a monkey in it 🙂 as that’s Nani’s favourite animal), mouth and eyes and the tractor wheels.

We purchased the box from here and we used water based poster paints to paint.

After we’d done Arjun’s hand and foot prints he decided he wanted to do another painting using a brush. That came to a firm halt when I told him he can’t eat the paint! Here he is throwing a full on tantrum .. It ended with green paint on my cream carpet! Oops.

What personalised gifts have you created for loved ones?x

Posted on July 29, 2015April 25, 2020 by Harps — 15 Comments

Arjun’s First Birthday Jungle Party … The Entertainment

Hello all,

I’ve already covered the decor, the outfits and the cake updates from Arjun’s first birthday and now here’s the next update – the entertainment!

Given the volume of guests we had coming, I wanted to make sure everyone had a fun filled day – that and I do get a little carried away but each to their own right?! This was the first time I was organising a party at this scale without it being a proper DJ boogey party (although we did have a DJ – thanks Asa!). But I think it’s safe to say, there was no shortage of entertainment for both the kids and adults!

As it was a jungle themed party, and because Arjun loves animals, I thought it would be a good idea to hire a petting farm. I didn’t think arranging a herd of elephants and wild lions was such a good idea so farm animals it was! We had rabbits, guinea pigs, an owl, a macaw, meerkats, a pony in a giraffe costume and Arjun’s favourite animal – tortoise! Arjun LOVED stroking and watching the animals. The poor tortoise was slightly terrorised by him though! He was fascinated by his eyes and mouth. This was definitely Arjun’s favourite part of the day. The other kids and adults also had a great time interacting with the animals.

I’d also hired a jungle themed bouncy assault course – I think the adults had just as much fun if not more than the kids! I loved the colours and decor on this assault course as it fitted in so well with our theme. I thought it would be a little more fun than just a normal bouncy castle. It went down really well – from the grandparents to the aunts and uncles to the kids and thankfully there were no casualties!

For the babies and toddlers, we’d also hired soft play and a play zone which consisted of a little slide, a ball pit and a bouncy bed. Arjun enjoyed playing on this especially towards the end. The other kids were fascinated by the floating balls on the blower cones! We hired this from Castle Kingdom Hire.

We hired the lovely Hilda from Mini Maniacs as our entertainer who dressed up as a safari ranger and bought along two of her assistants. When I first booked this I was a little worried that I’d done too much – after all, kids just want to run around! But this turned out to be brilliant! Even the older children had such a blast. Hilda provided a 40 minute session filled with sensory, music, bubbles and lots of energy! The children absolutely loved her and I’m so glad we booked her.

We had a face painter who was brilliant and balloon modeller who went around creating animals for all the children. I also had photo props scattered around to get some cute pictures as a memory of the day.

Food wise, we also had a slush puppy, hot dog and crepe and waffle stall! I of course opted for a Nutella crepe! We also had an ice cream van where you could make your own if you wanted to – which was just as exciting for the adults as it was for the kids!

Of course the grandmummies weren’t going to go without a little boogie!

All in all, there was a continued flurry of excitement when the kids and adults alike discovered each aspect of the party and it made it so worthwhile! What an added bonus to my little boy having a great time too!

Next post to follow: The Food x

Want to read about the rest of Arjun’s first jungle themed birthday party? Check out the following posts in the series:

The Build Up
The Decor
The Outfits
The Cake
The Entertainment
The Food
The Party Bags

You can also check out my Pinterest board for more of my favourite party ideas!

Posted on July 29, 2015August 6, 2015 by Harps — 9 Comments

Chilli Paneer Recipe

Paneer is one of my most favourite foods ever! It’s strange because before Arjun, I liked paneer, but I wasn’t totally crazy about it. During my pregnancy, cheese became my favourite thing (fab for the weight control!) and my love for cheese hasn’t really dissappeared! Especially paneer.
This deliciously succulent paneer recipe is my favourite so far. The paneer oozes flavour and the crunchy vegetables command their own.

I’ve included the baby friendly version of the recipe at the bottom so your little ones don’t miss out on the goodness!

You could miss out the shallow frying step but I’ve always found that coating the paneer before mixing it in the marinade really makes a big difference. The flavours come thorugh a lot stronger and I also prefer the texture.

Time taken: 25 minutes prepartion, 15 minutes cooking.

Ingredients:

· 8 cloves garlic

· Ginger – I used a generous piece a little bit bigger than the size of my baby finger

· 3 green chillies

· a heaped tablespoon of cornflour

· 1 red onion

· 1 red pepper

· 1 green pepper

· 1.5 packets cubed paneer

· 170g chopped tomato

· Tablespoon tomato purée

· 8 table spoons of Maggie seasoning

· 1 table spoon of tamarind sauce (I use ready made)

· 1 tablespoon of Maggie chilli and garlic sauce

· 1 teaspoon masala

· 1 teaspoon soy sauce

· ½ teaspoon red chilli powder

· 2 teaspoon haldi

· 1.5 teaspoon salt

· 2 teaspoon ground coriander

· 1 teaspoon ground cumin

· Chopped fresh coriander (to taste) – I used a handful as I love coriander!

1. Mix together the garlic, ginger, green chilli and cornflour. Toss the paneer in this mixture coating it.

2. Shallow fry the paneer for a few minutes, mixing the pieces every so often so that they get cooked evenly.

3. Chop the red pepper, green pepper and red onion in to medium sized strips (mine were about 2cm long).

4. Blitz the chopped tomatoes in a food processor and then mix the fresh tomatoes, tomato puree, Maggie seasoning, soy sauce, tamarind sauce, red chilli powder, Maggie chilli and garlic sauce, masala, haldi, salt ground coriander, ground cumin in a large bowl to prepare the marinade. Mix well.

5. Next gently mix in the paneer in to the marinade coating evenly.

6. Finally, mix in the prepared vegetables.

7. Tip the mixture in to a large baking dish – I used a Pyrex dish and then sprinkle with the fresh coriander.

8. Bake for 15 minutes at 180c.

Voila!

Baby Friendly Recipe

Ingredients:

· 1 clove garlic

· A small piece of ginger

· A third of a green chilli

· a tablespoon of cornflour

· 1/8 red onion

· 1/8 red pepper

· 1/8 green pepper

· 100g cubed paneer

· 30g chopped tomato

· Teaspoon tomato purée

· A pinch of masala

· A pinch of red chilli powder

· ¼ teaspoon haldi

· ¼ teaspoon ground coriander

· ¼ teaspoon ground cumin

· Chopped fresh coriander (to taste)

Method: as above.

Serving suggestion: in a tortilla wrap/pita bread with mixed salad and mint chutney.

Enjoy!x

Posted on July 26, 2015April 25, 2020 by Harps — 22 Comments

Arjun’s 13 Month Update … My Favourite Month So Far!

Hi guys!

I can’t believe it’s already been a month since Arjun’s first birthday! You can see details of how we celebrated at his jungle themed party here.

Wasn’t sure whether to continue with my monthly updates now that Arjun has turned one but then I thought I’d do it for selfish reasons at least – as a journal/memoir as that was the whole purpose of my blog! So here goes…

This month has seen so many changes in him. He’s suddenly becoming a proper little person. It’s been one of my favourite months as I feel like we’re able to have a lot more fun as his huge personality is shining through now more than ever. I’m really looking forward to when he’s walking and talking now too. I think once he’s talking, it’ll be a lot easier to understand what his frustrations are or what he wants.

This has by far been one of my favourite months with him. He’s become so independent but also his character is shining through brighter than ever!
We spent the day as a family by going for brunch at Chiquitos, doing a little shopping then coming home and spending quality family time together. We played with mega blocks and got arty too!

Here’s an update of Arjun’s 13th month in this world!:

He’s taken his first steps this month

He doesn’t like the cushions on our sofas so we spend most of our day playing chase where he’s taking them down and I’m following putting them back up (that’s my OCD kicking in!)

He’s always pretending to be on the phone and has called his dadi Ji and his Goov Masi by accident (from the phone book!)

He likes to make himself busy by being “helpful” and rearranging everything! (video)

https://youtu.be/9XJW5hT5Hug

He started nursery and is now more settled
He loves playing the tabla or any musical instrument for that matter

Tries to put himself to sleep if tired by pulling down a cushion or a comforter and resting his head

He now needs a comforter at nursery be it a brick or a blanket
He’s taught himself to climb down off the sofa and bed with no help
Had his first edible sensory experience

https://youtu.be/xrJJ5EpD38E

He likes to blow raspberries on my tummy!
He still loves playing peekaboo
Likes playing hide and seek

https://youtu.be/YCv9PtRXmA4

Sleeping through the night the last few nights (I bet I’ve jinxed that!)
Loves bananas
Loves playing with sand and water and mega blocks

Loves being outdoors
Likes to play with other children

https://youtu.be/Uoj_zSTAEWI
Some of the new foods he’s tried this month include raisins (not sure why he’s never had these before!), parsley, dokra, chocolate eclair (he stole mine!)

Posted on July 25, 2015March 7, 2021 by Harps — 12 Comments

Scrummy Eggless Nutella Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough Sandwich Recipe

OMG. Heaven on a plate. This was absolutely delicious and my favourite Nutella dessert to date! It was my first time making it and I was a little apprehensive that it wouldn’t work given I was modifying an amalgamation of several recipes plus with the added complication of making it eggless. But it turned out perfect and our friends loved it too! I hope you love it just as much as we did!

It was like a party in my mouth … the gorgeous gooey Nutella goodness with a scrummy cookie crunch.

Time taken: 15 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking time

Ingredients:

1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/8 cup sparkling water
1 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup roughly chopped up milk chocolate (I used dairy milk)
1/2 cup Nutella
A pinch of salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180c and line a 8″ round baking tray with baking paper. I used a silicon tray but still lined with baking paper as it made it easier to lift the cookie.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, white sugar, softened butter, vanilla essence, bicarbonate of soda, salt, flour. Add in the sparkling water and mix till you get a cookie dough like texture.

3. Once combined, line half of the broken up chocolate pieces in the baking tray and take half the cookie dough mixture and spoon in to the tray distributing evenly with the back of a spoon or with your fingers.

4. Melt the Nutella in the microwave at full heat for 30 seconds.

5. Pour the Nutella over the cookie dough in the baking tray but leave an inch around the edges.

6. Finally, pat out the remaining cookie dough in your hand to the largest circle you can before placing over the Nutella and evenly distribute using the back of a spoon or your fingers. Then distribute the remaining chocolate chunks evenly over the top.

7. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Serving suggestion: serve warm with with vanilla ice cream topped with drizzled Nutella and chopped toasted hazelnuts 🙂

Posted on July 25, 2015April 25, 2020 by Harps — 8 Comments

Wooden Motorbike Rocking Horse

Hello All,

A few people have asked for the details for the motorbike rocking horse that Arjun was playing with in some pictures that I posted on Instagram today. His lovely Pua Ji and Fufar Ji gifted it to him for his first birthday and he loves it. Given Arjun’s daddy is a superbike fanatic, this was a brilliant gift for his son as he’s likely to follow in daddy’s footsteps if Preetam has anything to do with it!

It’s very well made with fantastic craftsmanship and is very sturdy – even for our little muscleman! Arjun has already mastered some of his beginner motorbike skills – he even knows how to lean and rocks/rides single handed! And when he comes off, he often plays with the different parts – it looks like he’s servicing his bike!

I’d highly recommend this for motorbike lovers and their babies! You can purchase the rocker from here: Wooden rocking horse.

Posted on July 23, 2015April 25, 2020 by Harps — 10 Comments

Arjun’s First Birthday Jungle Party … The Cake

Hello all,

I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s post on our homemade outfits!

Today I wanted to share with you pictures of Arjun’s amazing cake!

Tranam at Rozay Cakes is my go to girl for all my cakes. She’s amazing and always goes that extra mile to ensure she delivers. She is genuinely interested in your event and ensuring her creation meets if not exceeds your expectations.

When I met Tranam to discuss the cake, I knew what I wanted overall but didn’t have many ideas for the detail. She was brilliant at throwing ideas my way and suggesting what we could do.
In the end we went for a three tiered cake which consisted of three different flavoured cakes to cater to everyone’s tastes – a vanilla sponge with Oreo filling, a vanilla sponge with strawberry jam and cream filling and a chocolate sponge with chocolate filling. All three were absolutely divine. Her cakes are moist and fluffy and the fillings are delicious. I struggle to decide on which is my favourite.

I knew I wanted all three tiers to be bought together somehow and we decided on linking them with a waterfall which ran all the way from the top to the bottom.

The top tier was designed to look like a mountain range with small trees and rocks on it. The waterfall began here. It even had floating clouds on it (the Baby Brain Memoirs signature) – how’s that for detail!

The second tier was designed to have a jungle and foliage feel with lots of trees and greenery. There were also cute 3D animals dotted around in the wild. The “king of the jungle” lion candle was placed on this tier.

The third tier was predominantly a lake with animals swimming in it surrounded by trees and rocks in the background.

I was absolutely blown away with the cake. It was EXACTLY what I wanted and more. It looked amazing!

I’d also opted for some jungle themed cupcakes for the children as they’d be easier to eat.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the cake!x
You can check out Rozay Cakes’ Instagram page here.

Next post to follow: The entertainment

Want to read about the rest of Arjun’s first jungle themed birthday party? Check out the following posts in the series:

The Build Up
The Decor
The Outfits
The Cake
The Entertainment
The Food
The Party Bags

You can also check out my Pinterest board for more of my favourite party ideas!

Posted on July 22, 2015April 25, 2020 by Harps — 6 Comments

Arjun’s 1st Birthday Jungle Party … The Outfits

Hello All,

Hope you enjoyed my post from yesterday on the party decor!

Today I’ll be sharing our party outfits. 🙂

We decided to go for a fancy dress theme and before we’d decided that I hadn’t thought about how difficult it would be to find something suitable to wear for both Arjun and I!

I figured it would be warm (before I knew the rain would cool things down!), so I didn’t think a fleece type onesie would be suitable for Arjun especially as he gets hot pretty quickly. I decided to make his outfit myself. It was a choice between a baby Tarzan and a lion. We eventually decided on him being a lion cub and Preetam lion daddy and I lioness mummy.

I didn’t want Arjun’s outfit to be too fussy as I knew he’d get agitated.

I saw a super cute crown hat on ETSY and got one custom made for Arjun to include little lion ears. I knew it wouldn’t stay on for long at the party as he hates anything on his head but as long as he kept it on for his cake cutting I’d be happy! I also purchased matching fur to put on his outfit. I purchased this from the lovely “Little Blue Olive” who was super helpful with all my requests.

I didn’t realise how difficult it would be to purchase a beige coloured romper and in the end had to purchase a white one which was reasonably priced and dye it myself at home using Dylon dye which was simple enough to use. I then purchased white felt from Hobby Craft which I cut in to an oval shape and hand stitched to the belly.

I hand stitched fur to the bottom part of the romper. And we handmade his tail by rolling beige felt around three pipe cleaners and hand stitching to seal. We then hand stitched a little piece of fur to the end of the tail. I attached his tail to his romper using Velcro so that it could be removed if he needed to lie down in his back for a nappy change or a nap.

I purchased cream knitted bootsEdit for an absolute bargain of £3.99 and customised these by hand stitching the fur to them around the ankles. I included popper buttons on them to make them a little tighter (they were still a little loose on the day!). I then cut out felt paws and hand stitched them on to the base of the booties. I knew they wouldn’t stay on for long either but they looked adorable!

On the day of the party, as Arjun ended up having a bit of a cold and it was cooler than expected, I ended up putting a white long sleeved vest and white leggings underneath his outfit.

I was so proud of myself for his outfit. It looked so dinky!

I also had two back up outfits for Arjun which he didn’t end up needing but just in case!

The first back up outfit was a modified version of his cake smash outfit. I already had the hat and tail so I decided to purchase a burnt orange colour romper and customising it by stitching on hand cut out green leaf shaped felt to the bottom. It was a quick and easy outfit and one that fitted in with the theme perfect. I also didn’t have to spend too much on this outfit as I had already purchased it. The original outfit was purchased from ETSY.

The third back up outfit was a lion body t shirt with shorts and braces from Matalan which he can easily wear otherwise as it isn’t necessarily fancy dress. He actually wore this outfit to nursery today! Haha!

My outfit was made by my mother in law – she stitched a dress and I purchased fur scarves which we then cut up to stitch on to the bottom hem and shoulders. Pre warning – cutting up fur isn’t one of my best ideas! It looked like a bird had run rampage in the room! I also used fur to make ankle cuffs by stitching on popper buttons by hand. I made my tail the same way as Arjun’s. I made my ears by hand stitching triangle pieces of fur to clips.

Preetam’s mascot outfit was purchased from hereEdit. The only outfit that fit him due to his height!

Our siblings came dressed as a giraffe, a tiger, a wild dog, a parrot and a ranger! Our daddies were both Rangers and our mummies were a leopard and a snow leopard.

We were so pleased with how many people put in effort to adhere to the dress code – we weren’t expecting it to be honest! The babies looked absolutely adorable! Here’s a few pictures …

We hosted a “best dressed family” costume prize which went to K, F and E. How cute do they look?!

The prizes I included were the following:

Daddy:

Novelty tool pens
Novelty tape measure cellotape dispenser
A lion notepad
A scratch card

Mummy:

Baby:

Hippo animal bubble machine

Hope you love our outfit choices! x

Next post to follow: The Cake!

Want to read about the rest of Arjun’s first jungle themed birthday party? Check out the following posts in the series:

The Build Up
The Decor
The Outfits
The Cake
The Entertainment
The Food
The Party Bags

You can also check out my Pinterest board for more of my favourite party ideas!

Posted on July 21, 2015April 25, 2020 by Harps — 31 Comments

Arjun’s 1st Birthday Jungle Party … The Decor

Hello All,

You hopefully read my last post on the build up to the big day, if not you can do here.

The decor was pretty important to me. After all what would be the point in doing a jungle themed party without it feeling like a jungle! I had a crystal clear vision and the result surpassed all my expectations which has never happened before! Here’s how I achieved what I was after.

We decided to go for a marquee to cover the front part of our garden just because I wanted to decorate it and make it feel junglefied. I also thought it would be sensible to have some shade especially for the babies (little did I know we were more likely going to end up needing it for the rain ha!).

Gurinder at First Klass Events never fails to disappoint me. He has done all our marquees since I’ve been married and always works with me to make my vision come to life. This time we went for crystal “waterfalls” to add to the atmosphere that I was going for. We also went for ceiling draping in jungle colours. I decided to keep the marquee all open so it was gazebo style so that the bushes and trees from the garden provided a four side backdrop adding to the theme.
I decided to use different coloured paper lanterns in a range of sizes to decorate the ceiling of the marquee. This didn’t take us too long and I absolutely LOVED the effect it created. You can purchase these lanterns from here. We also draped vines over the lanterns to add a foliage effect. The artificial vines can be purchased from here.

I wanted the backdrop to look perfect for our pictures. I initially thought about hiring a canvas backdrop but the price was pretty steep for what it was and then I stumbled upon this huge scene setter (30ft wide!) on eBay which I absolutely fell in love with and it was the perfect width for our marquee. I loved that the animals and the backdrop itself looked cartoony fitting in with a 1st birthday. The scene setter comes in different parts and you have to cut out each animal individually and stick on individually. Although time consuming, I liked this as it meant I could frame the cake table nicely by placing the animals accordingly. You can purchase the complete scene setter from here.

I also decided to get the large cardboard cut out for the backdrop which we placed directly behind the cake table which I purchased from here. I was so super pleased with how the backdrop turned out. It added so much character to the setting and it bought it all to life. I’m so glad i went for this option which was half the price and also a lot more effective.

I decided I wanted life sized animal balloons and palm trees everywhere – it had to feel like a jungle! Susan from Balloon Kingdom did an amazing job with the balloons. We met on several occasions to discuss what I was after and what my vision was and she understood it pretty quickly. Like me, she’s a perfectionist and I was ecstatic with the results! We also went for a balloon arch with cute animals heads at the top as the entrance to the garden.

I used bunting to decorate the fence just to add a splash of colour. It was cheap but effective for its purpose. I purchased the bunting from here.

For the adult table decor, I decided to use plain cream table covers with safari print table runners. I purchased various animal print loose fabric here and cut them to uniform size myself. This was the most cost effective method of achieving what I wanted. For all serving/other tables, we used safari print table “curtains” to decorate which I purchased from the same place as above.

Instead of purchasing entirely new centrepieces, I decided to make the most of what I already had. I created “bushes” from the fish bowls and “trees” from the cocktail centrepieces I already own from previous events. I purchased the artificial leaves here and the artificial foliage from here . I wrapped the glasses with organza to look like a tree trunk. I was really pleased with the end product and believe they looked effective.

I also hired mini tables and chairs for the children. I was unsure about hiring these as wasn’t sure we’d need them but so glad I did as quite a few children ended up using them! I placed safari activity placemats which came with stickers and crayons on the table to keep the kids entertained while they ate (just in case there wasn’t enough going on! Haha). I purchases the placemats from here.

I decided to make a jungle themed timeline of Arjun’s first year by month. Just a picture of him from each month. Where possible, I used a picture which reflected a key event in that month, for example his first Christmas, a holiday or a wedding. I made this by printing out pictures, backing them on safari card which I purchased from here and then used green ribbon to attach the month sign to the picture and pegs to string them together. I loved this as it was a visual of Arjun’s first life and a chance for us to reflect on the past year. I’ll be keeping it in his keepsake box.

Arjun’s darling Goov Masi (my sister) offered to make a personalised sign for the cake table. She used her super creative skills to hand make individual letters shaped like animals. She decided against doing every letter based on an animal starting with that letter so she could have more freedom with the design. The sign was so thoughtful and looked amazing – my favourite letter was “B” butterfly. If you are interested in your own personalised creation, feel free to drop me a message.

I was so pleased with how the decor turned out. Perfect and just as I’d imagined!

I’d love to hear your thoughts!x
Next post to follow: The Outfits

Want to read about the rest of Arjun’s first jungle themed birthday party? Check out the following posts in the series:

The Build Up
The Decor
The Outfits
The Cake
The Entertainment
The Food
The Party Bags

You can also check out my Pinterest board for more of my favourite party ideas!

Posted on July 20, 2015April 25, 2020 by Harps — 28 Comments

Arjun’s 1st Birthday Jungle Party … The Build Up

Hello all!

I can’t wait to share Arjun’s 1st birthday party details and pictures with you all! Sorry it’s taken a while – it’s been chaotic with the aftermath of the party, and then returning to work and Arjun starting nursery!

So as I have so much to say about Arjun’s party and I don’t want to bore you all with it, (haha!) I thought I’d separate each part out with a different blog post (gives me a bit of structure too and I like structure!).

I started planning Arjun’s birthday party in January – a whopping 6 months ahead of his birthday. A little crazy some of you may think. But for someone who thrives on organising and planning events and parties, I wanted it to be absolutely perfect. I didn’t want to feel panicked, I wanted to enjoy each and every moment of it. I wanted to embrace it. I didn’t want to become consumed by stress. This was the biggest party I was ever going to organise to date – it was my baby boys 1st birthday!

I decided to go with a jungle themed party as he absolutely loves animals. It was always my wish to have a summer baby so that we could have a garden party – I love my garden, it’s my favourite part of our house so I wanted to make the most of it for Arjun’s birthday celebrations.

Some may think it was a little OTT (or not), but to be honest, I don’t really know how to do things in halves and if I’m going to do something, I like to give it my all (by my own standards!) – it’s my passion. Attention to detail is absolutely vital to me. I’m like a dog with a bone if everything isn’t seemingly perfect. I’m a perfectionist in short! Knowing this, I whipped up an excel spreadsheet (can you tell I’m an accountant?) around January and jotted down some ideas. My excel workbook creatively titled “Arjun’s 1st Birthday” was my right hand (virtual) man. I almost died when I thought Arjun busted my laptop!

I took my time making decisions and brain storming ideas, I felt like I was in my zone as I always do when planning an event. Especially a themed one! I’m pretty sure I missed my calling in life as a full time event planner – it’s my forte. It allows my creative juices to flow and for me to see the end product.

We were expecting around 200 guests including 30 children and I wanted to ensure everything was planned properly. Giving myself so much time meant that, although it took longer to do things, I could have Arjun by my side through the party preps. Although it was challenging at times, it was nice to have him with me when doing things such as putting together the party bags, or making the food labels – it gave me constant focus on why I was doing it. I thoroughly enjoyed the build up!

The day before …

The day before I was in surprisingly good spirits! I felt like the past six months worth of prep had really paid off as it meant I could kick back and let things pan out how I’d planned.I was calm and patient and was really trying to embrace the moment and enjoy the build up. My sisters and our friends Pavan, Amrit and Sav also came over to help. Having the manpower made a huge difference.I was feeling really stressed about the one thing I couldn’t control – the weather which seemed to be constantly changing on every forecast website I looked (they were even stored in my favourites!). Apparently it was going to be okay the following day.

I was feeling so super blessed though – as Arjun played with his toys and new car in the garden while we decorated the marquee, I felt everything was going perfectly. My vision was coming alive. I knew exactly how I wanted the marquee to look and it was happening. We started off with the ceiling decor before proceeding to the backdrop – the only thing (other than the weather) that I was particularly worried about! Even that panned out perfectly and we had 0 issues with hanging it up to my surprise. I felt really pleased.

Sav and I chopped up fruit – the smell, sticky work surfaces and a colourful arrangement of fruit highlighting the kitchen – it was a moment of nostalgia to our Passion Froot days when we would professionally create fruit displays for weddings and parties. This was going to be a really dinky display just for the kids though. So no where near as much pressure as what we were used to!

Once we got the table decor done and planned out how the kids food was going to be arranged, I was so happy. It was coming out just how I wanted and I felt so grateful to God.

The balloon supplier, Susan was around too the day before and it was amazing seeing her work unfold. The life sized creatures she created looked adorable and I was so excited!

We really enjoyed the build up to the big day and we also got spoilt with food – my mum made us lunch and our family friend Karan made us dinner. It was a fun filled day and we were in bed by 11pm. We had a long day ahead of us but I was prepared for everything (bar the weather!). My list was so OTT that I’d delegated tasks by time by person. It had to be done. Harv and Pavan were predominantly in charge of Arjun and they did a fab job!

The morning of the party …

Throughout the night I could hear the pitter patter sound of rain against our windows. I tried to keep myself calm by reminding myself that it was probably good if it rained during the night as less chance it’d rain later. But when I woke it was still drizzling. I felt the opposite to the day before – stressed and anxious and it was all over something I couldn’t control. I was so worried that the soft play and the bouncy assault course we’d hired would go to waste and that perhaps we should have gone for a larger marquee. It was too late to worry anyway.

By 11am, it was still raining and the caterers had arrived. The arrangement of the BBQ food had to be put up under a gazebo instead of being outside. I could live with that. I’d borrowed a gazebo from my Masi (aunt) just in case. What I hadn’t done was borrow another 3 which is what we needed to cover up the crepe, waffle and hot dog stalls we also had. Thank goodness for great friends – Goov’s friend Alka got on the case pronto and had them at ours by 12pm which meant they could be set up under gazebos too.

I cried, I snapped, I was gutted at that point but actually there was nothing I could do. My lovely family reassured me that it’d still turn out great.

By 1pm (the party was starting at 1.30pm), the rain stopped. I was so so grateful to God and actually it was a blessing as the rain helped to calm down my hayfever! Also in hindsight, I was really grateful for the weather we got as it wasn’t too hot like the weather was when the heat wave struck a few days after the party. That would have been unbearable for the babies!

Arjun had a cold which meant he wasn’t his usual happy self at times which was a shame but all in all the party turned out perfect and just how I’d visioned. I think everyone had a great time – so they said!

We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who made a huge effort to be there to celebrate with us. I look forward to sharing our party deets with you!:)

Next post to follow tomorrow: The Décor

Want to read about the rest of Arjun’s first jungle themed birthday party? Check out the following posts in the series:

The Build Up
The Decor
The Outfits
The Cake
The Entertainment
The Food
The Party Bags