What's A Birthday Without A Party?!

People that know us would probably agree that we don’t spoil our kids—at least not with material possessions anyway.  But we do love to indulge them with typical childhood experiences and this includes annual birthday parties.  In fact, our youngest daughter's been looking forward to it since we’ve returned home.

After all, last year’s birthday had to be improvised.  As she was only turning 4 then, she still did not fully grasp that we would not be able to have a birthday party with her friends and family in attendance as we were in India.  For her, a birthday party was a prerequisite to turning a year older!

So even though she’s 5 this year, she has yet to abandon her love of parties.  For weeks, we (not her) stressed about what sort of party and where we’d have it.  Typically, her dad and I are fond of backyard parties, but with her birthday occurring in the middle of our Southern Hemisphere winter, going this route would be a risky one.  Nevertheless, we compromised and booked a ‘Fairy’ entertainer and set about tidying up our rumpus room to welcome 10 little fairies.

 

10 Little Fairies

When the day finally arrived, Yasmine was over the moon with excitement.  She was a lovely hostess and had a great time.  We were especially proud of Maddy too, who showed a tremendous amount of maturity and understanding on Yasmine’s special day.

Fairy Bread

Fairies in our backyard

But her special day didn’t end there.

 

Ever since Maddy got her ears’ pierced on her birthday last year, Yasmine has been mustering up the courage to do the same.  She was determined to go through with it, on her actual birthday, and to ‘be brave’ and to not scream!

Trying to be brave

Newly pierced

She did herself (and us) proud, although a tear did slip through at the end.  While she did admit that it hurt, her determination and will saw her through it (biting on her teddy’s arm also helped!).  She was even more proud of the fact that she’s had hers done at aged 5, where as Maddy was 6—just a little sibling rivalry going on there!

So we have one happy and satisfied little lady now.  While travel brought with it wonderful experiences and opportunities, being at home allows for the kids to ‘just be kids’, which at their particular age and stage, seems to be just what they want.