It was LB’s fourth birthday yesterday! How that went so fast, I don’t know. It honestly feels like just the other day that I was heavily pregnant in the UK and had to text my husband in Dubai at 5 in the afternoon to say:
“Can you get to London by 8am? Ghengis [yes, that was his working title!] needs to be born in the morning.”
Amazingly, DH made it! Just!
Last year, we had a very small party at home and, because BB’s birthday is the next month, we did a family day-out to Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi.
The perfect birthday outing for car-mad small boys. Surely?
“I can juggle or bend balloons – for a small fee”
What they really wanted was a big playarea party – each – with all their friends, presents, cake, games, entertainment, a party host bellowing into a microphone, balloons and chaos. The kind of event that causes mummy to lose sleep and requires daddy to sell a kidney to pay for it.
So this week I’ve been busy organising LB’s out-sourced party – it won’t be anything lavish, and certainly nowhere near the scale of a birthday his brother attended earlier this year at the Atlantis hotel, with valet parking, the aquarium and Apple Mac computer room at guests’ disposal.
But, even so, it seems the tab for throwing a children’s party these days is always going to be more than you bargained for.
So far:
– Use of playarea for 2 hours CHECK
– Party host CHECK
– Kid’s meal for 20-plus children CHECK
– Cake (with Titanic picture) CHECK
– Party bags CHECK
– Catering for adult guests (so they’re not sent home needing to lie down in a darkened room and/or apply wine) CHECK
– Balloons (blue and silver) CHECK
But, wait, there’s more. You can fork out extra for a theme, or a magician. Provide a helium balloon for each child to take home. Book a sideshow, such as face painting. Or pick a couple of games for the children to play, charged per head.
And, the trouble is – such is the money-grabbing nature of the party industry – you can never be quite sure what you’ll actually get for all this expense.
“Could we have musical chairs please,” I decided when going over the details this week.
“And what’s this?” I asked, pointing at the Wrap the Mummy option, there in black-and-white on the booking form.
“Wrap the Mummy? Hmmm. I don’t actually know – we got it off the Internet,” was the reply.
“But would you like a 250 dirham piñata?”
Love it..the blog that is, not the party costs!! Just had DS2’s party and the pinata was not something to whack….but rather a much more efficient version which required the BD boy to pull ribbons on a pinata looking strucure. Tugging on the ribbons was supposed to rip a hole in the pinata and free the goodies. But that didn’t work because BD boy couldn’t pull hard enough. The party staff helped by ripping a hole in it and letting the sweeties fall to the floor……and this after I promised 20 kids they could take a swing at something with a baseball bat and ‘Mummy won’t be upset’! Maybe I should have gone with the AED250 pinata and not the AED150 one!
DM
Hi Dubai Mum! I hope the sweets in the piñata made up for the fact the kids didn’t get to whack it! Our party is tomorrow – I just wish the organiser would return my calls/emails to confirm everything is ready! I’m having visions of turning up and the place being locked!!! I really hope it doesn’t turn into blog material!
I’m planning Vs 5th birthday and I’m already stressed out on his cake request which he demands I make! I have to force DH to wear a Power Rangers costume.
Good luck with the party planning! It takes such a lot of thought! Be sure to get a photo of DH in the Power Rangers costume! 🙂
Oh for the days when a couple of rounds of “Pass the Parcel” and fizzy drinks was enough….sugar and wrapping paper all over the room.
Exactly! And sausage rolls, jelly, cheese and pineapple sticks…those WERE the days! If we were having the party at home, we could do this – but it’s still too hot! Just can’t get my head round 20 kids running around inside the house!