The Aftermath

so...its done, finito, habis. after months of planning, of buying favours, of deciding on the theme, of sending invitation, of waiting for rsvps, of preparing party favours, of deciding on the caterer, of blowing up balloons, of hearing balloons popping...its finally done!!

we had a great time, the turn out was huge. i knew it would be a lot of people when we made the guestlist, yet when the guests came, i cant help but think...omigod...there's a lot of people here. the food was ok, it was our first try with the caterers. the decorations were great (hubby spent a long time putting up the balloons, so i gotta give him some props here...). the canopy served its purpose (wasnt beautiful or anything).

amir was a good boy. he didnt cry or fuss when transferred from one (unknown) guest to another. or when he was smothered by kisses from people he hasnt seen before. it was quite a hot day and he stayed cool. good thing we forced him to take a nap before it all started.

it was great seeing old friends again, friends that i seldom meet (being a stay-at-home-mum and all that jazz, hardly ever go to town nowadays). friends from my old secondary school took time to come, from uni, from work. it was wonderful.

the gifts, surprisingly were great. amir got books, fisher price blocks (i started collecting these, so its a wonderful surprise to get more), football, clothes, and his favourite elmo soft toy. i had a great time opening them (amir's too young, so he gave me permission to open for him ;->). not only that, amir also got the sniffles (courtesy of his daddy - who also gave his mummy a really bad cough!!)

but then now that its over, i have no idea what i should do...

My One Year Old Terror...

i realised that all my posts have been about me venting and whining. so i decided to put in something that cheers up my even my worst of days.

he's my pride and joy, my reason for living, my sunshine on a rainy day, my friend when i'm bored, my joker, my sleeping partner when hubby goes for his teh tarik sessions, my singer when the car radio is not functioning, my water splasher, my screamer, my whistler (he just learned that), my bubble blower. his first birthday party is tomorrow and i hope i wont cry when they sing 'happy birthday' to him...

The Audacity of an Uninvited Guest

we were going out one sunday evening. it was amir's birthday and my cousin wanted to see him. since we were going to the bank, we thought we'd drop by her house. it was about 4.40pm, i was feeding amir and hubby had just taken his wudhu for asar prayers. just then his phone rang, it was his 'old' friend. a friend who hasnt contacted him in months. he said he was coming over. hubby told him, we're about to leave, actually. but he insisted, saying he's about 10-20 minutes away and he'll only be over for a while. okay lah...

hubby prayed. while i prayed, he waited at our window playing with amir. then he went downstairs to wait in the living room. 20 minutes passed, no sign of the friend. hubby got restless and waited out in the porch. i was changing amir's nappies. finally his friend arrived, i saw from the window next to the changing table. eh...he brought a girl with him. weird since he's not attached to anyone. seems hubby knows the girl too so i guess its ok, but why didnt the friend mention in the phonecall. never mind. i told hubby i wanted to attend to amir, so i will be upstairs. at the same time his sister wanted help with the computer. i waited almost 10 minutes, they are still here. didnt we inform them we were going out?? maybe he had something important to tell hubby. so i waited some more...my cousin's going to kill me, we're already late. then i heard the friend telling the girl...dont u want to do up? go up where?? upstairs?? sorry but upstairs is where the bedrooms are...i may have my quirks but bedroom is off-limits to guests (unless invited, of course). then after almost 20 minutes, the friend left.

i went downstairs, hubby was fuming. he said...what kind of person was that?? it was bad enough that he insisted on coming when we were going out, we had to reorganise our plans for him. hubby thought it was something important but it turns out he just wanted to show off the girl. either show off the girl to hubby (cos he's been after this girl for ages, but the girl showed no signs of interest) and show off the house (for reasons beyond our comprehension). the first thing the friend did when he got to our house was to ask hubby to take the girl on a tour. my confused and shocked hubby showed her the living room, dining and kitchen. in the midst of the 'tour', the friend whispered, your house hasnt changed much...its only more disorganised. talk about shooting his mouth off!! good thing he didnt come up, then he'll see how disorganised a house with a baby and 2 teenagers can be on a sunday evening. hubby was starting to get uptight and i think the friend realised and quickly left with the girl (although not quick enough, in my opinion).

that was the weirdest 20 minutes we have ever experienced. a guest who was uninvited - disrespectful - downright rude. i hope nobody experiences this...its been 2 weeks and i still get angry remembering it.

p/s to make matters worse, the friend conveyed the story to another of hubby's friend and said..."he didnt even make us a drink!!"

Planning a Party

i didnt realise planning a 1 year old party would be this stressful. the planning bit is quite fun...i love planning. i'd plan everything...what to bring on a trip, what to do tomorrow, what to cook today, which route to take, monthly expenses...everything. i've got loads and loads of notebooks, small, medium, big, plain, mickey mouse, little mermaid, celcom...anything and everything. i love note book, i love coloured pens...i love writing, i love planning.

in the beginning, it was all nice and fun. i get to do budget, plan the menu, plan the guestlist, make a spreadsheet of number of guests coming. but then once the invitation gets out, that's when the stress kicks in. i've done all i can on my part, got my menu finalised, called up the caterer, booked the birthday cake, bought the invitation cards, scanned the card, emailed/sms/posted the cards. now all i have to do is wait for replies. and wait is what i do. i wait and wait and wait. i hinted on the invitation that an rsvp is appreciated. not so much of being calculative or stingy, but what is the point of wastage? not only that, i would like to prepare enough party favours and not be uncomfortable when some guests leave with favours and some leave empty handed. the replies that we got range from 'do we need to rsvp a birthday party' to 'its ok...we dont mind if you serve us plain water'. yeah well...i DO mind!! what kind of host would i be, if i didnt have enough food to cater to my invited guests. what kind of host would i be, to have limited favours, given to early birds and late comers go back empty handed.

some people dont take rsvp/replies seriously. i'm not being fussy when i ask for rsvp, but what is so wrong about proper planning. and to me, giving replies/rsvp is a sign of respect to the hosts. they go thru a lot to have a nice event for the guests...good food, nice environment, nice favours...not to mention the costs that comes with planning an event. why cant people take that small effort to help out the hosts, by just saying, yes i'll come or sorry, i cant make it. that small effort helps out a lot. the hosts wont have to wonder...are they coming, should we provide food for them, should be prepare extra favours in case they bring children?? those questions would throw their budget and planning into haywire if 50% of the guests dont answer.

be it a big wedding, a small-scale birthday party, a dinner for 2...a reply is not a lot to ask for. it shows 1 appreciates the hosts gesture, it also avoid the guests being bombarded with unnecessary 'are you coming' questions.