Sunday 12 October 2008

Party Henna

To me henna is celebration itself and Eid feels incomplete without it. Three of the guests at our Eid party could apply henna, so we asked them nicely and they found themselves spending most of the evening decorating the hands of the rest of our guests. I mentioned earlier that my sister had afound a henna paste that her friend tells her takes 10 minutes to turn deep red and lasts up to two weeks. Well the henna was called Al-Qamar (a picture is here and you can this online, htough it's about £1 in local Indian shops) and it deed indeed stain virtually immediately. I don't know if it will last more than a few days but it's brilliant if you don't have much time to leave your henna on (kind of an emergency henna I suppose). A word of warning though, if you have sensitive skin, I would suggest a patch test as a few people could feel tingling and this is not pure henna. In identally Umm Mustapha just had a post up about henna.







I love this design on my best freinds hand mash'Allah, it looks like she is wearing jewellery.


Little Lady got in on the act too and got both hands done on both sides. She want's to be a henna lady when she grows up (as well as a shop-lady, a make-up lady and a doctor - and a mummy)

Aside from the henna we kept ourselves and the children occupied with pass the parcel and musical chairs (using this nasheed which I like). We decide to keep childrens and adults games seperate as there was every chance that one of the kids would get squashed/stepped on/injured/sat on as the grown-ups games get silly and sometimes aggressive. (If you thought that hijabi's letting their hair down looks genteel, forget it).

One of the guests came up with an idea for a game and we agreed to award a prize to whoever could display the best talent. We had a cartwheel, a back-flip, a wandering eye (!) and belly-dancing from my bestest friend and her sister, of course the bellydancer won (no favouritism - honest).

11 comments:

  1. I love London...it's one of my favorite cities...while still at home, I would "Eurostar" over at least once a month! InshaAllah, I am up for washing up and tidying after a wonderful party like that. This is truly beautiful!

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  2. wow masha'allah u guys had awesome fun! and the food pics in the other post..yummy! Ok im coming over next eid :P

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  3. Asak eid mubaraak to u and ur family...i too love henna...love ur deigns..i like to cover henna till my elbows...Nice post for eid

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  4. Wow henna designs are tempting me to apply righ now. very new and fresh designs.

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  5. Assalam-alaikam,

    Sister Umm Nassim, you would be welcome any time.

    Sis Habayeb,
    if you're coming be sure to bring some more of that cake with you, I am havimng dreams about it now it was so good.

    Sister Anjum,
    belated Eid Mubarak to you too. The last time I had henna to my elbows, it was on my wedding, you must be good.

    Sister Lubna,
    I meant to link to your excellent henna page and forgot. Next time I put any henna pics up I will do so insh'Allah.

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  6. sounds like tons of fun masha'allah... I also love the henna of ur bff :D very nice :P

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  7. As-salaamu'alaykum wa Rahmatu Llahi wa Barakatuhu my dearest sister,

    Wow.. those are such lovely designs!!! :D I like your friends one too!

    Thank you for sharing.

    Wa'alaykum as-salaam
    Love Farhana

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  8. Masha Allah those henna designs are awesome!

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  9. What a fantastic party!!!

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  10. Assalam-alaikam

    Sis Ammena,
    it was fun, the henna gave everyone something to do (and take home with afterwards).

    Sis Farhana(my almost-namesake),
    I liked the designs too, the girls were so good at it, they've inspired me to learn too.

    Sis Umm Mustapha,
    I liked the patterns, shame I didn't get mine done, I tried myself later but I wasn't too impressed (I blame it on the henna going dry).

    Darling Big Sis,
    what fantastic guests (wink, wink)!!!

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  11. If you are familiar with the ancient art of henna painting and mehndi designs, you would know that Arabic henna design is one of the most popular mehndi designs out there. Using henna dye to color and design beautiful shapes on one's body, Arabic mehndi is a temporary body art that is now well-known not only in the Middle East and the Arabic world, but also all across the globe!

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