Thursday 5 July 2018

Eid-ul-Fitr 2018/1439: Rainbow Pastel Eid Party

Last weekend was the date of our annual Eid party.  This year I kept it small to make life easier, with family and neighbours invited. I had my decorations from Eid which let me indulge shamelessly in my love for colour and rainbows:



I found some rainbow roses and mixed them with these creatively named “bubblegum chrysanthemums”



This unicorn piñata was a hit. I didn’t manage to get it back home without bending the horn, but it was very strong and no amount of whacking it with a wooden spoon by little girls seemed to make a dent in it.  I also learned that giving little girls free reign with a wooden spoon is equal to taking your life in your hands, I had to grab the spoon off at least one who I thought was going to hit me with it.  In the end I had to rip it apart and shower the girls with sweets.









Harlequin Sister did the work of wrapping all the prizes and gifts including two for pass-the-parcel, one for adults and one for children.  If I had realised that she had wrapped the ladies pass-the-parcel in about 12 layers I might have stopped her at some point.








We added a traditional touch with henna and these little packs of Pakistani snacks called “Shahi Meva” which I really like (it’s basically a small handful of chopped almond, dry dates, fennel, coconut & sugar).



As it was a hot day, I put out drinks, strawberries and cubes of watermelon beforehand alongside this little drink dispenser full of cheats mojito mocktail (recipe to follow).  I had to top up three times because everyone was chugging it down and asking for refills.





I had asked guests to bring a dish (less work for me and I get to taste other peoples amazing cooking). My neighbour bought this amazing channa chaat that was full of flavour and a good solid kick from the spice.



Alhamdullilah there was a lot of food: chicken pilau rice, lamb kebabs, lamb seekh kebabs, chicken tikka, tandoori chicken with roast potatoes, channa chaat, mousakka, potato wedges, lamb chops, two types of salad and chicken sandwiches which got polished off very quickly.  It all tasted good and everyone was full of praise and satisfied bellies.


My aunt (mum’s younger sister) made the moussaka and the dish was enormous – the layers of aubergine, potato and yoghurt were really very refreshing.




The kids got free reign on the sweet stuff while I was distracted.  I saw baby going past with a cup brim full of water more than once, until I realised she was helping herself to the mojito and put a stop to it.



There were lots of party games and in time-honoured fashion there was very loud howling going on at losing, followed by some not-so-subtle engineering of games by the adults so that all of the little ones got a prize for something.


After the food and games, everyone relaxed, chatted and nibbled on fruits and sweets while my very talented neighbour put henna on everyone.








My neighbours equally awesome mum made short work of all the dishes in no time despite our protests.  You can always tell when you have had a good party by the aftermath.  I made the babies pick this up off the trampoline:




This year’s party was so easy and relaxed, that I am almost tempted to do another after Eid-ul-Adha – we shall see. 

My thanks to Harlequin and Shutterbug for helping with photos and to set things up for the party, there is a very pretty photo from the party on Harlequins blog here.

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