Joint birthday celebrations for Tharaa and Aisha

On Friday evening we held a joint birthday party for Tharaa, who turned 11, and Aisha, who turned 3 the previous Wednesday.

As usual Tharaa preferred to have just grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins present. Like her shy mother (as a child), she finds it awkward to invite school friends over and is much more comfortable being surrounded only by family. [We'll need to work on that]. Fortunately though, Maama (Mo's mum) also invited her own uncle and his wife, which was a lovely surprise for us.

Tharaa did however want to take a cake to school on her birthday - a fact of which she only informed me at the last minute on Thursday night. So I quickly baked a rectangular sponge cake and left her to do her own decorating. Which was just as well, since she did a better job than what I would have done.

I spent Friday afternoon making a caramel peppermint crisp pudding, strawberry and banana pudding, eclairs and cake pops.

The puddings and eclairs were quick and easy to make. The cake pops, though, took an eternity to complete, since I only have one cake pop mould. Also, the melted chocolate which coats each pop has to run off the pop so that it does not drip down the stick, resulting in a huge mess. I preferred to make the baked version as I was certain that our guests would prefer this one to the more common one (consisting of crumbled sponge cake and frosting) which I, on the other hand, really like.

 

 



The big boys stuffing themselves with cake pops (which I, sadly, had forgotten to photograph from up close)



As soon as everyone arrived, Mo headed out to buy fish & chips and gatsbies for supper. Mo and my mother were at odds over how this meal should be served - my mum insisted on tossing the food into a pyrex dish and serving it in a civilised fashion, while Mo felt that that just defeated the purpose of having a gatsby or fish and chips ''dyte'', both of which are best dished straight from the white paper wrapping into a plate à la Cape Flats/ Grand Parade cuisine.

After supper the kids were ushered into the dining room to sit at the party table (even though they were already stuffed, having just eaten supper) to sing Happy Birthday to the birthday girls.

My mum - next to Tharaa

 


My mum (blue scarf) and Mo's mum a.k.a Maama (white scarf)

 



We are lucky to have Uncle Yasser, a professional photographer, showing us how it's done. Check out his blog



Nothing we said could convince Aisha that it was inappropriate to wear a petticoat as an outer garment ( à la Madonnna in the 1980s).

Maama baked the birthday cakes and, as usual, her efforts did not disappoint. Not much thought was needed in choosing a theme for Aisha's cake, since she remains one of Barney's most ardent fans.

Tharaa, on the other hand, took us on a trip down memory lane by choosing pictures of herself as a baby *sniff*

 

 

 

The evening was spent chatting (much of the time we compared our weight loss techniques while stuffing our faces), laughing and relaxing.

Until, for some, the night took a competitive turn....

 

 

Both girls were really grateful for the gifts they'd received, although Aisha was far less gracious in her acceptance of these gifts - much to my horror and embarrassment, she responded to people's gifts by shoving it back at them, saying ''I don't want it''.  We definitely need to work on her etiquette.

Despite her lack of decorum, she absolutely loved her gifts and spent the day after the party showing off her acquisitions.



Tinkerbell sleepwear

 


Cool sunglasses, jellytots and a funky leather pouch



Books from Aunty Shaida (award-winning writer - check out her website)

Tharaa also loved the clothes, shoes and Moroccan bag she received as gifts.

We were so grateful to everyone who took the time to come and celebrate with us. Both girls loved being surrounded by their family (especially their darling cousins) on their special day.