SUGAR & SPICE....

                                   

Hi Guys that’s my niece, Kanyinsola with me at the top of this post, she turned 10 on the day we took this pic but as a family member was also celebrating their 50th birthday on same day, she didn’t get to throw her own party. People say we look alike; I know we do, real chip off the old block isn't she? I just hope she doesn't inherit my temperament ( I guess her parents are wishing the same thing too)

So we pushed the celebrations forward to the following week, when she held a disco party for her school mates. 

Every year when my nephew and niece birthday are approaching the all important, life changing, decision has to be made……Do you want a Naija party or party for your class mates at school?

                           

                                   Birthday Girl!

Abeg let me digress small…..at this juncture I have a quick flashback to my traumatic childhood😩 Birthday Party On Top of what, Ola? The all important question would have been ‘What have you done to ‘warrant’ a party? What was your position in the class this term? Did you ‘carry’ first? When you become a doctor, lawyer, accountant or engineer in future you can hold as many parties as you want 😐  

This is how birthdays rolled in our household, on the day in question (sounds like a crime scene I know) a pot of jollof would be cooked by my mum and we would get to eat this with a bottle of Fanta or coke. End of discussion!  The biggest offence you could commit would be to let anyone outside the household know it was your birthday as that would be ‘construed’ (I love these big words!) by my parents as begging!

                                

Anyway back to my nephew and niece, in more cases than not they opt for the family House Party Naija ‘come-chop’ birthday set up. As they feel such parties are more fun, everything is so relaxed they revolve around a big cooler of jollof, fried rice, saladi (yes ‘saladi’ is the type salad that has 7 lives plus baked beans inside, not just leaves!) meat, gizdodo, loud music, adults outnumbering the children, shouting at the top of their voices having fun, discussing Naija politics and righting all the wrongs in our country. 

There are are no rules or regulations ‘Oya Kanyinsola go and serve me a plate of jollof, put 2 meat (that actually means one meat, one chicken, but all na ‘meat’) cut some cake for me and make a cup of tea or get me a bottle of wine from the fridge while you’re at it! 

There’s no fixed start or end time for the celebration.  

                            

                                Here Come The Girl's 🎉🎊💃

On the rare occasion when they opt for the school friends type of party; out comes the 'jotter'notepad and pen, the logistics are a different kettle of fish, one is immediately thinking of the Laws of the land, Magna Carta, Health and Safety, Dietary needs and Child Safeguarding. 

The venue is key, this time around we choose the local village hall, not to big just right size for the number of kids. On the day as the kids turned up I asked my sister why she hadn't invite more kids after all she had plenty of space but she replied ‘Haaa it's doesn't work that way, if the parents clued on that too many kids have been invited, they would start worrying about how the kids would be supervised, the calculating ratio of adults to children in attendance. Before you know it word has spread around the school that it's going to be one of ‘those’ African carnivals and no one will show😢

                                     

Party is set time 4pm - 6pm, all invitees arrive between 15:45 to 16:00 PROMPT (I smile to myself imagining if this was Naija party, another blog for another day!!!!! African time things)

Menu n’ko? We cater for vegan, and non vegan, food is labelled we have to take into ‘akant’ nut allergies. We have DJ (not DJ Spinall) flashing lights, disco balls, Kanyinsola birthday has been talk of the school and expectations are ‘plenty’ as they know ‘we folk’ know how to party and ‘turn up’. 

Uncle Ahmed our homegrown photographer has been given strict warning by us not to zoom in on pics of the kids but to focus mainly on group pics, less the parents start to feel uncomfortable that their child’s privacy is being infringed!

We have face painting, candy floss, popcorn stand, glow sticks and props. 

    

       Kanyinsola's Candy Floss & Popcorn Stand 🎉🎊

Dancing competition time: my brother just can't hold back, he's on the floor busting so many moves that party entertainer is forced to declare him best dancer and issue him with a certificate to the annoyance of the children. Uncle shame on you! 

                                   

No party is complete without a birthday cake is it? But we obviously have to sprinkle a little bit of Naija fairy dust here, so courtesy of Aunty Dupe,  Kanyinsola ends up with an extra cake, so has 2 to the ‘surprisation’ of her friends, their mouths open wide as the 2 cakes are brought into the hall (they've possibly never been privy to a Naija party where celebrant can have up to 6 cakes!).

All good things must come to an end so at 17:55 PROMPT (again) all parents have turned up to pick up their children and 1 hour later we've cleared the hall, no sign that anything took place there the neighbours can sleep in peace!

Quick note: If you look closely at the photo of me with Kanyinsola, you may notice a blacked-out face of an aunty wearing purple behind us, well for obvious reasons we could not have her on the blog post, so due to my non-existent photo-editing skills I forwarded pic to my brother to help me ‘airbrush’ her out and this is what he sent back to me, I actually expected him to removed her completely!

Lesson learnt: Beggars can't be choosers, go and brush up on your blogging, Now next time I ask him to help me out….its official I'm OYO (on your own). 

Dearest Kanyinsola hope you had a great day? 

What are your earliest memories of birthday parties? 

On that note guys it's a wrap...Thank God it's Friday. 

You cannot act like rubber slippers and expect to be treated like Louboutins~ Unknown 

💅