The table is laid for two with napkins and purple tulips. C has been invited to her best friend’s for lunch to celebrate her 4th birthday. We arrive to find the cook rolling out purple dough which she folds and slices into fine noodles. In the Asian culture it is auspicious to serve noodles for the birthday and to have the longest noodle means a long life. The girls are invited to the table and B’s mother serves them purple juice. Do you get the picture? Yes, the meal is C’s favourite colour, purple! The chicken and vegetable soup is tinted purple with beet juice. The next course is roasted beets and the noodles are presented in a red cabbage leaf. Dessert is purple grapes and cookies decorated with purple icing. What a charming and thoughtful memory for C. My daughter and I were lucky to share the meal at a separate table.
After lunch the two friends dress up and perform a fashion show, dancing, laughing and acting out the ballet poses they have learned at ballet school. It is a joy to watch them use their imagination and have so much fun together. What is interesting is that in B’s home B leads the play and it is reversed when B visits C in her home.
B’s birthday gift to C is a large box filled with dress up accessories, and B has written on the outside “To C from B – Fashion Show kit.”
C has decided that she wanted to have her birthday to be held at my home at the beach. The main reason is so that her friend, M, whom she met last summer at the swimming club, can attend. She invited family and close friends for lunch 11 to 2 pm.
We set up a table with canvasses and acrylic paints and each child took a painting home at the end of the party. I read a book about Van Gogh and colour. Each colour plate focused on one colour. I had found some sunflowers at the dollar store and we had a beautiful arrangement of flowers for inspiration. My daughter also offered small canvasses 3 x 3 inches for each child to paint for C and we will join them together in a frame as a memento of the birthday.
All the children sat together at the table for lunch, birthday cake and cupcakes which my daughter had made. We then played party games, eg pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey, London Bridge, and there were lots of prizes for each game. The children had great fun choosing me to be the goose in the game, duck, duck, goose. By the time I had managed to get up off the floor the child had already run around the circle and was back to the place he started. It was a laugh!
Interesting answer from C to the questions “What was the best thing about your party? Her answer – “Playing under the table with B!”
I was happy to be with family and friends to celebrate my four year old granddaughter on her birthday.