Tried to keep it low key this year, no pass the parcel or pin the tail on the donkey, just kids hanging out having fun. I wanted to keep the guest list low as well, considering the apartments around here aren't all that big. But when you live in a community like this, its hard to do that, most of the kids all play together in one big group. So I just let Ishaan come up with his own invite list (22 kids total EEEK!) and figured what the hell.. lets do it.
He wanted to dress up like Hanuman for his party this year. In case you don't know, Hanuman is the monkey God, he is part of the story "The Ramayan" which is kind of like a Hindu fairytale (more about that at the bottom of the page). Anyway Hanuman is Ishaans favorite - being a monkey and all - so I figured the Ramayan would be a good theme for the kids to dress up.
Started at 4pm, and soon my parents house was inundated with kids, 17 total. I had bought bows and arrows made out of bamboo from a guy in Navadwip - 10 bows all together - and the kids loved it. I thought it'd be a boys thing, but even some of the girls were shooting and aiming at the little cardboard target hanging up. I'd also made a plywood cutout of Ram and Sita, and the kids could put their faces in the holes to get photos taken.
Kept the food to a minimum, being that it was after lunch but before dinner so didn't have a full meal. I made cupcakes, muffins, pizza rolls, and little cups of jellies that were a huge hit! A cake also of course - I'd spent all evening the night before decorating it - it was a Hanuman cake!
Lots of fun, balloons, streamers, party hats, chaos, noise and everything else in between. Ishaan enjoyed himself thoroughly and wouldn't stop talking about his party all evening.
His presents included:
2 colouring books
4 kurtas (the long tops the boys wear here)
2 t-shirts
4 (yes, FOUR!) plastic bows with total 12 arrows and 4 cardboard targets
a mini pool table
a brass mug
a wooden flute
brass cymbals
3 dvds
2 books
a photo frame
a picture of Hanuman
lego
He wanted to dress up like Hanuman for his party this year. In case you don't know, Hanuman is the monkey God, he is part of the story "The Ramayan" which is kind of like a Hindu fairytale (more about that at the bottom of the page). Anyway Hanuman is Ishaans favorite - being a monkey and all - so I figured the Ramayan would be a good theme for the kids to dress up.
Started at 4pm, and soon my parents house was inundated with kids, 17 total. I had bought bows and arrows made out of bamboo from a guy in Navadwip - 10 bows all together - and the kids loved it. I thought it'd be a boys thing, but even some of the girls were shooting and aiming at the little cardboard target hanging up. I'd also made a plywood cutout of Ram and Sita, and the kids could put their faces in the holes to get photos taken.
Kept the food to a minimum, being that it was after lunch but before dinner so didn't have a full meal. I made cupcakes, muffins, pizza rolls, and little cups of jellies that were a huge hit! A cake also of course - I'd spent all evening the night before decorating it - it was a Hanuman cake!
Lots of fun, balloons, streamers, party hats, chaos, noise and everything else in between. Ishaan enjoyed himself thoroughly and wouldn't stop talking about his party all evening.
His presents included:
2 colouring books
4 kurtas (the long tops the boys wear here)
2 t-shirts
4 (yes, FOUR!) plastic bows with total 12 arrows and 4 cardboard targets
a mini pool table
a brass mug
a wooden flute
brass cymbals
3 dvds
2 books
a photo frame
a picture of Hanuman
lego
The Ramayana tells the story of a battle between the Hindu god Vishnu, and a demon called Ravana. None of the gods could fight Ravana because of a promise they had foolishly made earlier, and Ravana was messing with everyone and nobody could stop him. So Vishnu decided to be reborn as a man, and then he would not be a god and he would be able to fight Ravana.
So Vishnu was born as Prince Rama. Rama was supposed to be king when his father died, but at the last minute, due to some bribery from Rama's stepmother - his father made Rama's brother king instead and banished Rama to the forest for 14 years.
Rama and his other brother Lakshmana and Rama's wife Sita went away to live a simple life in the forest. But when they were living in the forest, the demon Ravana's sister fell in love with Rama and tried to get Rama to leave Sita and come live with her. When Rama said no, Ravana's sister attacked him, but Rama and his brother Lakshmana fought her off.
The demon went back to her brother Ravana on the island of Lanka and complained to him that Rama had been mean to her and had attacked her. This made Ravana extremely angry. Ravana's sister also mentioned Sita's beauty and thought she would make a beautiful queen for her brother. Ravana decided to go to the forest to see Sita for himself.
When Ravana got to the forest, he saw Sita was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and decided to steal her for his own. He tricked Rama and Laksmana into leaving Sita alone, and disguised as a hermit and forest-dweller, snatched Sita and took her back to Lanka with him. Sita was very upset to be taken from her Rama and cried for him every day.
Rama and his brother Laksmana needed help to rescue Sita. They went to see the king of the monkeys, Hanuman, who had the magic power to make himself bigger and smaller, and to be able to leap huge distances. Hanuman sent search parties in all directions to search for Sita, and he himself led the Southern search party. They reached the southern most shores of India and Hanuman leapt across the ocean to the island of Lanka to look for Sita. There he found her, and told her Rama would soon be on his way to rescue her and kill Ravana. Sita was very happy to hear this.
Suddenly Ravana caught Hanuman and set his tail on fire! Hanuman managed to escape Ravana and ran all through the city of Lanka, setting everything on fire! He caused terror and panic in the demons and servants of Ravana.
The demon went back to her brother Ravana on the island of Lanka and complained to him that Rama had been mean to her and had attacked her. This made Ravana extremely angry. Ravana's sister also mentioned Sita's beauty and thought she would make a beautiful queen for her brother. Ravana decided to go to the forest to see Sita for himself.
When Ravana got to the forest, he saw Sita was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and decided to steal her for his own. He tricked Rama and Laksmana into leaving Sita alone, and disguised as a hermit and forest-dweller, snatched Sita and took her back to Lanka with him. Sita was very upset to be taken from her Rama and cried for him every day.
Rama and his brother Laksmana needed help to rescue Sita. They went to see the king of the monkeys, Hanuman, who had the magic power to make himself bigger and smaller, and to be able to leap huge distances. Hanuman sent search parties in all directions to search for Sita, and he himself led the Southern search party. They reached the southern most shores of India and Hanuman leapt across the ocean to the island of Lanka to look for Sita. There he found her, and told her Rama would soon be on his way to rescue her and kill Ravana. Sita was very happy to hear this.
Suddenly Ravana caught Hanuman and set his tail on fire! Hanuman managed to escape Ravana and ran all through the city of Lanka, setting everything on fire! He caused terror and panic in the demons and servants of Ravana.
Hanuman went back to the forest and got Rama and Lakshmana, and they all went back with the whole monkey army to attack the island of Lanka. The monkeys made a bridge over to the island. There was a terrible battle, but finally Rama killed the demon Ravana.
Rama finally could go rescue his wife Sita! The were reunited and went back to Rama's kingdom of Ayodhya where he was welcomed back with big celebrations (Diwali) and crowned king. They lived happily ever after.
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