A Birthday Party

Saturday night we attended a birthday party for Travis' coworker's one year old son. It was so exciting to celebrate a 1st birthday with a very sweet couple and their precious son. It made me realize that in just over 2 months we will have a birthday celebration for our little girl. Time is going so fast!

We arrived at the party's start time. In India things start on IST (India Standard Time, better known as India Stretchable Time). The other party goers and the family didn't arrive until half an hour after we did. It was fine to relax and play with our kids while we waited.

The "cake ceremony" began soon after the party started, where the parents held their son and foam was sprayed into the air while music played. The parents cut the cake with their son's hand and the parents fed him cake with their hands. In the same way, the parents fed each other cake. It was sweet to watch and reminded me of wedding receptions back home. Then the parents fed cake to their parents and siblings as well.

The presents were taken to the child one by one, by the gift's bearer. Each party brought the gift to the boy and then the group posed for a photograph with the birthday boy holding his gift. He didn't open the gifts at the party.

After cake and presents, an unusual game was played. It was called "Where's the Bomb." It was basically like musical chairs, except when the music stopped you had to stop at one of four corners. In each corner stood a chair with a sign bearing the name of an international city. The hostess called out the one of the four city names saying, "The bomb's in _________!" Everyone who was not standing by the city name that was called cheered.

After the game, party favors were distributed to the children present. I was embarrassed because I mistakenly received the present for my daughter with my left hand. The birthday boy's mom was gracious and didn't seem too alarmed. Maybe she was being forgiving of the foreigner.

It was really neat to see how people from another culture celebrate a birthday.