Pihu's FIRST Birthday

Pihu's big day... girls grow so fast, isn't it? Its already a year and this little lady of mine is so grown up. It took almost a week to finalize the birthday invites and almost 2 months to plan for her big day.

VENUE: We chose the same restaurant where my dad's golden jubilee was celebrated The grand Solitaire hotel @ parklane, this was an easy decision as at that time shash was not in city and the venue booking was to be done immediately so I didn't have any opposition in choosing this place. :)

DECOR: The hotel has a designated in house decorators and we have to go with them only. The funda of the hotel is the inhouse decorators cause less damage to their walls. This is how the main entrance was decorated.

MAIN STAGE: This is how the main stage was decorated. The blue flower in the middle was a spoil sport but I choose to ignore it as anyways it will get hidden behind the table and people.

BIRTHDAY DRESS: I guess for the dress alone I spent almost a month. I have been to the bestest best stores in hyderabad but I did not like anything. I wanted something other than pink, orange and purple(as dint want her to get lost in the decor) but yet girlish and stylish. Also I dint want the conventional ghagara choli or the fluffy party frocks. Almost ran out of stores, then on the last and final day of my planned shopping i.e. just a week before her birthday I found one long frock at a store near Paradise.(not able to recollect its name).

This is how my angel looked like on her BIG DAY.....!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of Course smile is missing but I couldn't expect much from her, she was in state of confusion seeing huge crowd. The good thing was she did not make a fuss and accepted everyone's wishes calmly.

WELCOME: Pihu's entrance into the venue was as wonderful as her dress. Me and Shash walked her into the room and she received a flower shower welcome from all her grandma's, grandpa's, maama's, mausi's and relatives. Even though this time I dint invite all my relatives, as we already had a grand cradle ceremony with all paternal and maternal side near and dear ones, even this limited crowd was large enough to keep me busy. Below is the welcome pic.

BIRTHDAY CAKE: In India getting a awesome cake means spending atleast 5000 Rs/- and considering pihu's age we knew that she wont be able to enjoy so we thought to keep this expensive cakes last in the list. Infact we removed it from the list and went for a regular photo cake. I am sure once pihu is grown up this will be a top priority item for all her parties.

We ordered the cake from Monginis which was once a very famous bakers infact my dad's golden jubilee cake was simply superb. This is how pihu's birthday cake looked like, it was not near to atleast 50% of what was shown to us but nevertheless not too bad as well. It was supposed to be a open book with the princess photo on one side and number 1 on other. {I guess the bakers need to get some handwriting lessons. :) }
Take some chocolates and shower your blessings is what the below pic reminds me always. However the chocolates were mostly consumed by pihu. This actually kept her busy during the photo-shoots with the guests.

FAMILY PICS: With Paternal Grand Parents & family.

With Maternal grand parents & family 

KIDS: Only few kids turned up to the party. Most of the parents came alone as it was raining. Most of the kids below are pihu's first cousins or my second cousins. :)

ENTERTAINMENT: Her loving mausis planned for some entertainment with some music and dance.

Pihu with M and Papa. After the long frock I changed her dress with this cute little spaghetti top frock which Shash bought for Dubai. He was so happy when I dressed her in this frock. Actually he wanted this frock as her first dress... sorry hubby as usual first my choice and then yours ;)

RETURN GIFTS: For ladies I choose to give golden bangle box along with thamboolam(betel leaf, betel nut, fruit and turmeric & Vermillion Powder packet) as return gifts and for kids I divided in different categories.

1. For school goers : Examination pads(ben10 for guys and barbies for girls)

2. For few toddlers: House shape Coin banks(blue for boys and pink for girls)

3. For few toddlers: Burger shaped tiffin boxes.[As we dint get enough coin banks]

4. For her grown up mausis: Red color velvet earring holder box.

all along with smiley balls and chocolates.

SPECIAL WOW MOMENT: The whole party pihu was quite and calm, though she did not cry but at the same time she was not smiling so I can't think of any wow moment from the party. But on the same day morning we went to Mother India Orphanage near Mirjalguda. We spent some quality time with kids over there & distributed chocolates, books, pens, pencils and balls. I think this was the special wow moment for not just pihu even for me.

God bless you dear.....!! Wish you all the happiness of life.  Hope when you grow up and read this you will not have any complaints or regrets against us. We gave our 101% to make your "special day" a life looooooooooooong lasting memory. 

- Luv you a lot M&Papa.