The Transformers Party: Birthday # 6 for the EO

Yesterday was the Niece's birthday. She turned three. Bless you sweetheart, may you always be the adorable, joyful entertainer and chatterbox that you are now!

Today, is Maa-Janoni's birthday. Happy birthday my Mamma. Having you near me is like having heaven nearby. Thank God for you and may good health and the spiritual happiness that you draw your strength from, always be yours.

I've been having the blahs! lately (duh! as if you haven't noticed!), which is why I haven't posted much in the past two weeks. Even though there have been things to write about, I'm just not getting the motivation to type it all out :(

This blog of mine was started primarily to record significant events and moments in my life as a mom and more so, about my boys. Even if I ever stop writing about all 'the other stuff', I hope to continue this blog of mine as a memoir of my boy's birthdays.

And that's why, 27 days after he turned six years old, I'm writing about my EO's birthday party. For him.

While he's been eagerly looking forward to birthdays for the last three years, this was the first time that he actually stared a countdown for it. So every morning, he'd wake up and say, "You know Mamma, only 'x' more days for my birthday and then how old I will be then? SIX YEARS OLD!!" Man! The little dude just couldn't wait to turn six. I on the other hand was praying desperately for a formula to stop time...

Last year was the big 'Ben 10' birthday party. In this past one year, master Ben Tennyson has turned five years older...something that is possible, I believe, in the wonderful world of TeeVee Land. The taller, ganglier look and the leap in age weren't the only things new about the precocious, alien-transforming, boy-hero. Also new were ten more alien avatars. While I can reel off the names of the earlier ten avatars in less than five seconds, I'm still trying to figure out what's what with the new alien life forms. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the EO wanted a Ben 10 Alien Force birthday party...and I nearly aged five years myself at the thought of procuring return gifts concurrent with the theme.

So I put my foot down and turned my little boy's sunny smile upside down...and hated myself for it. So I promised, unthinkingly and unwittingly, that whatever else he chose, I would definitely do, I would not say "No, can't be done!" Yes, I'm stupid like that. Because the theme he chose was 'The Transformers'. I begged him to go back to alien avatars and teen heroes, but he wouldn't budge.

Yup! Stupid, stupid, stupid! STUPID! That's me! I guess I thoroughly deserved it!

Along with the theme, the EO also chose the place for his party. A really cool video-game parlour plus bowling alley near our place, called 'Sparkz'. We'd been there for a couple of birthdays and the kids always have a blast! The star attraction of the place? The bumper cars!!

And yes, on the 14th of September this year, my EO and his friends had a blast royale! Because the age range is so wide, from less than a year to 15 years, we need to consider games and activities that everyone can enjoy. Now, thanks to the bumper cars and video games, the 5+ age group was well-covered. I needed a couple of things for the younger lot to enjoy. Since the food zone, where all the cake-cutting and eating was scheduled to take place, was nice and big, the MIM and I asked for some extras...such as a tattoo artist, a ball pool and a bouncy castle.

There was 95% turn-out and the kids went wild. The MIM was in-charge of the bumper car section and at one point during the chaos, I actually thought he was going to be trampled underfoot in a mini stampede!

The Grandparents Generation had all turned up, beautifully dressed and smiling indulgently at the noise and general hullabaloo. My parents, the SIL's mom and MIM's parents, three aunts and an uncle made up that generation.

There were thermacol cut-outs of various Transformers all around the party area; four Autobots (the good machino-techno-thingumies) and one Decepticon (the evil ones). And this I have to say -- the cut-outs were mind-blowing! Every year we have theme appropriate, thermacol cut-outs to decorate the party zone and normally made by the party planner. This year, we had to use the Sparkz guy and I am so, SOOOOO glad that we did, because he did a phenomenal job! The Autobots of choice were Optimus Prime (leader and my EO's favourite), Bumblebee, Jazz and Ratchet. The only Decepticon representative was Megatron, the leader. (Yes, I know all this stuff. I know about Hot Wheels and Bakugan and Power Rangers too! I wish I didn't, but I doooo....)

The delicious chocolate cake had the Autobot logo drawn out in icing and the khoi bag was also a tribute to Optimus Prime. The food was catered by Don Giovani, a well-known food joint as well as in-house caterer at Sparkz. On the menu, we had veg pizzas with baby corn, onion and tomato toppings; freshly made dosa with a plethora of chutneys and sambhar; veg chowmein; chicken lollipops, chicken burgers, chips and cold drinks. Everybody ate well and raved about the food. Personally, I loved the chicken lollipops but the burgers could have been better.

And so, another birthday came to an end. The icing on the cake? My EO thanking me and saying that this birthday party of his was not just cool but "super-cool"!

And that's where I get the strength to do it all over again!