The trigger for my #1 favorite party was listening to a friend describe the shock on the face of her 7 year old son when a belly dancer shimmied in front of him. That image had been percolating in my brain for a while. Pinky's first birthday after changing schools again (she transferred from Greenwich Academy to Convent of the Sacred Heart) needed to be a memorable one. I had to invite the entire new class, old class, and old friends from Chapin, riding, and anything else. The purpose was to reassure the old friends that they weren't forgotten, and show the new ones that we didn't live that far away (we did) to be included in playdates, and reassure the new mothers that I was one of them (I wasn't). You already know from the foreshadowing that I hired a belly dancer. But in my typical way, I lost my mind creating the atmosphere to make this act logical.
First, I found a great dancer (she was a kindergarten teacher in real life); she had a wonderful warm personality and while still in a caftan helped with the games and food management. This paid off when she revealed herself to the children as a dervish of exotic dance and allure. They only lost it times 100 - it could have been 1001.
I made a sensible plan to have low middle eastern tray tables, carpets and pillows on the floor, and food that only needed fingers: crudités, chicken nuggets, stuffed grape leaves, chips and juice boxes.
Then I pondered the cake. I must have been thinking like a pharaoh, a very big plan. I decided to make an interpretation of middle eastern architecture, and considering my ambition vs. my equipment and skill, I did a pretty great job. I ended up with a very large simulation of the Blue Mosque, sort of. I made the main building by cooking the cake in a medium stainless steel bowl, then inverting it on top of a square cake chunk to create a dome shaped building. Iced simply. It was good. I then took it over the top by creating four Very Tall minarets from rickety stacks of oreos stuck together with icing, capped by pointy mallomars. They were highly successful visually until you moved them. I used tall skinny candles, and it took three of us to get the cake to the birthday girl without incident. Fortunately it was devoured instantly leaving no time for negative commentary. This creation only took me an entire day.
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| Necessity, The Mother of Invention |
The morning of the party the scene was already set with the tables, etc. but somehow it didn't seem enough (are you surprised?) We got out the ladder and I suspended colored votives from the chandelier. Still needed more. I rummaged around and found a 20 ft long piece of crimson scarf cotton. It looked fabulous pulled across the walls, dropping the ceiling and adding a rosy glow. To me, it still looked like Connecticut. Here comes the genius idea. I would use white tempera paint and create a lattice pattern into the French doors using a moorish design. There were eight of these windows. And I painted those suckers until the first car came down the drive. Hours of labor. Not a single person noticed. I am certain that the experience had more romantic impact because of this, but I live in a Fool's Paradise.
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| Note Votives |
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| You Can Just Make Out the Moorish Design in the Windows |
Eventually I was satisfied.
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| BEARab Greeter |
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| Princess Adelaide |
The party guests were wonderfully costumed, though some left me scratching my head. As always I took a portrait photo as they arrived, and then we began. This time no pass the parcel. First we played the game where you show an object they couldn't recognize and ask them to write down what they think it is. Lemon zesters, melon ballers, old timey egg beaters, for example.
Then we brought out a tray of 10 things and asked them to memorize them, then covered it up and saw who had guessed the most, adding another object each round. Prizes were handed out and suddenly Egyptian music issued from the library around the corner where the dancer had de-caftaned and waited for her cue.
As the music crescendoed she shot from her hiding place all spangles and hair and scarves. She was beautiful, and her dancing was so unexpected that rather than fainting, the children broke into hysterical laughter. After her amazing performance she taught all of us a version of a Bedouin dance, and, as you can see, they loved it.
The party broke up when one of the mothers arrived with a cute older brother in tow. All the girls ran screaming into the library, afraid that they would be mocked for their dancing. Little did they know what a valuable skill this could be in their adult lives.
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| Grandmother and Aunt Elizabeth |
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| Ever Game Aunt Elizabeth and Pinky
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