Category Archives: Celebrations

I guess I am getting too old to celebrate birthdays as I feel really tired after the weekend.

Since I was young, I have loved celebrating birthdays with friends and family. Birthday  was always special to me. After coming to Australia, I kept the tradition and celebrated my birthday with my friends here at first and now I have my family as well.

Many of my friends feel that they are too old to throw a birthday party but I think I will never be old to have some fun in the party. It is all about getting together with loved ones and having some fun.

I always wanted to have a fairy-tale big celebration but until I win lotto, it is not possible so I try my best to make a small celebration with friends and family to make me happy :).

Last year I had a Halloween themed party and it was really fun. To have some fun in the sun, this year we decided to throw a BBQ Pool party. Our apartment has a pool and BBQ area so we decided to make use of it.

I sent my invite more than a month ago and was looking forward for the day. Lots of the people RSVPed but they picked MAYBE as the option. First of all I think Facebook shouldn’t have MAYBE as an option in the invitations as RSVP means YES or NO but some of my friends didn’t even RSVP. So I needed to call them to confirm how many of us were going to be there on the day as I had to shop according to that. But everything went as planned at the end.

The planning had started a month ago. I and AS along with my cousin K didi and her husband sat down and planned things; including food and decorations. I was really excited but as the day can closer it went from exciting to scary. There was shopping to do, decorations to finalise, food to be prepared, and entertainment to be arranged

And unfortunately, I had to work late on Thursday so my BIL and husband went shopping instead. When I got home, most of the shopping was done but there was still preparation to do, so we went to bed late and it was the same story on Friday. So I was bit tired on the big day.

I had invited people from 12 noon so we had to get everything ready really early. I am so glad that I had my cousins and my brother and a friend helping us. Without them, I and my husband couldn’t have accomplished everything.

So some of us tackled the decoration and the rest were busy preparing the food. The entrée was BBQ chicken wings with corn cobs, chips, green salad and Methi (Fenugreek) salad.  It was followed by main which was hot dog, pasta salad, BBQ prawns, and Greek salad. There was beer and soft drinks as well.

It took a while to do the decoration, especially to setup the gazebo, get the banners and balloons up.

Anyway, the decoration was done by 10am and food was prepared by noon. So we waited for the guest to arrive.

The first guest arrived around 1pm and the party began.

The day was not too hot so only a few people went for a swim; the water was cold but it was fun to take a dip.

As the guest arrived, we served them entrée with drinks. When there were enough people, we start the games.

The first was Egg and Spoon Relay but instead of an egg we used table tennis ball. Participants had to carry a ball on a plastic spoon, held between their teeth, across the yard and transport the ball safely across the finish line without dropping it.

I could see how competitive my family and friends were during the game. Some of them were using blue tack and sticky tape to stick the ball to the spoon to win the game but it was a great one to start off the party.

We had competition between boys and then girls.

Then we played bingo which was a long game. Egg and Spoon Relay is a game of probability in which players mark off numbers on cards as the numbers are drawn randomly by a caller, the winner being the first person to mark off all their numbers. Please click here if you want to know the details.

It was fun to call out numbers and my friend DB and my nephew and niece helped me. Everyone was excited to win the game but funny enough out of 6 wins, there were only 4 winners, 2 winning 2 games each.

By then the sun had set and it started getting a bit chilly so we moved the rest of the party upstairs to our apartment.

There we served the mains and we had our usual chitchat. The evening concluded with cake and me getting lots of gifts.

My niece and nephew were more excited than me to blow the candles in the cake so they helped me :).

I am so happy to receive so many wonderful gifts from my family and friends. I was spoiled indeed.

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While looking for games for my own party, I found a few interesting games that can be played during BBQ. Here are some of them.

Clothespin Tag

For those that want physical activity in their picnic game, try a little game of “Clothespin Tag.” Supplies include people (the more the merrier!) and a bag of clothespins. For this picnic game, the clothespins are available at any local variety store. Simply clip 2 or 3 clothespins at various spots on picnic attendee’s shirts. Then yell “GO!” The one with the most clothespins at the end of this picnic game wins!

Chair Balance

Tired, take a seat with this picnic game, “Chair Balance.” See how long you can sit…without a chair! This is a fun activity you can do with your buddies. You’ll need at least six people: four for each chair, one person to remove the chairs, and one person to spot the people on the chairs.

Set four chairs with the front of each chair touching the right side of each chair, making a square. Have your four friends sit on them so each person can lean back and rest his head on another person’s lap. When all four people are lying on each other and their feet are firmly on the ground, take away the chairs. See how long everybody can stay balanced using only your legs.

What in the world are YOU doing?

For those that would enjoy more mental exercise for their picnic game, try this variation on charades, called “What in the world are YOU doing?” To play this picnic game, the first player pretends to do something, like drink water. The next player asks “What in the world are YOU doing?” The first player answers, saying something other than what they were doing. In our example for this game, the first player, who was pretending to drink water might say, “I was driving my car.” Then the second player has to pretend they are driving a car, the third player then goes through the process again. This picnic game is best played fast, and if someone messes up and says what they were actually doing, they are out.

Memory

For some more mental exercise, try a picnic game of “Memory”. Here’s a clue: to your memory be true. To play this game you’ll need a tray full of lots of different objects, a towel, a watch to time the game, and a good memory. Everyone who’s playing gets 15 seconds to stare at the tray with all the objects. Use a watch to keep time. Then cover all the objects on the tray with a towel. Each player has 20 seconds to write down every object she can remember. All the players compare their lists. If anyone has the same objects on their lists, those objects get crossed off. Whoever has the most items not crossed off wins this fun picnic game!

Hot Dog Eating Contest

Seat participants behind a long buffet table or around a circular table and tie each players hands behind their back with a scarf or piece of fabric. Assign a couple people to supervise and assist in the competition. Set a time frame such as 10 minutes to see how many hot dogs each player can consume without using his hands. Include hot dog buns, ketchup, relish and mustard to make the competition more difficult. The supervisors will need to be in charge of distributing the hot dogs to the participants.

Egg and Spoon Relay

If boiled eggs are on the menu, use a few for a relay race. Participants must carry an egg on a wooden spoon across the yard and transport the egg safely to the next racer, who waits with his own spoon. You can use raw eggs for this too, but boiled eggs are less messy, and you can eat the leftovers provided they haven’t smashed on the ground.

Three-legged Race

Pair young and old players in a race across the yard to a finish line. Use bandanas to tie players together by one leg. You can have heats with players of different ages or heights. If you want to make the competition tougher, make an obstacle course. Players have to race around the unlit grill, around picnic tables, etc. to reach the finish line.

Wheel barrow races

 Remember this one? I rocked it as a kid and I am hoping to win today. It is like a supported plank in motion. You might want to warm up a little before this one!

Musical chairs

It is a game played by a group of people (usually children), often in an informal setting purely for entertainment such as a birthday party. The game starts with any number of players and a number of chairs one fewer than the number of players; the chairs are arranged in a circle (or other closed figure if space is constrained; a double line is sometimes used) facing outward, with the people standing in a circle just outside of that. A non-playing individual plays recorded music or a musical instrument. While the music is playing, the players in the circle walk in unison around the chairs. When the music player suddenly stops the music, everyone must race to sit down in one of the chairs. The player who is left without a chair is eliminated from the game, and one chair is also removed to ensure that there will always be one fewer chair than there are players. The music resumes and the cycle repeats until there is only one player left in the game, who is the winner. When down to the last two players the chair may be moved as long as the music has stopped before the chair has been touched.