How to celebrate in this lockdown?

by - 5/19/2021

 

The year 2020 went away in a whim. What started as an unfortunate dream, gradually established itself as a permanent nightmare. When I celebrated a very sad birthday last year, I was confident that it was my first and last quarantine birthday. Fast forward one year and we are in deeper waters. I know, it sucks. Halted celebrations are just a tiny peck in the plethora of troubles; the fear of going out is bad, the anxiety of catching the infection is worse and seeing loved ones suffer or God forbid pass away is the WORST.

What I have learned is that we have to take each day as it comes and be grateful for every.single.thing. We should just celebrate being alive and healthy. Hence birthdays and important dates should not take a back seat; they should be the driving factor in our otherwise mundane, stressful life.

Our younger daughter's first birthday was celebrated in a way that wasn't what I had wanted it to be. I know first birthdays are overrated but still I wished it was grand. It was in January 2020 and I had been planning a big bash on her 2 nd birthday (ie January 2021) since then. However destiny had something else in mind and we are still in this Corona lockdown.

However this year I refused to admit defeat. Since pictures are a big part of my life, I decided to make the party photo friendly.  So even we couldn't go out, I made sure the memories are pretty enough! Given the party planner I am, I put up a very intimate gathering with her parents and her two sets of grandparents and here I am doing a photo dump and some tips which you might find useful.

1. Choose a venue (inside your home)

Designate a place where you can decorate and eat and click. I chose one wall of  the living room. Because it's the most open area of our home and it gets the best natural light. I chose an ombre screen.

2. Choose a theme: As you might have guessed, it was a Mermaid party.  I tried to emulate an underwater ambiance.  A pretty mermaid balloon, Mermaid birthday banner, two shells, lots of confetti balloons and an Ariel cake. 

3.. Choose a color theme.  I chose white and grey and blue.  Dress up and decorate accordingly. 

4. Decide on a menu which you love but not consume regularly.  I cooked up a storm and it turned out delicious (according to everybody). 

5. Last but not the least, do not forget gifts and return gifts! Grandparents don't expect anything but when you give them something (as trivial as a box of chocolates and chips), it brings a smile on their face. Of course our elder daughter was more excited for this party than her little sister. We had gifts for both of them and party favours for the older members. It was basically killing multiple birds with the same stone: little one's birthday party celebration+ family get together+a party for our elder one+my mommy duties fulfilled.

I was satisfied because I have something to show my daughters for 2021 when they grow up. It was a bitter sweet feeling. Sad because it could not be grand, grateful because we have our family.  We have roof above our heads, food on our plate and are healthy.  Thankful for all the things in life.  Hoping for a better future for this world. The pandemic lockdown has been an integral part of my little one's development.  She has learned to walk and talk in 2020 . I still can't believe that I am a mom of two and this tiny insect has been in my life for 2 years! 

How have you been celebrating in this lockdown?

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13 comments

  1. I really love the birthday theme and the cake. And yes I am totally agree with you that we have learned is that we have to take each day as it comes and be grateful for every single thing.

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  2. Very nice and colourful theme. The important thing is the kids are happy and the family is bonding together. As you mentioned in these times, we need to take each moment as it comes.

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  3. The pictures tell about the wonderful time you have had during the celebration. Pandemic surely taught us the ways to celebrate in simple yet amazing ways.

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  4. True, I can feel you on this, my kids miss celebrating with friends but I try to make it special by inviting grandparent,mama,masi. Happy Birthday to your daughter

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  5. What a wonderful way to celebrate birthdays in this lockdown situation, Thanks for sharing the tips for the same. I tend to be clueless about planning something so this will surely help.

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  6. A lovely event and what wonderful memories for everyone in the family. Love the theme

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  7. What a lovely celebration, Mandira! It's so good to see the big family having a gala time celebrating the second birthday of your princesses. Congratulations from both me and Sadhna :)

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  8. I really love the birthday theme and the cake. Birthday party is special. A lovely event and what wonderful memories for everyone in the family.

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  9. I really loved the theme and the cake . I always keen to read your posts as you bring new ideas and information in every post. We really should implement this home celebration concept.

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  10. These pics tell about the lovely birthday celebrations that you all had. Fabulous. Yes we too had an amazing lockdown bday in 2020with fun cakes and decor guess 2021 is going to be the same too.

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  11. Such a happy post and a great way to celebrate. This just shows that lockdown need not stop the acts of celebrations and cherishing each other. Love the theme and the cake looks beautiful.

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  12. Awesome and interesting article. Great things you've always shared with us. Thanks. Just continue composing this kind of post.

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