Vibhav's amazingly awesome fairy tale birthday extravaganza

One benefit to foreign service life is that our kids get to go to great schools, where they make friends of all backgrounds. Evie and Samuel go to Alphabet Playschool, an Indian school not far from our house. Their classmates are other expats and Indians from middle or upper middle class families ... with a few of the super-rich thrown in.

Not long ago, Evie was invited to her friend Vibhav's birthday party. Oh my goodness. Vibhav is the only child of parents from two of India's super wealthy families. The house, which is on the bank of the Adyar River and just down the street from the Madras Boat Club, is like a museum, complete with marble floors, columns, and lit works of art. The party was in the back yard, two levels of manicured lawn and statuary.

The party itself was basically a private carnival with a fairy tale theme. I actually took notes so I wouldn't forget all the extravagance, er ... details.

There was a bouncy castle ... not too unusual for around here, actually.

I took the photos with my phone, so they're pretty awful. Sorry about that.

There was cotton candy. There were two professional still photographers and one videographer wandering the grounds. There was also a photographer with a tripod taking photos of the kids with cardboard cutouts of storybook characters. There was a man making and handing out clay animals. There was a sketch artist (who did a nice sketch of Evie, though she sort of looks like an Indian version of herself), a man doing face painting and body art, and a whole line of cooks preparing fresh samosas and other snacks. Dinner was served, as was cake (of course). There was a puppet show and a treasure hunt and a fairy tale quiz game. There was an emcee screaming into a microphone whose voice was amplified far too loudly. The gift bag we took home was worth about five times the gift we brought for Vibhav. It was insanity, I tell you!



Evie and her friend Owen ready for the puppet show. Notice the WATERFALL in the background.

Kids gathered for the puppet show. Check out the decorations.

Evie was actually a little overwhelmed at first, as were quite a few of the other kids. It didn't take her too long to start enjoying herself, though. What kid doesn't like having treats and fun rammed down her throat?