Planning a kids birthday party at home.

Birthday party planning..... Well I am generally very upbeat about planning small/big time events at home. My mind starts working overtime leaving me sleepless with various ideas.Some executionable and some not. I have successfully had three birthdays at home for my now five year old son.

Let me start giving you the insight.
One was in Gurgaon in year 2010 and the rest two are in Mumbai. Gurgaon : being a Delhite I swear by the city and find everything easily available especially if u are in the city of Gurgaon. A few things that are a must in my party are 1- balloon decoration 2- streamers 3- banners 4- character cake. So I started searching for a shop which gives me everything in birthday party supplies. I searched the galleria market... Found the decoration expenses over priced. A visit to Sadar bazaar market in Gurgaon was great. There's a shop in the market by the name of "utsav". I got the balloons, streamers, piñata, return gifts from here. He sent one person for decoration of ballons on the birthday and it was economical and quick too.i have somehow lost this guys contact number but I assure google should be helpful. It's a two storeyed shop in the middle of the main lane of Sadar bazaar market. A must try .... He has everything.. I did not like the confectionary but he makes cakes on order. Choice of cake shops is huge in Gurgaon.

 Now to Mumbai. Well, as most people who shift from Delhi, Suburbs are the best places to stay. We are in Andheri East. 2011 birthday planning sent me to all nooks and corner of nearby markets like Alfa, Takshila, station (Andheri and goregaon),oberoi mall and The Hub.Finally I decided to buy the return gifts from Takshila market( Priority shop) and decoration from Archie's in The Hub mall.I order all confectionary from Croissonts. I ordered a McQueen car cake which turned out delicious and beautiful.He is a self confessed car freak.

The fifth birthday was also celebrated at home. After searching a lot of stationary and toy shops I decided to give return gifts : a table mat with cartoon characters like McQueen, ben10, Cinderella , snow white, winny the pooh. I bought them from home store, lifestyle. Funskool travel games from First choice, takshila market. This shop has amazing gifts and return gifts apart from great gift item options. He also has books of various kinds.color books, activity books. Crossword stores also keeps great variety of activity books which can be given as return gifts.
Decoration :- cheap jack at Bandra hill road and richirich at Santacruz has very good buying options.
Look for plastic transparent glasses in the disposable glass category. Cheap jack also stores awesome laces and buttons. A shop worth trying. Archie's at the Hub mall also has good options of disposable paper plates, glasses, plastic table cloth, paper napkins and Invites. 

As far as the menu goes:- following options were a great hit in all these parties
- twisters
- donut bites from Mad over Donuts
- garlic bread from Dominos
- masala idly bites
- home made popcorns
- French fries
- pan pizzas from pizza hut
- smileys
- fruits on skewers
Games :-
- dart game
- follow the steps
- pin the donkeys tale
- musical chair
Tattoo artist and Magic show are also enjoyable.

Here's wishing a tension free and organised birthday party.

- chocolate cake fountain. ( I could not arrange for a fountain so I gave each kid a small size bowl filled with chocolate to dip the cake pieces arranged on tooth picks).
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