Real Parties in Dubai: Little Mermaid Themed Birthday Party

I am swoooning over this Mermaid themed birthday party organised by the very creative team at 3flowers. They had me at those gorgeous mermaid costumes for all the little guests. Big task but what fun!!

Sadly, when I wrote to them inquiring about the party details, I was informed that they no longer live in Dubai and have moved to Switzerland. But there is so much inspiration in these pictures that I had to share them. Such a girly theme this is :-)

P.S. Lots more inspiration on mermaid theme parties here and here.

P.P.S. More ‘Real Parties’ posts here featured on the blog including Parisian, Airline, Bollywood, Baby Einstein and Circus themes.

(Images courtesy 3flowersinabucket.com)

Real Parties in Dubai: Circus Themed Grown-Up Birthday Party

In today’s post of Real Parties, I am thrilled to bring you a super fun Circus themed party that my dear friend, Geetu Ahuja organised to celebrate her birthday. I loved her theme implementation in the games, cake, decor, photo booth and drinks.

The highlight of the event, for me, was the photo booth. I have always loved this whole concept of photo booths for a long long time. They always bring so much to an event. And at Geetu’s party, the photo booth set-up and execution, by Imprint Design, was just fantastic. The props were so in tune with the theme. I’ll let the pictures do the talking :-)

Cake in theme

Games in theme

Geetu’s always chosen fun themes to bring in her big day. Here’s what she has to say:‘There comes this time in a year, where for some reason I just want my friends and me to get our souls 'inside out' cos I truly want to celebrate the significance from growing a year in maturity to living another year of life with some 'crazy spice'. Maintaining the trend of my desi videsi themes in the past, I landed up with my latest recipe of "Geets da cirque" for this year’s celebrations.’

P.S. More ‘Real Parties’ posts here including Parisian, Airline, Bollywood and Baby Einstein themes.

Pinterest Picks: Offbeat Invites

Invites, according to me, play quite an important role in getting guests enthusiastic for a gathering/ party/ event, etc. That said, we do not always have the time or want to invest too much in them. Which is why I am loving this first pick for the post. It’s a great picture invite, so DIY, and easily customizable for any event. Perfect for to be circulated via the web.

Below are some more fantastic ones that I found very unique but will need considerable time and effort.

1. Sparklers with matches included: ideal for any celebratory event or even a farewell as seen below
2. & 3. Ideal for little and big boy events such as birth announcements and birthdays

 
4. Corset invite perfect for a bachelorette or a girls only birthday celebration
5. Ballerina invites for little and big girl parties
6. Egg invites for a birth announcement or baby shower

P.S. You can see more invite ideas on my Pinterest board here.
P.P.S All image sources are available from my Pinterest page too.

Get Inspired: Ganpatiji on a Ferrari

I’ve always seen a very traditional take on decorations for Ganesh Chaturthi, and understandably so – it is a traditional festival after all. But when I saw Ganpati on a Ferrari recently at my neighbor’s, I quite loved the influx of modernity to the usual decor, and how the idea was brought to fruition by a simple yet stunning addition.

This cut-out style car would also be great for a car themed party, as a photo booth set-up or backdrop for the food/ dessert/ giveaway tables.

(P.S. Big thanks to Meenakshi and Anita Khanchandani for allowing me share this)

Super Fun & Hilarious Group Game (With Free Printable)

I love playing group games. I think they help people bond so much better. A few months ago, I combined four of my favorite games, Dares + Movie Quiz + Clay Pictionary + Charades, into one, so, instead of playing one game, you play a medley. It was an instant hit!

The beauty of this game is you can customise the four games and the tasks under each game based on the age group of your guests – so it can be a family, kiddie or adult game ;D or for a special occasion such as a baby or bridal shower.

How to play:
I created a quick and simple table with four columns, each for a game category mentioned above, and assigned points depending on difficulty and fun levels ;D. Therefore, Dares came out with the highest points, followed by Charades, Clay Pictionary and Movie Quiz. Under each category, I listed 10 challenges.

On a separate sheet, to be used by the game host only, I selected and listed 10 each of dares, movie quiz questions, clay pictionary words and modified famous sayings for charades (a twist to the usual movie charades ;D).

We made two teams, 10 players each, and gave each team the opportunity to chose a category and a number within the category, and accordingly they had to perform their challenge. Strike of the number on the table below as the challenge in a category is completed. So for instance, if a team chooses No. 5 from the Dare category, that gets struck off.

 Download image here

Since dares are assigned the highest marks, our sporty friends dived straight into it, and with the kind of dares I had lined up, we all just LOLd away!

While the internet is loaded with inspiration, if you wish to receive my copy of the challenges for the various categories, just send me an e-mail on nishka (dot) manglani (at) gmail (dot) com or leave me a comment below.

Real Parties in Dubai: Paris Inspired Baby Shower

I’m so excited to share with you a gorgeous Parisian themed baby shower held recently for one of the warmest women I know in Dubai, Simran Ramsinghani.

I am in love with how the theme was executed and the attention to detail - a beautiful French restaurant oozing of softness, romanticism, Eiffel towers, balloons, pink poodles, yummy food and desserts. J'adore! 

This theme would also be so amazing for a birthday party or a bridal shower. Simran’s kindly shared with us the party details and vendors in Dubai who assisted her family and friends in bringing this memorable event together. Read below for details :-)

Invites often give the first signs of how an event will be. This one had awesome written all over it.

Super chic decor with lovely baby-esque messages incorporated

Check out the themed cupcakes, sippers and personalised bottle wrappers, C’est magnifique!

Blessed parents-to-be, Rohit and Simran

Returns/ Favors - fine chocolates in Tiramisu, Panna Cotta, Dark Lemon and Pepper flavors

The photo booth set-up complete with laced umbrella, hand fan as props

   
**********

Party Details, as told by Simran:

It took me a long time to come up with a theme that would suit my personality, be a sweet memory of a lifetime and also be one that everyone (men, women and children) could relate to.  An Evening in Paris fit the bill - romantic, graceful, soft, glamorous, creative, manageable, unique, fun, and suits my personality of a coffee shop dreamer/gazer who likes to be in her thoughts. 

The core team had a lot of fun putting the baby shower together with this theme. I thoroughly enjoyed conceptualizing and visualizing it - such good memories of creative juices flowing from each and every one in the planning committee.

The foil balloons, the Eiffel tower sippers, the Eiffel tower cut outs, the poodle paper plates and poodle printed glasses – were ordered online and shipped from the US. Ritu from Creative Box is my magic fairy to convert all my demands and wishes into reality :)

All these efforts and gestures put together, and the flow of energy, love, warmth and blessings on the day of the event itself, and the lovely photographs captured by Melrish make it a precious memory that brought me closer to my family and friends in such a beautiful way. Bless, xxx 

Vendor Details:

Venue: Bistro Madeleine, Intercontinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City
Invitations, decor, return/favor packaging and all the creative detailing: Creative Box
Cake: Sherry’s Cakes
Cupcakes: Sugaholic
Photography: Melrish
Returns: Finer Things, the fine foods' store next to Barracuda Beach Resort,  Umm Al Quwain
Simran’s hair and make-up: Punam Rani

P.S. If you have organised or attended or know of a really cool party and want it to be featured in this section, please send me an e-mail on nishka [dot] manglani [at] gmail [dot] com.

Real Parties in Dubai: Baby Einstein Themed First Birthday

One of the top Google search keywords that has been bringing a large number of visitors to my blog is planning and organising parties in Dubai, thanks to a post I had written on the subject a while ago.  

This insight has led to the birth of a brand new section on the eve of my blog’s third anniversary  =D. My dear readers, I am super excited to introduce ‘Real Parties’, a column dedicated to all those people looking for some real inspiration and local vendor details, to showcase creatively organised real parties in the country, and the region, to inspire and assist you in planning your next event.

To kick start this series, I have an awesome Baby Einstein themed party that Sarika Aidasani threw to celebrate her son, Ranveer’s first birthday. Sarika left no stone unturned to ensure her son, her family and their guests have a fabulous time. Below she gives us an overview of how she went about putting this wonderful party together. She has also very kindly shared vendor details that I have summarized at the end of the post.

 
I have loved organising events for the longest time I can remember. It all started off with social events such as Diwali parties, weddings, annual galas and then professionally moved on to corporate events (as part of being a PR consultant).

For Ranveer’s party, I chose the theme ‘Baby Einstein’ since in the last one year, he has lived by these DVDs. We have used it to cheer him up, to distract him, to keep him calm and what not. So I thought why not this be the theme?

Once my venue was decided, Gloria Hotel, I got started on the invite. My friend Deepti Rupaney Taimni (DR Design Co.), a well known graphic designer in Dubai, made me a design that worked perfectly with the theme.

While the invites were distributed, I was still working on the return. It took me the longest to decide these. I finally found the return that I liked. It was an imprint kit, a photo frame (gift supplied by Customise Me: 055 6563141 & packaged by Treasure Box: 050 7646362). I wanted to give something personalised but it was not easy to personalise the frame as I think it would damage it. So I decided to make stickers of each child with their full name and initial, which they can use on anything such as giving gifts, on their stationery and/or any belongings. I have had great feedback from my guests, so glad many of them really liked it.

Then the cake - this was simple. I didn’t want to take any chances, so I got it from Choco’a. I had tried and tested them several times and was very pleased with the cake when I saw it.

 
So now that the main things were sorted, I had to decide on an entertainment company and the options I’d like to offer my guests. For this, I felt, let’s stick to the basics. You can never judge a child’s mood and to try and do something totally different could be a bit risky. Hence, I went for the basic games, bouncy castle, face painter, hair braiding, tattoos, balloon bending, bubble machine and a soft play area for the little ones. Ranveer wasn’t walking then, so I wanted to make sure that there is something for his age group too.

I rented all of my entertainment from Crash and Castles (+971(4)3948422) who also helped me to do the décor. For the soft play, I stumbled upon Toys On Rent, really a life saver as I didn’t have all these toys and in this size. It was so very convenient. They dropped it off and picked it up.

There were special balloon arrangements made to serve as centerpieces on each table.

We also added little print outs of Ranveer’s party theme at the back of each chair instead of balloons.

I even made separate passage ways for entrance and exit as I didn’t want people to come in and leave from the same place and had placed roll up banners at all possible points to guide the people coming into the hotel.This made it easy to lay out the gift table (receiving) and organise the return gift table (done alphabetically).

All of this has been beautifully captured in pictures by the photographers I had at the event. I had a photo studio set up, done by Imprint Design, which was a chance for all guests to experience professional photography and make memories that would last them a lifetime.

 
To cover the entire party, I had three photographers as I wanted one to just focus on Ranveer and the family, while two photographers covered the event. I am so happy I had a number of photographers on hand as these are the priceless memories I am left with from the day.

Vendor Details:

Venue: Gloria Hotel
Invitation:DR Design Co
Decor and Entertainment: Crash and Castles
Toys rental: Toys On Rent
Return gifts: Customise Me: 055 6563141
Return gift wrapping: Treasure Box: 050 7646362
Photo booth:Imprint Design
Photographer for family: KR Creations
Photographer for event: Melrish Photography

Darling Anniversary Celebrations

I am forever being charmed by the gorgeous celebration parties that get posted over in the blogosphere. Such attention to detail, super creativity and how it all comes so beautifully together.

Below is an image of a dessert table setting from a 40th anniversary party Kami put together for her parents, something that would work very well for a birthday too.

You can see more pictures and read details here.

Balloon Up Someone’s Day

We associate most things in our life with something. A balloon, for instance, to me is a sign of something special, something celebratory :) especially the helium ones.

With the festive season around, or for any occasion really, here’s a few ways you can perk up someone’s day with one or a few balloons :)

Apt as signage or to wish someone or to propose or to express love or…

Wrap them up in a box, and when the recipient opens..voila! what a perfect present :)

Use them in invites, greeting cards, save-the-dates, love letters…

(All above images via Oh Happy Day!)

  
Or as a stand alone theme or an integral part of a party inspired by the movie ‘Up’ ;D

(Image via Hostess with the Mostess)

Eat, Pray, Love Themed Bridal Shower

When I saw this bridal shower inspired by my one of my favoritest books, Eat, Pray, Love over at Project Wedding, I knew I had to share it with Lifealicious readers. Coz just like me I’m sure you have some very dear friends who adore the book and would looovvvee to have a shower just like that :)

   

Photo credit: Dionne Christiansen via Project Wedding

Get Inspired - Outdoor Party on a Budget

The weather in Dubai is slowly beginning to cool down, a tiny wee bit day by day and those handful of cooler months are not so far away.

Which is why this dinner party setting  at such a stunning venue appealed to me so greatly. And how very budget friendly too. We have some nice beaches and parks here where this can be beautifully recreated.

Read more about it on Jordan Ferney’s blog, Oh Happy Day!, here.

 

 
Photo credit: Paul Ferney via Oh Happy Day!

Update: If you can’t find these Christmas battery operated lights here in Dubai, you could use battery operated candles (picture below) available in various sizes at the Pottery Barn store in Mirdif City Centre.

Ideas & Resources for Birthday Party Planning in Dubai

It was hubby’s birthday last week and since the beginning of the month my mind was going berserk thinking what to do. Guess its natural to feel that way when you want to make someone’s day very special :) After lots of research, thinking, consulting and help, it all came together really well.

The reason I’m talking about this is so I can share with you all the wonderful resources I have come across online that you can refer to for any adult birthday party you are organising. There’s pot loads of ideas out there for kids parties but very little good inspiration for adults.

One site that I totally digged was Party Perfect Blog. There are  tones of ideas and posts on real parties that will get your creative juices flowing. You can find all her posts on birthday parties for grown-ups here.

(Images Via)

The other fab blogs you can refer to include Birthday Girl, Creative Party Place and Hostess with the Mostess.

If you’re in Dubai and stuck for venues, go to Time Out Dubai. They have just about every hotel/ restaurant/ bar or pub  in the city  reviewed with prices, directions and contact details. Must say for the most part, they seem to get it quite right.

For gifts, if you are looking for something unusual or an experience, the team over at Dream Days will give you a great helping hand in putting something together.

And for those in the city that have crazy ideas when it comes to entertainment or any creative resource that you may need for your party but don’t know where to go, log onto Dubizzle. It’s amazing - I struggled to find a guitar player cum singer and then logged on to this site and found one in a few hours :)

Having said all this, must add that no matter how creative you are or how big or small or whacky your ideas, when it comes to making a birthday special, the most important ingredients are your family and friends. If you get them together, the rest (fun, laughter, good times and good things) just follows :)

I hope these ideas will help you when you’re putting together a birthday surprise/party/present for that special someone.