Birthday party

Jaden was invited to a birthday party this weekend by one of the girls in his class.  I was rather excited for the opportunity to take him as it was a Qatari family and I've never been to a Qatari house.  The party was outside and I wasn't nosy enough to come up with an excuse to go inside, but the birthday girl wanted to show her friends her room.  Jaden came back out saying, "WHOA!!!!  It's so big!!!  I almost got lost in all the rooms!!!  It's like a castle!!!"  Which later spurred all kinds of questions like "why can't we have a house like that?" 

This is the house as we pulled up the driveway.  From what I've seen around town, this would actually be on the modest side of the spectrum.  It is certainly large, but it's not as decadent as others.

This was the outside seating area designated for the kids.  Outdoor furniture with separate tea and coffee service.  There is a large screen TV set up as well ... guess you can do that in a place that hardly ever rains.

Jaden and friend Carl at the party

Jaden with Carl and Lucas ... but really showing the huge play set in their side yard.  More like a something you would find in a park, not a yard.  The entire area was shaded with canvas tents and the flooring was that soft flooring you would find in a nice park, again, not a yard.

 The party had an art theme and there were painting stations in one part of the yard where the kids could put on a smock and paint / decorate several art projects.  But once the giant bouncy slide went up, all the boys lost interest and they spent the entire time running around between the slide and the playground equipment.

Giant bouncy slide with popcorn and cotton candy station set up in front of it

Jaden, Lucas, and Selena with cotton candy.

 

They also had a lady with a polaroid camera taking pictures of the kids in front of the rainbow streamers.  Very cute idea and the kids loved seeing their first polaroid picture develop right before their eyes!!  :-)

 I tried to catch a glimpse of the candy table set up in front of the streamers, but I didn't want to be too obvious.  They had a crazy amount of candy and snacks for the kids to munch on.  It was all so coordinated with the artist theme.  The cookies and cupcakes looked like a painters palate with different color paint.  It was very colorful and very cute!!!  And there was a ton of everything!!!

At the other end of the play area was his massive spider web climbing structure that the kids loved to play on as well.

All the kids had a great time at the party!!!  And all the parents joked that whoever is next in the class to have a party, has a big act to follow!!!  It was really very nice. 

I didn't get to talk to Moza (the birthday girl's mom) very much since she was busy be hostess, but I very much enjoyed meeting her and look forward to getting to know her more through the year.  My first Qatari friend.  :-)