When Amruta from Team MissMalini told me about her first cousin’s 18th birthday I started wondering how do kids these days celebrate? I mean, I remember house parties with soda pop and bags of chips, the occasional “theme” and always cake. So I thought it would be fun to get a first-hand account of a real Indian 18-year-old girl’s birthday celebration, take a look! And happy birthday pretty girl! 🙂 xoxo
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“Mom, is it okay if the guest list is, erm, a ‘bit’ long?”
Little did I know that a double thumbs up from my parents would lead to the biggest, most spectacular, fantabulous, amazing, most special (maybe I need to stop) 18th Birthday bash EVER!
I had set my mind on the venue, my very own home terrace, and immediately sent out invites to around 60 of my friends. After weeks of party prep, drafting final guest lists and a teeny bit amount of studying, THE day had finally arrived. All decked up in an Avirate polka dot dress with a Sapphire and Diamond jewellery set (a birthday gift from my beautiful family) and white wedges I had picked up from Rome on a holiday, I took a final peek at the terrace just before the guests arrived.
I was stunned. What had happened to the dusty little space high above that we had never used? The terrace make-over took me to Cloud 9. There were twinkling fairy lights all around the border, colorful scarves curtaining the railing, balloons of all colors and sizes, and a dance floor that would kick ANY discotheque in the, umm, bum! The entire dance floor was shimmering and dazzling with laser lights that I had borrowed from my best friend. The music was deafeningly loud (just the way I like it), and the dips and chips were all in place.
Before I knew it, I was greeting my friends one after the other and beaming from ear to ear when they handed over the gifts to me (ahem, perks of a huge party). My dad had organized for a stamp that said ‘Ash’s 18th Birthday Party’, which added to the feel of actually entering a club. My parents and sister of course did all the running around, bringing burgers, pizzas, garlic bread, cheese fingers and bottle after bottle of coke (yes I’m 18 but I’m a good girl).
When I finally got a second to breathe, I looked around and saw that everyone was actually having an electrifying time. Some were dancing, some were gorging on the food, some were gossiping, it was everything that I wanted it to be. I was simply elated when they came up to me and said that it was the BEST party anyone from out batch had ever thrown!!!
After about 22 liters of coke (we counted), and about that much birthday cake on my face (not fun -_-) my friends were on their way home (we’re 18, but we still have curfews, you know). I made my friends write a small memento on their way down but the icing on the cake was when my grandmother wrote ‘I’ve been 18 since 1955’ 🙂
The party wasn’t over just yet though, I still had ALL my gifts to rip apart. So along with my besties and my sister, I began the ceremony. But this time, I was shocked beyond words. Many of the guys had pooled in to buy me a beautiful, and I mean, beautiful Forever New dress. God bless them. I even got an LBD from Arrow with a funky hair band. A black lace dress and a deep blue shiny dress from Avirate took me to paradise. Not to forget a gazillion printed tees, jewelry, Body Shop products, and even novels! My besties had even bought me 18 gifts ranging from skirts to shoes to even a very cute pink M&S bra 🙂 Wow!
After all this, all that I can say is – if this is what it feels like to be 18, Bryan Adams got it perfectly right, gonna be 18 till I die xD.