When my unicorn turned one ...

"You did it! Your daughter will be really happy when she grows up!!!"
Yeah, hearing these words made me forget all the exhaustion and hard work I put into my daughter's birthday party. The sleepless nights, the anxiety, and the excitement would make me go insomniac because it was her first birthday and I wanted to make it so special for her!
Ah well it came into my memories because its September and my husband's birthday is coming in 7 days; as always this time also I want to do everything by myself. I have decided a theme and I will start working on it tonight. The theme shall be disclosed on the special day ;)
While preparing for his birthday a major flashback hit me, when around 4 years back I started worrying for my daughter's first birthday party. It was September and my bubba's birthday comes in December, I only had 3 months left and nothing was done at all.
I was super confused, I wasn't even sure myself that what I wanted. Whether I wanted to hire a birthday planner or not because I wanted to make it a grand one by putting all my efforts into it. We were not even sure if we would be celebrating it with friends or family, as it all depended on my husband's leave. What I was certain about was that its gonna be special, very special.

October started and now it was time to start our full fledge birthday preparations because I took a step and decided to do everything by myself from scratch, from the decoration to the photography, everything.
'unicorn' theme was decided as it's a happy go lucky theme that encompasses a lot of different elements like fun, fantasy with plenty of sweetness and sparkles. And of course, nothing else could be cuter than a one year old all dressed up as a unicorn. I started my hunt for her dress and after going through so many clothing brands, I finally found one online. Got her a tutu skirt with a shirt on which glittery 'ONE' was printed. This dress came along with a headband shaped as a unicorn horn.

I started doing DIY projects for the décor. Got the balloons, metallic and normal ones in different pastel colors. Got the tape to make the balloon garland (which I was most excited about). It was going so good, I was enjoying it thoroughly. My daughter who was about to turn 1 didn't know what was happening and would just sit with me and observe her mommy. At times, she would make me fly off the handle by putting her hands in my distorted stationery.
I made a frame that said 'Ayra turns 1' and a 3D unicorn themed 1, with crepe paper and cardboard, which took almost a week to get completed.

Days passed by, all other things were done, my dress, Husband's dress and daughter's shoes, etc. And now it was time for us to pack our stuff and go to our hometown, which is a city in Sindh province of Pakistan. Packing the DIY stuff was also a task but was fun. Everybody was so excited for her birthday and they all bought there dresses according to the theme. Her aunt ordered the cake for her. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS. The left over decoration stuff was completed by her aunts and uncles with mommy's instructions as I had everything planned in my mind and they were the executors of my ideas. We made giant 3D flowers, spirals with crepe paper, unicorn eyelashes, etc. using different kind of sheets and papers. Got her photographs printed and what not.

One night before the birthday few of us went to our destination which was a rest house allotted to my brother in law by the department where he works and the view from there was just amazing. It was by the keenjhar lake also called as Kalri lake. As soon as we reached there, we had biryani (famous pakistani rice dish) and started decorating the hall right away while Ayra's father looked after her as he is the least into arts. Now the fun part is that none of us belonged to Arts and crafts field yet it was done beautifully.
Well next day everyone was there, we all got ready after having our breakfast. Basically, it was just me and my husband's family so there were no formalities. We cut the cake, did the photo shoot followed by the lavish lunch. Then we all went for boating when we were done opening up the gifts.

It was dusk time when we had our tea (most pakistanis can't live without tea) and left for our homes. IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE and it wouldn't have been possible without everyone else. I'll write about my first year as a mother someday, so stay tuned!!!