The green space with play area inside Jawahar Bal Bhavan.

Amudhini arranging Marigold flower on the event day

Kuthu Vilakku and Kolam

Hut for birthday party celebrations

Welcome fruit and friends on the bench

Story session on the cart, thanks to Anu Panathur

Activity for kids

Merry-go round and friends

Fun fun and more fun

Yummy millet strawberry cake, thanks to Rashmi

Carrot Millet Cake being cut, thanks to Kaulige Foods

Friends enjoying Millet lunch

Arun Kaulige in conversation with guests

A selfie moment with Arun and Prof Subramanya

Family time.. Thank you Selvaprakash for this image

Thanks a ton for all those who came and blessed Amu

A surprise toy train ride at the end

Took a week to find these tops

Amu and Devi spent quite a time to make these

Pot. Paint & Brush. Jaggery Kadalai Mittai. Play Top. Cloth Bag and Smile.

Amu's artwork post the event

Appu's artwork post the event

AMU TURNED 5

Amudhini turned 5 this Feb. We have been celebrating her birthday at home all these years. The big girl this year had a long list of friends to be invited for her birthday and we didn’t want to give excuses this time and decided to have an outdoor Birthday party for her 5th Birthday.

The idea was to host a fun event for kids, with ample place to run around under the trees yet keeping it simple and clean.

We looked around for green spaces. Few farms came to mind, but they were really far. Few other private spaces were considered, but they were too expensive or not available. While searching on the Internet we found Bal Bhavan, Cubbon Park is having Birthday party enclosure for kids. We visited the place and fell in love with it. Huge trees, a cool hut and all play equipment make it an ideal place for a green celebration.

Junk food is a big NO to us and hence decided to go with healthier options. Having known Kaulige foods for past one year it was an easy choice for us. Mr. Arun Kaulige, co-founder of Kaulige foods, is a very humble and down to earth person who goes a long way to making sure his client’s requirements are met. He also agreed to bake the Birthday cake for us. Food was delivered on time. They also brought along steel plates, cups and cutlery along with them.

The extensive lunch menu included, Carrot millet cake, Multi grain sandwich, Kosambari with sprouted green gram, Millet Bisibele bath, Millet Pulav, Millet Curd Rice and Millet Payasam with Jaggery. Everyone loved the Millet lunch and many also decided to start cooking Millets at home.

We had a story telling session, which was close to nature. Kids enjoyed a couple of stories, learning about different native animals and the sounds they make. Thanks to Anu Panathur and her friend Hima for engaging the kids in the right spirit.

Birthday party without decorations is incomplete. This was a great opportunity for us to engage Amudhini to make her own Birthday decorations. We started preparing 2 weeks ahead of her Birthday Party. Everyday in the evening, we spent some time making paper flowers, paper fans, thank you cards etc. On the day of the event, we reached the place well ahead and setup up the backdrop with flowers. Made a small Poo Kolam with a Kuthu villaku in the center in front of the cake-cutting table. We totally avoided balloons and other conventional decorations, which leaves behind lot of waste. The caretaker at the birthday enclave was little upset that we didn’t engage him for those conventional decorations.

The surprise element for all kids and adults was the joy train ride exclusive for the Birthday gang. The return gifts were chosen with green in mind again. We had a mud candle vase with acrylic colors and a brush, a playing top (one of the near extinct toys in the urban scape), a greeting card made with recycle paper, 2 bars of Motherway Jaggery Kaldalai Mittai (peanut bars with palm jaggery, sourced from Kovilpatti, Tamil Nadu) and a smiley badge with a cloth bag. Amu was happy running around, giving away the bags to all her friends.

Amudhini and friends thoroughly enjoyed without the loud music, bright lights, and huge banners of cartoon characters. We were all a happy gang, after this cool green event.