restlessrisa: Bollywood Party

Showing posts with label Bollywood Party. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Indian / Bollywood Party, part 2 {Indian Doll Favor}

For Sophie's party, I decided to make each girl an Indian princess. I searched high and low for ideas online, and didn't find what I had in mind, although there are some cute ones out there. This is what I came up with.

Do you remember my kokeshi tutorial from the Japanese birthday party last year? You can see it HERE. I was wanting the girls to be able to dress their own dolls or something for the party, but couldn't figure out a fast and easy way to do it, so I decided to just make them.

Here are the doll heads all painted.

You will need:

HEAD - Dowel Caps 1 1/4"; (not ball knobs - dowel have a bigger opening, and the clothespin will fit inside) $2.99 for 12 at Hobby Lobby

BUNS - Wooden Ball Knobs 3/4" with a 3/16" hole - Hobby Lobby, $1.47 for 6

I cut a skin tone pipe cleaner in half, and wrapped it around the body. I know you can wrap these with embroidery floss, to make the arms look better, and not so fuzzy, but I wasn't about to take the time to do that ;)

next, I cut circles out of fabric that I already had. I got a bunch of it from DI. I LOVE it, and can't find it on stores anymore ;(

I folded each piece in 4ths, and snipped the corner off for the head hole.

Then snipped one side, which cut two sides at the same time for the arm holes.

You will want to dress the little ladies before you attach the heads, or the dress won't go on ;)

I cut out strips of fabric for the belt.

Then, tied them in a knot in back.

After that, I put the sari on each doll. I just used ribbon from Hobby Lobby. I had to play with it to get it to work. I just stapled it in the back.

I tried to glue the heads on with craft glue, and this was not a good idea!!! It didn't dry fast enough, and the heads were really heavy, so they ended up looking like they were nodding, or the glue started to drip. So, I just ended up using hot glue. It worked great, and I stood them in cups to get the proper posture.

Here's a pile of them all finished. I did this weeks before the party, and it was so nice to just have them finished and out of the way.

They were so cute, that I just had to keep one for myself!

Here is a little peak of how they were displayed at the party. More about that later ;)

Monday, March 19, 2012

Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 1 {invitations}

I started planning Sophie's birthday party months ago. I started a pin board, and had fun collecting all sorts of ideas about Indian culture. You can see my board HERE.

I made this invitation in picnik, and thought you might like to see the process.

I started with a piece of clip art... actually a coloring page I found on Activity Village. You can see the original page HERE. I brought it into picasa, and cropped the boy out, then collaged it, placing the girl on the side.

Next, I brought the picture to picnik, then added the circle and stamp and saved it. I like saving along the way, otherwise, things start moving around when you add text and other elements.

Next, I added the oval, and faded it, so that I could put most of the text on it, and the text would stand out, but the other designs would still show.

Next, I added the text.

I also made a CD cover to slip into the cd's I was giving to my helpers as gifts. But, the night before the party, my computer crashed, and I didn't get to print them or burn the cd's :( You make the cd cover by using the invitation before adding text, cropping it to cd size, and then adding words.

I love how it turned out, and brought it with my to an Indian market. I showed it to the girl working there. She loved it, and said it would be perfect for a baby shower. She was pregnant. I offered to send it to her, and she told me she was having a boy, so I hurried and whipped up these boy invitations. I e-mailed them to here, but never did hear back. Maybe I wasted my time?

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Indian / Bollywood Party, Part 9 {Bollywood Dancing! (and presents)}

This might have been my favorite part of the whole party. I knew I wanted to have the girls learn a fun Bollywood dance. I thought about showing them a scene from a fun Bollywood movie, but didn't think that would do the trick.

If you want to see a great Bollywood movie, I would recommend Jodhaa Akbar. You can see a clip HERE.

I have the MOST FABULOUS ZUMBA TEACHER - Leslie. I LOVE going to her class each week. (Sat mornings at 10:15 at the Sprotsplex in Kaysville, UT - you should come!) She incorporates SO MANY fun styles of dance into all her routines. Much of it has a Bollywood flare, and I love doing it!!!

Here she is, teaching them how to hold their arms. Isn't she lovely!?! :)

I approached her about teaching the girls a number at the party, and when she agreed... I WAS SO HAPPY!!! I am so lucky! Thanks Leslie!!!

I can't even tell you how cute it was to watch these girls dance Bollywood style!

She taught them proper arms and proper feet. It was SO FUN!!!

Leslie brought her own music to teach the girls. Before she came, I had some fun music playing. I made a fun play list, and I am trying to figure out how to cut and paste it. It's not working! I'll keep trying ;)

They really got into it. Aren't they flexible?

I thought a few of them might feel shy or nervous, but Leslie made them feel right at home, and they ALL did great! Leslie, you're the BEST!

Leslie also teaches kids Zumba at The South Davis Rec center in Bountiful, UT. I want to take Sophie to one of her classes. She accepts requests, and even choreographs to Justin Biber! (Did I spell that right?)

SO CUTE!

The grown-ups had fun too. I know my sister-in-law is thinking about driving from Lehi to Kaysville to do one of her classes ;)

My mom doesn't think she has the moves, but I think she does!

She's got the moves like Jagger!

After the dancing, we went downstairs for the gifts. It was a perfect end to a perfect party!

Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 8 {Mehndi (henna tattoo)}

If you hare having an Indian party, you FOR SURE have to do Mehndi! Mehndi is the art of painting semi-permanent tattoos on on your skin using henna. I looked into buying henna. It is not expensive... about $1.50 for a whole cone of it. The problem is it lasts for up to 2 months! I didn't want any of the mom's to be mad at me, so we went with craft paint.

My lovely sister-in-law offered to be in charge of that part. She bought all the paints, and brought dowels for the girls to use to paint their own hands.

We just put a little paint on small paints, and used a drop cloth on the floor.

Fabulous Angie demoed how to paint on Sophie.

Angie told the girls a GREAT store about The Peacock while they were painting their mehndi's.

It is a great story, so I thought I would share it with you. The original can be found HERE.

By Katherine McGee

If you’ve ever stood in front of the mirror, thought you were less than perfect and perhaps said any of the following:

“If only my lips were thinner/plumper”
“My hips/bum is too big/small”
I’m too thin/fat
I’ve no waist
My nose/ears is too big/small
I wish I had better hair
My teeth are too crooked
I’ve horrible legs

Why did God give me such an ugly body part?

Indian Folklore tells the following story, of the Peacock; this story is for you if you ticked any of the above.

The story of the Peacock

Why has The Peacock – The most beautiful creature ever created, got the ugliest feet in the world!

When God created the Peacock He was delighted, he said, “this creature is completely perfect in every way, he has beautiful jewel-like colours, exquisite proportions, elegant, graceful. God was so proud, and so was the peacock! He held his head high and strutted in superiority.

However, with the passage of time, God became aware that He was the only one admiring the beauty and perfection of the Peacock.

God was amazed to discover that the Peacock went unnoticed and very quickly realized the bird’s perfection was lacking a foil to showcase his beauty, the creature was too perfect and therefore invisible!!! A flaw was needed in the beautiful creature; only a flaw would highlight the Peacocks exquisite beauty.

And so God went back to the drawing board;

After some deliberation, God concluded that the bird’s great beauty would need to be reflected by a flaw of equal measure: He gave the Peacock the ugliest feet in the world. The Peacock was not happy (it’s said that his screech is his appalled response every time he sees his feet!).

The beautiful peacock

As the recreated Peacock walked away from God on his graceless, clumsy, colourless feet – heads turned, gasps of awe were heard and the other animals said, “What an exquisitely beautiful creature”. It was agreed, unanimously, the Peacock was, and remains today, the most beautiful creature of the animal Kingdom.

Those who gaze on the Peacock see that he is perfect in every way. “How incredible, said God: “nobody but the peacock notices his feet! And he has discovered a newfound humility and compassion in his imperfection”.

God smiled and was well pleased. He learned his lesson well; when he turned his attention to creating mankind; he remembered the Peacock, and gave all his children unique individual flaws; to highlight our great proportions, elegance, grace and beauty which, in turn, serves to remind us that no one is perfect.

I think the girls liked the story, and liked painting their hands.

They had fun showing it off after they finished.

Indian / Bollywood Party, Part 6 {Diwali lanterns and the story of Rama Sita}

When I started thinking about activities to do for the party, I came across the story of Rama and Sita. I thought it was such a charming little story that I would tell it to the girls, and have them make a Diwali lantern as one of the activities for the party.

Here is the story: I found the Coloring pages on Activity Village. I printed them out, and had Sophie color them before the party, so we had a visual for the girls.

Once upon a time there was a great warrior, Prince Rama, who had a beautiful wife named Sita.

There was also a terrible demon king, Ravana. He had twenty arms and ten heads, and was feared throughout the land. He wanted to make Sita his wife, and one day he kidnapped her and took her away in his chariot. Clever Sita left a trail of her jewellery for Rama to follow.

Rama followed the trail of glittering jewellery until he met the monkey king, Hanuman, who became his friend and agreed to help find Sita. Messages were sent to all the monkeys in the world, and through them to all the bears, who set out to find Sita.

After a very long search, Hanuman found Sita imprisoned on an island. Rama's army of monkeys and bears couldn't reach the island, so they began to build a bridge. Soon all the animals of the world, large and small, came to help. When the bridge was built, they rushed across it and fought a mighty battle.

When Rama killed the evil Ravana with a magic arrow, the whole world rejoiced. Rama and Sita began their long journey back to their land, and everybody lit oil lamps to guide them on their way and welcome them back.
Ever since, people light lamps at Diwali to remember that light triumphs over dark and good triumphs over evil.

We told the girls the story, and then they got to make their own lantern.

I was going to set up tables, but thought it would be easier on the floor.

They really liked it, and the lanterns were so creative! I had all the kits ready in advance. I put them together using modeling clay in a medium sized bag, and then the jewels and candle in a smaller bag... all stapled together with cute paper. Like I have said before... I am a control freak, and I wanted to make sure all the girls got the exact same amount of everything. It also makes things run more smoothly to have it all separated and ready to go beforehand.

You might also want to look at:

Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 1 {Invitation}
Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 2 { Indian Princess Doll Favor}
Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 3 {Princess Beds and Taj Mahal}
Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 4 {Indian photo shoot}
Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 5 { Decor and Dress}
Indian / Bollywood Party, Part 6 {Diwali Lanterns and Rama Sita}
Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 7 {Footless (barefoot) Sandals}

Indian Bollywood Party - Part 8 {Mehndi (henna tattoo)}

Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 9 {Bollywood Dancing}
Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

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