Festa de Anniversario do Brasileiro para Sierra

Although Sierra's birthday was 3 weeks ago, we celebrated last night with a full blown Brazilian-style birthday party. You invite the entire grade! and the invited guests often show up with siblings, cousins, neighbors, parents, grandparents, etc. You get the picture. Good thing we go to a relatively small school. There are 63 kids in Sierra's grade, counting Sierra.
Here is a shot of Sierra first checking out the decorations in the party room. I had a bit of a scare Tuesday afternoon when I received an instant message from Joe telling me they were setting up the party for High School Musical. Although Sierra loves the film, she had surely said, "Mom, High School Musical is so last year." I picked up inflatable guitars and microphones in the states 2 weeks ago to accent a Rock and Roll theme. Somehow, lost in translation I supposed, the party coordinator heard High School Musical. By the time we realized the error, it was too late to correct. Luckily for all involved, Sierra was not to be alarmed or bothered by the mistake. She simply shrugged her shoulders and said, "It's fine. No problem." Resilience is a beautiful thing.

During the night, Animasom entertained kids with games and dances and mayhem/running wild through the complex. I can't even begin to explain how relaxing this makes the party for the parents. The last birthday party I had for Sierra involved me organizing pin the tail on the donkey, drop the clothespin in the bucket, pop the balloon with your butt and other various children's party games. By the end of that party, I was so tired from entertaining that I didn't have the energy to clean the house. Not here! Animasom are like rented "moms". They do it all while the parents mingle, eat, enjoy a beverage and watch the kids play.
Sierra LOVED being the birthday girl because she "got whatever I wanted." By definition, this means that they played whatever game Sierra wanted to play. And didn't play whatever game Sierra didn't want to play. She thought this was GREAT. They played hide and seek, had a scavenger hunt, mixed some flour and eggs to "bake a cake", and danced the night away.
The 70 plus inflatable guitars and microphones I purchased for the party decorations and party favors in the states surely paid off. Judging by the group of kids here dancing with blue guitars amid fog--they were a success. In this picture they're pretending to play the guitars; at other times, they made great "whackers" in mock boxing matches.




One thing I love about parties in Brazil is the element of inviting our friends too. With hired entertainers, the parents have the chance to mingle, so inviting adult friends too is a feasible option. Here is a shot of me with some friends from work: Vania, Suzanne, me, Luiz, Ana, and Rodrigo.







Near the end of the party, everyone gathered around the decorated cake table to sing happy birthday and wish the birthday girl good luck in the coming year. It is tradition for the family to surround the birthday girl behind the cake while friends and family sing from the other side of the table. Since we have a multi-national, multi lingual group of friends we sing happy birthday in both English and Portuguese before making a wish and blowing out the candle.




The party was an event. Sierra had a special "new" outfit for the occasion. Her friends from both school and home arrived with smiles and congratulations; she was princess for the night. The sparkle in her eyes throughout the party was bright enough to light all of Rio de Janeiro, and my heart ached with happiness watching her enjoy her day. To show the kind of child I am blessed with rearing, I will share the note I found upon returning home from work today: