Spring Party and Free Printable (Naw Ruz)

When you want to celebrate, it’s such a gift to have good friends to party with.  That was how Monkey and I felt when some of our best friends were able to join us for a spring party last week to celebrate the Bahá’í new year (Naw Rúz), which falls on the first day of spring.

We were also lucky enough to have my parents in town during the holiday!  Monkey was so excited to have them here, and they were such a big help to me getting everything together for our guests.  Baby Monkey got some extra snuggle time with his grandma while I rushed around at the party, and the kids were drawn to my father like a magnet, which tends to happen wherever we go.

I had hoped for some beautiful weather so the kids could play outside, but unfortunately it was so windy we opted to keep them indoors.  This meant that at times the noise level got a bit high, but everyone was having so much fun we didn’t mind.

One thing I love about this group of friends is that everyone jumps right in to whatever activity we are doing.  We had a craft table in one area, where the kids could do a daffodil craft, and in another area there was a table set up for making fruit pizzas.

Beyond that, there was a lot of time for the kids to play with toys and run around.  There were also a few groups that spontaneously decided to read story books together, which is always one of my favorite activities.

I was so proud of Monkey for being such a great host, which to me is an important part of learning to be of service.  He shouted “Happy Naw Rúz!” to all of our guests when they arrived, and when they left he helped me hand out the favors: a packet of seeds and a card with a quote.  We had to work on not just throwing the seed packets to the kids, but most of them thought this was funny, too, so no harm done 🙂

For the cards, on one side I printed “Happy Naw Rúz!”  On the other side, I chose a line from one of my favorite children’s prayers:

I am a sapling of the garden of love;

make me into a fruitful tree.

 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

It is such a beautiful quote and was right in keeping with the “garden” theme of our favors.  You download Word document here (makes nine cards): Naw Ruz party cards.

Thanks to our guests for making it such a special day!

How do you celebrate spring?