Colouring Up February

Maybe at some point in my life I was chastised or teased about being a show-off, all I know is that now I don't love being the centre of attention. Maybe I just know that lime-light equals scrutiny. Whatever. My birthday falls just at the right distance from Christmas/New Year, that Jim is bored. And if it isn't Jim it's Mary (they share the same birth-date and say what you will about astrological signs they are forces of nature, singly and together!) The outcome is that my birthday is often used as an excuse to have a party. This year the start of Chinese New Year was close enough to my birthday to allow me to divert attention. And there were two invitees with b'days within a few days of mine so I was good to go, having side-stepped centre stage.
We made an excursion to China Town for decorations and picked up a take-out menu from Fonbo's at Royal Oak for food (I definitely recommend take-out or Costco for any party. Why exhaust yourself beforehand?). We thought there would be about 20 people which ended up being 29; maybe we should have ordered a bit more food but people were polite about it and the dessert seemed to make up for any lack. Next day I found a full order of ginger-fried-beef in the fridge which I had thought was a surfeit of fried rice. Oh well.

the rubber snakes holding the cutlery together grossed out one phobic guest 

Since our friends hail from various parts of our lives and history we often include a mixer/game/activity of some kind. People groan and complain but inevitably they have fun despite themselves. Admit it; you know who you are!
Chinese New Year is a no-brainer as a mixer. Most people wore red or pink for good luck and a few had on Asian styled jackets or jewelry. Guests identified their animal year (goat, snake, horse, tiger, etc.) got together with their animal group and then entertained the party by telling us why their symbol is the best, with varying degrees of success. We had only one Rat but he took huge pleasure explaining the special attributes of rats, and no dragons at all which was interesting. Otherwise there were at least two people in each group and some of the presentations were hilarious even if they had nothing to do with the purported animal characteristics.
  
 
 
 
If you go by the noise level the party was a success. Our other-side-of-the-wall neighbours say they didn't hear us so I figure we can do virtually anything in our house and not disturb them. Good news, since I think we made quite a racket. The food was really tasty and fresh (don't go by Fonbo's decor as it's dire; the walls look like mustard yellow brains).

I had fun!