By Two Sleep-Deprived Parents Who Thought DIY Was a Good Idea
It started with noble intentions.
“We’ll do it ourselves,” I told my husband, with the blind confidence of someone who had just watched a party planning reel on Instagram. “It’s just a birthday party. How hard can it be?”
Our daughter, Meera, was turning six. She wanted balloons, cake, games, music, a treasure hunt, return gifts, a magician, and “those colourful powdery laddus from Nani’s house.” Reasonable demands for a child, mild panic for her parents.
Still, we pressed on. What could possibly go wrong?
Phase One: The Balloons
We bought a pack of 100 latex balloons online (because cheaper than rentals, right?). On the morning of the party, we took turns blowing them up. By balloon 27, my cheeks were cramping. By balloon 45, I was seeing stars. My husband tried using a bicycle pump, which launched one directly into our dog’s water bowl.
We inflated 73 balloons before collapsing. They lasted exactly 3 hours before giving up on life and becoming wrinkled rubbery floor blobs.
Phase Two: The Décor
We spent ₹3,200 on mismatched decorations from four different websites. Nothing arrived on time. I ended up using fairy lights from Diwali, our daughter’s bedsheets as backdrops, and a banner that read “HPPY BIRDAY” (we couldn’t find the ‘A’). It looked like a crime scene, only with more confetti.
Phase Three: The Activities
“No need for a magician,” I said. “We’ll do our own games.”
We made a schedule:
- 3:00 pm: Musical chairs
- 3:30 pm: Treasure hunt
- 4:00 pm: DIY craft corner
- 4:30 pm: Piñata
By 3:15, the kids had abandoned the chairs and were playing kabaddi on the sofa. Someone cried during the treasure hunt. The DIY craft table became a glue-and-glitter battlefield. The piñata broke prematurely and knocked over a vase. Also, turns out, children don’t follow schedules.
Phase Four: The Cake Table Crisis
I ordered a custom cake online. The delivery guy called me from a traffic jam 4 km away and asked, “Can you come pick it up?”
So I left the party, returned 40 minutes later, and discovered that the kids had opened all the return gifts.
Phase Five: Regret
As we sat amid popped balloons, sticky frosting, and the slow hum of a dying Bluetooth speaker, my husband looked at me and whispered, “Next time, we’re using Zapigo.”
The Moral of the Story?
You don’t have to do it all yourself.
You shouldn’t want to do it all yourself.
With Zapigo, we could’ve:
🎈 Rented a full balloon arch that arrived inflated and photo-ready
🎩 Booked a professional magician who knew how to command a room full of sugar-charged kids
🛍️ Got curated return gifts (packed and ready, thank you very much)
🎯 Let go of checklists and just enjoyed the party like actual guests in our own home
Instead, we lived, we learned, and we now have a party album full of blurry chaos and one crying toddler holding a glue stick.
Let Zapigo Do the Heavy Lifting (and the Balloon Blowing)
We plan, you party.
So you can actually enjoy your child’s birthday.
Your cheeks (and sanity) will thank you.
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