Moroccan Clowns

This weekend, we celebrated the 5th birthday of our niece Ghalia. It was by far the most exciting party I have ever been to for an underage kid. It felt a little like a kid nightclub. Hosting the party was a great clown/dj/entertainer/face painter/game facilitator. This guy was good! He played a mix of "tectonic", kid music, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson and other pop music and he played it SO loud, nightclub music loud. We tried to get him to turn it down a few times, but some how the next song was back to original volume. It was seriously a blast though.

Younis got his face painted as a pirate, though he sort of has a beat up pirate look. The cake was one of the most delicious chocolate cakes I've ever had (on par with the chocolate hazelnut cake at Simply Desserts in Seattle). There was so much dancing including a dance off of sorts between all the girls doing the traditional Moroccan "oriental" dancing as it's called, sort of like bellydancing but not quite as much hip shaking. Younis was absolutely loving it. I wasn't sure how he'd handle the clowns, they can be very scary looking, but he totally went with it. He had a great time, just kept on going until the party was over which was a good few hours. All in all, a super fun party, the birthday girl danced her little legs off and everyone had a great time.

Interesting thing to note, a great cultural moment before the party really got started. The clown came early and was setting up his stuff. We were sitting down to eat lunch, a delicious plate of couscous, so the family invited the clown to join us. Meals are eaten communally in Morocco. It was one of those moments that really stuck out as "this would NEVER happen in the U.S." Not that we wouldn't feed the folks doing the entertainment at our party, but it would not be the same kind of welcoming join us in our meal experience.

A few cute pictures from the party and a post party cousin huddle.