Garden of Eden
My little sister, Anna's Bat Mitzvah was wonderful. The "Adam and Eve" theme was very creative and even I had a great time.
The party was on a Saturday afternoon in the rented hall of a local Farm Park. No expense had been spared in transforming the main hall into a tropical 'Garden of Eden'. Artificial trees hid the walls and vines decorated the doorways and hung from the ceiling. An artificial tree stood in the centre of the dance floor with real apples hanging from the branches! The giant, plush toy snake coiled up in the tree, looked too cute to frighten any potential apple-stealers.
At first, I wasn't sure how well the Israeli band would go down with the kids, but they really liked it. Traditional music went best with the Garden of Eden theme anyway.
When all the adults had arrived, it was time for the Bat Mitzvah girl, Anna's, grand entrance. She was wearing a flesh coloured leotard and a short skirt that looked like it was made of leaves. She was carried in on a golden divan by four waiters. She plucked an apple off of the tree and took a bite as they set her down on the dance floor. We had all been given special jungle confetti to throw over her head. Wow, she really got the royal treatment!
Everyone took their seats and Grandpa Jacob performed the Hamotze. I don't remember the joke he told about what the snake said to Adam before Eve took the apple and it's probably just as well.
While the grown-ups ate salad and drank wine, the kids munched on pizza, hot dogs, crisps and cheese puffs with soft drinks. The kids also had chocolate chip cookies, doughnuts, and candy floss. The kids buffet table was covered with an animal print table cloth partially hidden by yards of artificial vines. There were jungle themed party plates, cups and napkins.
One of the band members acted as DJ. He played dance music with jungle themes, like the 80s one hit wonder, "Tarzan's Boy" by Baltimora and "the lion Sleeps tonight” by Tight fit.
During the main course, the kids were still going strong on the dance floor. Lots of the older guests couldn't wait for dinner to conclude so we could join them. When everyone had finished eating, we all toasted Anna's entrance into adulthood. Anna thanked everyone for coming and then the Candle Lighting ceremony was performed. I had been picked by Anna to participate. Thirteen vanilla scented rose candles floated in a glass bowl of blue tinted water. Each person recited a famous inspirational quote after lighting a candle. Mine was, "Stick to the one who can see the truth of your soul." I don't know whose quote it was, but it stuck in my mind.
My Mum brought out the birthday cake. It had been colourfully decorated to depict a jungle scene, complete with trees, vines, grass green icing and plastic jungle animals. The filling was a delicious chocolate cream.
When the ceremony was over we all began dancing to the Israeli band's music again! Anna told us to grab apples off the tree. I noticed they all were wrapped in cellophane and hung by lolly pop sticks. They were toffee apples! Everyone danced until well after midnight. All the kids left with jungle party bags filled with jungle pencils and notebooks, rubber snakes and sweets. Most importantly Anna really enjoyed her party and has loads of photographs to remember her once in a lifetime Bat Mitzvah.
