Birthday Crafts -2 : Sweets to Mark different Development Mile Stones of a Baby

As mentioned  here I am working on a new project . Totally new techinque for me so spending a lot of time on that...Mean while I thought of sharing some fun aspects of my son's birthday party .

If you are one of my regular readers you already know that I organized this party on a shoestring budget.

I had a tough time while deciding upon the return gifts. I wanted to gift something totally different and something that is least expected but still very much within budget. After a lot of branstorming sessions [read heated arguments with hubby ;-)],in one light blub moment, I discovered an old Andhra Tradition of gifting sweets for every mile stone that the baby achieves (Pls correct me if its the same for rest of India too!!) .

Voila !!! I immediately zeroed on this idea and ordered for all the sweets.  Well all these sweets were supposed to be distributed when ever a certain milestone is crossed, but I have decided to pack all these together and distribute as return gifts (one per family) for his birthday party !! Smart me Ahh :-) !!!

I ordered for these from Abhiruchi Sweets, one of the best places in Vizag for authentic Andhra Sweets.

This idea was an instant hit at the party. Believe me, everybody came back and asked me how I got to know about this .... the elderly people congratulated me and my husband for still continuing this tradition which is almost forgotten by this generation.

Here is the pic of the sweets pack....

Please excuse me, I forgot to take a pic of the contents. I added  a personal Thank You note from Kaustubh, which says something like this... With all these sweets I would like to thank u for coming to my party


This is how it looks

It is written in Telugu , thanks to the new Akshar font released by the State Government of Andhra Pradesh. We can directly type in Telugu.

For the benefit of all my non Telugu Speaking Readers,here is the list with English translation and relevent pictures:

1.Borlapadithe Bobbatlu

Puran Poli after the baby learns to roll over

Source :Madhu's Vantalu

2.Navithe Nuvvula Undalu

Till Laddu in after baby learns to smile

Source : Maa Vantagadi

3.Undalu Chesthe undrallu

Modak when the baby learns to close and open his fists.Since this has a very less shelf life I opted for white milk kova which looks like a Modak

Source : It Happens in India

4.Pakithe Pakam Chalimidi

Chalimidi or Chalividi is a popular sweet in Andhra. We make this sweet for all important occasions like sending a bride to her inlaws house, Seemantham or Godh Bharai or Baby Shower. It mainly consists of pounded rice , jaggery and dry coconut pieces.

Source : Maa Abhiruchi

5. Gumaludatithe Gavvalu

Gavvallu means sea shells in Telugu. This traditional sweet looks very similar to sea shells and is made with Maida,this sweet is distributed when the kids start crossing the doorway

Source : Saliu's Kitchen

6.Kurchunte kajalu

Kaja is yet another sweet distributed when the baby learns to Sit. Now am not sure of the other names of this sweet. Please if anybody is aware do let me know I will update this post

Source: Radhi's Kitchen

7.Aduguluvesthe Ariselu

Ariselu is yet another traditional Andhra sweet made with Rice flour and jagerry.This sweet is distributed when the baby starts to walk. We make real big sweets and the baby is made to step on each of these ariselu..he he we do not distribute the stepped ones..

Source : Kavya's Kitchen

8.Palukulaku Chilakalu

Chilakalu is a sugar candy.Sugar is molded in different shapes and one such being a parrot. So we distribute sugar candy in the shape of a parrot when the child starts talking.

Source : Summers of India

Hope u enjoyed reading this post ... guess that's too much to say :-D... Just happy that u did not kill me for such a long post.

Do leave your valuable feedback. Your comments make my day.

-Swathi

PS : Due credit to all individual bloggers for sharing these pictures.