Party Gist: My Experience At A 70th Birthday Party In Lagos:

My dear H.E.B readers, how y’all doing? I haven’t really blogged this past week because I was a bit under the weather but am getting better sha. Devil just wanted to show his skills but he failed woefully *laughs*. Okay so I was home although the week, I had to cancel important and unimportant appointments and making sure I felt better and strong before resuming work. Staying home doing nothing, covering myself and lying in bed was
not cool at all, I mean, it would have been fun if I was just chilling
but doing all that because was ill was very annoying.

Anyway, I was tired of lying in bed from Tuesday till Friday and on Saturday morning
I decided I didn’t want to stay home. I had to think of something I could do, something that could shake this yeye sickness off my body. I decided to drive around town in fact, my aim was to drive through the event centers within Ikeja and just attend a party. So there I was on Billings Way, Oregun when I sighted a banner outside Grandeur Event Center that had “Sam @ 70” written on it. I quickly trafficated and when I was about driving into
the place I was stopped by the security guard at the gate who asked me
to wind down the glass which I did then he asked “Are you here for the
event?” I said “Yes” he said “You can go in” I drove into the event center, found a
suitable place to park. It was raining so I sat in the car trying to
survey the whole environment when I noticed three hefty bouncers at the first
entrance of the marquee and another two before you step into the main
tent. The first thing that came to mind was chaii! How do I get pass
these security guys? Here I am with no invite and I didn’t even know anyone in
charge of the event.

Anyway, the rain stopped a bit and I wore my shoe and walked down to the marquee. Two things I had in mind. If I get into the hall, fine, and if I don’t I would definitely find another event to attend. As I approached the marquee , one of the bouncers walked close to me
and said “Good afternoon ma’am can I see your invite?” I said ” oh! I do not have an invite but I just want to see the decorator for the event” He said “sorry ma’am you would have to call her” I said “I don’t have her number” he said “Ok, you can go in” I got to the second set of bouncers, they were two of them, a lady and a guy. The guy looked calm but the lady
wasn’t smiling 🙁 you know how we ladies are, we like showing ourselves) she looked at me and said “Yes, where are you going?” In my mind I was like “Ahan, which one is this one sef?! ” so I said “I want to see the decorator for the event” she said “ok” And that was it, I walked right into the marquee that was beautifully decorated in green and silver. The chairs had neat white chair covers with green spandex sashes. The table was covered with a green table cloth, with short and long center pieces, charger plates , cuttleries , glass cups on it. Also on the table was the menu for the event. The cake was placed on a table close to the band and of course the ushers were dressed in green and flat black shoes . The event had not started so the girls were just gisting.

I walked up to one of the ushers and asked for the decorator or the event planner. Soon she came back with a very young lady, I introduced myself, “Hi, my name is Helen and I am an event blogger, I write about events” she said “Oh! that’s nice, you’re free too” and BOOM! that was it. I went back to the car, grabbed my camera , went back to hall and found a suitable place to sit, a place where I could see everything happening. But then again, I needed to see what’s on ground, so I went round the marquee. They had two dessert points, they had a wine bar, two cocktail points, fruit tree, fruit bouquet. It was about 2pm and guests had started arriving. There’s something about events. When you see the people who are hosting an event you can tell. They have this way of walking into the venue. This ‘Na we dey do something’ way of walking. When I saw a beautiful set of ladies walk
in I could tell instantly that they are the celebrant’s children. They were looking well dressed, nice makeup, gele tied perfectly. I decided to pick the menu list on the table and wow! It
was a bit of a menu o! From first course, to main dish, appetizer and evening course.

As guests arrived the DJ played and then the band took over from the DJ after about 3 minutes. The band seemed disorganized at the beginning of the event but they later settled in well. Then the MC started doing his thing. What I can say categorically about this event
is that all the guests were well catered for. The only thing I didn’t find appropriate was that the MC spoke in Yoruba language. Why would you have an event where you invite people from different tribes and rather than the MC speaking English, the MC decides to speak Yoruba. For instance, the table where I sat, there were two white guys who obviously do not understand Yoruba. They were just watching and eating. They didn’t understand a thing that the MC said. Although, he later switched to English but it was for about 5 minutes and after
then he switched back to Yoruba. He spoke Yoruba all through till I left at about 6:30pm. I think in an event, the MC should try as much as he can to carry everyone along. Have you attended a party and the MC spoke a language you didn’t understand? Kindly share your experience with us!