My Eid - Chand Raat

My chaand raat was a fairly quieter one to previous years, in that I didn't get a chance visit the local shops and stalls which set up for the night. We were invited to dinner at my eldest sister's house though, which is always a fun way to start our celebrations, especially as she is a great cook and it's nice to be around excited children!

Here's what I wore - a comfy, loose Nishat Linen kurta (link here, although I have no idea what shipping is like!) I was lucky enough to get a bunch of kurtas and outfits from Pakistan this year, as both my husband and my mum made a trip to Pakistan so I'm quite well equipped for the year! More on my haul later, but this was one of the outfits my husband bought back for me. It was loose, super comfy and perfect for the warm weather. I wasn't sure whether to wear black pants or white, but I opted for white because I liked how they looked, and they look quite summery. I also paired these with wooden bangles from Pakistan (via Mum) and an embroidered velvet clutch (also from Pakistan, via hubby!)

The food was yummy and plentiful - lots of curries, rice, salads, chaats and roast chicken, finished off with several desserts and tea to wash it all down!

I didn't get many photos of the guests or my sisters, but the little girls happily posed away for me in their super cute pink gharara outfits from Pakistan (while I kept pulling up their trousers before they tripped!) My sister also made and handed out Eid sweet packets for everyone after dinner, which was happily munched by us all, although I think all of us were quite full at this point!

She also gave the girls in the family a gorgeous personalised box each with pretty presents inside, which I thought was a lovely touch - mine was the pink box of course!

Every Eid I promise myself I'll put henna on, and most times I forget, or am too tired and just go to bed! This time around I made myself stay up and used a cone to apply some mehndi (especially as I had about 4 mehndi cones sitting in the fridge!) - not professional but I like what I finished up with!

Did you do anything on Chand Raat? Did you get any mehndi done?

My Eid - Chand Raat

I finally have some time to post about my lovely Eid, which was a great few days with the family - I hope your Eid was lovely too :)

This Ramadan, my sisters were feeling pretty worn out by the end of the month, so we decided to keep it chilled out for Chand Raat by ordering take-out (who wants to cook, really??) and putting on henna. My eldest sister volunteered to host the Eid dinner for the next day, so she was pretty busy with preps, so we thought we'd help out with the decor a little and also take the older girls in the family out to enjoy Chand Raat on the main road.

We don't really tend to do anything that extravagant when it comes to Chand Raat, but we do still like to enjoy the buzz of the atmosphere, especially as everyone is getting ready for the next day and there's plenty of food, music and late night shopping going on!

Here's a few pictures of the street scenes outside, which were busy with lots of families and women buying bangles and jewellery, having mehndi applied and buying clothes, and plenty of bright lights. 

There was plenty of dhol-players playing 90s and 00s tunes to set the mood, as well as a few dancers on the street (and a very busy road with a traffic jam!)

My nieces and sister got their mehndi done by their neighbour who did an amazing job with beautifully detailed mehndi (although the babies didn't keep theirs on for long!)

I took the opportunity to wear my new kurta from Pakistan which my mum bought a few months ago, It was perfect for the warm weather, very comfortable and looked really pretty paired with trousers from Khaadi. I picked out the red accents with red shoes and lipsticks and was ready to go!

It was a really lovely way to spend our last night in Ramadan and also open our fast with the family. I managed to also quickly get my own preps done for Eid (ironing, wrapping presents, tidying the house!) before I went out for the festivities, and went to bed later in the night tired but happy!