Get ready to pack your bags. And not just for a holiday, office trip or destination wedding. The next ‘save the date’ you get may well be for a milestone birthday, anniversary or upanayan (thread ceremony) with a destination way more exotic than the host’s house, a nearby hotel or temple.
Silky Puri, a corporate professional from Gurugram, has turned the birthdays of her two children, Khwaish (7) and Kabir (2), into destination bashes rather than hosting themed kiddie parties at home. A travelholic, Puri spent her son Kabir’s first birthday collecting seashells in Thailand’s Maya Bay (the location of Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer ‘The Beach’) with 11 other family members who wore matching T-shirts with taglines such as ‘nani of the birthday boy’ or ‘dad of the birthday boy’. “For the mother, a child’s first birthdays also marks the completion of the toughest year after childbirth,” says Puri, who documents her travel diaries with her children on social media. “Travelling is the best way to teach children about cultures, how to be uncomfortable and adapt. Parties are for adults. Instead of saving money for any other thing, I prefer giving them these experiences,” says Puri.