The Messenger of Allah 
said, “When a group of people assemble for the remembrance of Allah 
, the angels surround them (with their wings), (Allah’s) mercy envelops them, Sakinah or tranquility descends upon them and Allah makes a mention of them before those who are near Him.”[Sahih Muslim].
The purpose of life in this dunya is to remember Allah at all times. And the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah teaches us how to do just that. Our children love to have parties as much as we do; such as play dates or Eid parties or a celebration for some accomplishment they’ve attained.
These parties are the perfect opportunity to instil in our children the habit of always remembering Allah in any gathering they attend. The idea of angels descending and surrounding them with their wings is enough to put wonder in their hearts and the fact that Allah is going to mention them to His angels makes them walk happily around for quite some time!!
So what kind of activities we could do in our parties which inculcates the remembrance of Allah and makes it fun for them at the same time?
Read on:
1. Islamic theme party: Have a theme that is related to the deen. You can have “Princess of Jannah” parties, where the girls will read up on their favorite Women of Jannah – Mariam 
, Fatima , Asiya , Khadijah . The girls can pick their favorite woman and one quality of hers that she really likes. For example, Asiya was a firm believer and Mariam 
was chaste. As such, the girls can focus on adopting Islamic clothing. Meanwhile Fatima used to like her house work and Khadija loved helping others.
You can also pick your theme with reference to the Islamic calendar. If the party coincides with any of the 4 sacred months of Islam or during the hajj season or if Ramadan is around the corner, you could use the Islamic date and month as the invitation date (indirectly teaching the kids the Islamic months) or have a simulation of “iftar” complete with the du’aa for breaking the fast and with dates and water for breaking the fast.
2. Plan an activity according to the theme: For example, if you are planning on explaining the Islamic calendar, have printable 
calendars ready, and make the children stick them on their favorite color of construction paper and punch holes at the top, run a string through them and Voila!! A calendar is ready. While some people may be consumed by the thought of receiving flowers on Valentine’s Day, you could hold a party during which you give the children a heart and they could write “Al-Wadud”, The Loving One” on it. It is a very good way of reminding children that Allah loves us more than anything, and also negates the concept of valentines. Be organized and ready with all your supplies and the plan of action as children in a party mood are a very excited bunch.
3. Have a quiz: Although TV should normally be avoided, you could show videos such as “Zaky and friends”, nasheeds or the animations on Productive Muslim. Once the video is over, you can ask quick and small questions and reward the right answers with stickers or small gifts.
4. Have an art competition: Children love to express their thoughts with colors and paper. Have a topic ready or you could ask them to draw their favorite creation of Allah . You could also ask them to draw and color a girl or a boy walking down a path strewn with thorns (simulation of difficulty).
5. Have a seerah competition: This can be done at any time, but one of the best times to do it is to mark an historically important event such as the Prophet’s hijra from Makkah to Medinah. Send out the handouts or email the questions to the parents. Then announce the answers on the day you hold the party and reward the winners and the rest.
6. Plan fun, yet educational, physical activities: Play blindfold, with Islamic pictures. For example, put a big picture of a mosque and ask the children to put the minaret blindfolded on the picture. Or have the children play Bowling (they must bowl away all the bottles labelled with bad habits) or Jeopardy (categories could include seerah or du’aas or stories of the prophets) or Match and Mix (match the name of the Prophet with something that identifies him for example Yunus 
and the whale, or the meaning of the 99 Names of Allah Ar-Rahman means the The Most Gracious).
7. Remember those less fortunate: If holding the party at an outside location, use the opportunity to donate food or money to a charity. In this manner, the children also learn the importance of charity and feel happy that they did something good to make Allah happy.
“The Prophet said, “Seven are (the persons) whom Allah will give protection with His Shade* on the Day when there will be no shade except His Shade (i.e., on the Day of Resurrection)…. a person who gives a charity and conceals it (to such an extent) that the left hand might not know what the right has given; ..” [Sahih Bukhari and Muslim]
8. Eat in the Sunnah Way: If you can eat on the floor, then it’s great! But if you can’t, then at least you should recite “Bismillah” and the du’aa before eating. Afterwards, say Alhamdulillah at the end of the meal as a group.
9. Put Islamic values into practice: If non-Muslim children are also invited, then make good use of the hadiths on manners and good behavior. This way, the children learn good values and the non-Muslim children learn how Islam teaches us to be good.
SubhanAllah, it’s amazing how easy Allah makes it for us to remember Him at all times and you will be amazed at how much kids love such activities. It’s so heartwarming to hear them say excitedly, “Do you think, Mama, today Allah mentioned me to His angels?”
Does reading this make you want Allah to mention you to His angels and for you to be surrounded by angels too? Then just wait for our next article for How to have Productive Parties for Sisters! We will be back soon, insha Allah!
Further Reading: islamiclifestyle4u.wordpress.com.
