‘Survivor’ Birthday Party
Remi smashed her 1-year-old cake with the Arogeti clan on hand.
After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.
Jordan and Scott Arogeti threw a tongue and cheek “Survivor” first birthday party for daughter Remi Rose in April with older brother Nace, 2 ½, sharing the joy.
Mom Jordan explained, “The first birthday is normally significant, but this year especially so during the pandemic. Our theme was a play on words, the TV show ‘Survivor,’ and having two children under 2 this particular year.”
Combining endurance during the pandemic with the television series’ castaway premise, the Arogetis went all out to develop their Survivor theme with fun décor: leaves, coconut head faces, Lysol, hand sanitizer, waving greenery, island decoration, balloon arches and even nasal swabs.
Starting at 10:30 a.m., guests entered between rows of bamboo torches. Jordan continued, “We didn’t focus on food; we grabbed Chick-fil-A. Mom made a huge casserole; we had pineapple cupcakes and a multicolored Number 1 smash birthday cake, …. The emphasis was on being social for the first time in a long while. A lot of happiness!”
Although they didn’t play traditional kiddy games, they focused on just being together. Brother Nace was given the job of testing temperatures at the front door, which he conscientiously took on.
Art consultant grandmother Sharon Rudy Moskowitz, srmARTconnect, said, “I helped with the décor/ theme and the ‘artistic’ coconut heads were created by Jeffrey (goes by Jeffro) Hollington, a fun whimsy artist who does commissions and live paintings at weddings, mitzvahs, openings.
“Jordan is definitely the woman in charge. She and Scott really were so inspired by all the love they had from family and how they could not have ‘survived’ the quarantine and the isolation without the support of the Moskowitz/Arogeti and inner extended siblings, with who they could come in contact” during the pandemic.
“Jordan and Scott were a true team and used the theme throughout the party as a fun way to show how Remi Rose blossomed her first year, making a very fearful year with challenges turn into a year of growth, love and using humor whenever possible!”
Jordan addressed the group with a heartfelt speech as a full-time working mom, acknowledging how they had all experienced so much during the pandemic with isolation and “powering through.”
She emphatically thanked husband Scott for stepping up. “He really made a contribution, willing to do household chores. I never had to ask. He put the kids and me before himself. We are survivors.”
Dad Scott noted Remi’s two great-grandmothers were coincidentally both in the same sorority class at the University of Georgia in the early ‘50s and only recently reconnected around their grandchildren marrying. “This made the day all the more meaningful. It was a wonderful feeling to finally gather as a full combined family and to celebrate not only Remi’s first year of life, but also the fact that we could all be together celebrating in person safe, healthy, and together under one roof.”
Moskowitz summarized, “How ironic that their two babies are chai, 18 months apart. We know we are truly blessed.”
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