1st birthday-I am clueless!

[warcraftbaby]

My first child, my daughter, will be turning 1 on June 21. My hubby and I have always kinda rushed things and our supposedly major life events have never been a "big deal" and we don't want that for our daughter. So we were wanting to make this something special.

We have no plans right now. We can't do an event at our place because we live in a tiny one bdr/efficiency style place with no yard (yea I'm working on finding a new place...since I got pregnant with her! ) I have no idea what happens at a small child's birthday because we are the first with kids in the family and we were the first among friends to have kids too. Is it just cake and presents for the birthday kid and then the rest is adult-centric or what? How do you pick a theme? Our daughter likes everything except TV (which I am sooo happy about ) so how do you pick a theme from that? Is it just what me and my hubby want or do you try and figure out what a 1 y/o "likes"? O and for invites, do you send out invitations or just kinda call around? We live in a rural area so there's none of those "kid" places to go and I don't really want to ever experience that kind of mayhem anyway

I'm grateful for any advice/suggestions and please, share what you did for your small child's birthday! We're obviously very behind on planning but I want this to be an "event" for her even if she can't remember it And obviously, CHEAP ideas! I want to keep this under $100 if at all possible.

O and I realize the day is Father's Day, we'd probably do the party the day before on the 20th.

[MrsAlias]

We just had our sons 1st Birthday about a month ago.

He loves Curious George on PBS, so that was the theme. I just decorated with blue, yellow and red and made the rest of the decorations (I am very crafty)

We invited the whole family, plus our church, we ended up with about 30 people, yes, thats a lot.

I simply made my own deli tray, cut veggies, fruit salad, and pasta salad, and punch.

The whole party, decorations, food, cake (which I made) I spent like 60 bucks.

Some advice:

-Schedule the party around your daughters nap time, you dont want a cranky baby
-Yes, this party is for adults, so dont worry about games and such, its just a social hour for adults
-Lunch, cake, gifts... done.
-Give her a "smash cake" just make a small cake, or even a cup cake, and let her smash it all over herself... bring a change of clothing, and maybe even a washcloth and soap!

Hope that helps... oh, and take lots of pictures!!

[amzasmommy]

You could have it at a park and rent a pavilion. Then you could do cookout type food or just cake and ice cream. Your call. I made cupcakes for ds party. Definately do invites. It's her first bday!

As for theme, there are lots of cute 1st bday themes so check those out. I do all of my party supplies from www.orientaltrading.com. I'm constantly getting emails for free shipping and $$ off. They're on ebates too so you can get 3% cash back by going through them.

We invited our friends and family to ds party and it really was a social event for the adults mostly. The food was geared toward adults but I had a kid option on everything too for the handful of kids we had there.

[mrsjschultz]

TY for posting this

DS turns 1 on June 20th and we just did a small party type deal at the in-laws last night but we'll also be doing something small and intimate on his actual day.

I'm thinking Elmo. He likes Elmo's World on Sesame Street.

I can bake a cake myself, along with a small one for him. For us it will be a small gathering. Just friends and family

[Spanelli8706]

Thanks for posting this! My daughter will be one on June 30th.

Unfortunately, we have a huge family, on my side and my husbands. And they are known for their get-togethers. So I feel like I need to be really creative. She loves the water-pools, sprinklers, the bath. So I was thinking a water theme. And she loves Elmo as well...but my husbands brother just did that for their son's 1st birthday, so I'd like to do something different for her. Any advice would be great! Any one else done a water theme? There will most likely only be 3-5 small children, the rest adults. But I'd like to keep it more kid oriented! That's important to me. Thanks!!

[jenrose]

I could go on and on about kids parties but I'll try to keep this short (yeah right ).

For most of birthday parties for my 2 boys I have done a BBQ at home wich I will be doing this weekend for DS#2's 2nd B-day as well. Although DS#1's 2nd birthday was a joint B-day party with his 2 cousins at a picnic shelter at a park.

To me for a first B-Day party, the most important part is the individual cake for the birthday boy/girl to eat with their hands. This is always very comical and a must for any 1st B-day. (Safeway or Albertsons usually will give you one free for the 1st Birthday you just have to ask and order it a few days before)

For DS#2's 1st birthday I did a monkey theme. I always called him my little monkey so it was fitting. For invites I will often take a somewhat current digital picture of the birthday boy and make a flyer that says 'Look who's turning 1' and the pic with the details of the party below. I have a large family and lots of friends with kids close in age and several friends that we don't see often but will come to the parties. This lets everyone see kinda how big they are getting and also helps some of them with sizing if they want to buy cloths. And those who can't come at least get to see a current pic of them.

I always do little goodie bags for all the kids that come (I will have 15 kids at this weekends party and almost 30 adults).

Just take it from me when the kids get older, never do a 4 wheeler (Quad) themed party unless you want to get creative and make a lot of stuff. DS decided on that for his 4th birthday last fall and that took some work.

Hope it is a blast at your bash and make sure to take lots of pics!

[SyLph211]

My DD will be 1 on June 17th. We are having a small get together at my home with friends and family. I am making her cake and the cupcakes for the rest. We are not doing a theme of sorts just doing more of a theme for the cake, cupcakes. She will have a small bee smash cake and the cupcakes are going to be sunflowers and other summer type flowers. I spent a few days googling and printing instructions etc. I am spending a week prior learning the cupcakes and giving them to my mommie friends as treats at Playdates that week,LOL. I really wanted something girlie but hated all the prelicensed type stuff so this was what I decided to do.

MY DS's brithday is July 17th and he will be 3. His first birthday we did a BBQ theme and had hot dogs, hamburgers and the fixins. His cake was a large hamburger cake and the cupcakes were smaller versions of it. They are posted in the show off your cake or something like that title here on HCW. We did presents and had bubbles, ballons etc...

We decided to not do presents from family but rather give money for a swingset. My kids have been blessed with good people who have given them a lot of toys so we would rather get soemthing they can enjoy for a few years rather than a toy that they may or may not like for only a few months.

[warcraftbaby]

Originally Posted by Spanelli8706 Thanks for posting this! My daughter will be one on June 30th. Unfortunately, we have a huge family, on my side and my husbands. And they are known for their get-togethers. So I feel like I need to be really creative. She loves the water-pools, sprinklers, the bath. So I was thinking a water theme. And she loves Elmo as well...but my husbands brother just did that for their son's 1st birthday, so I'd like to do something different for her. Any advice would be great! Any one else done a water theme? There will most likely only be 3-5 small children, the rest adults. But I'd like to keep it more kid oriented! That's important to me. Thanks!!

I think that's an awesome theme! It's really original, I like it So my hubby and I have *finally* been discussing this since he got home from work (and o isn't he thrilled about that ) I think for theme we're going with Kon (stuffed lion) from Bleach (our daughter's name is from that anime and she likes my stuffed Kon so it's fitting) and other lion-type things. My mom is making the cake just like she did for every one of my b-days. I gotta ask what's the smashcake for? Can't you just cut a piece of cake and let the kid go wild? I've always been curious what they're for. Our main problem right now is figuring out location and guests/transportation.

ILs live 20+ miles away and not one of them have transportation. No such thing as public transit or taxis in this area so someone has to pick them all up or they have to find a ride.

For location we were thinking park, but the park isn't a reservation type place, so the tables could be taken by someone else by the time we get there. Plus it'd be the weekend and lots of unsupervised kids running around and I'm not sure I want to deal with a bunch of stranger's kids on my daughter's birthday.

And we're having a hard time figuring out time of day too. I don't have "naptime" for my daughter I put her down when she's tired, usually that's around noon, but today she refused to go down til about 1:30 and woke up too soon, then was cranky until she catnapped for awhile around 4 So we'd either have to do this early around 10am or later around 3-4pm. 10 seems too early and 3-4pm if we do this outside (and most likely will) it's going to be HOT.

Now I know why my hubby and I never did anything special This would be wonderfully easy if I could do what was originally thought of, my mom would host it at their place easy-peasy. But she isn't comfortable with the ILs there so we're banging our heads against our desks here trying to figure this out

[tmsmalley]

Here's my advice. Set the tone you want to go forth with. If you get carried away now (and next year and next year) you'll be stuck with that.

As to place, go with a local park. Have cake and ice cream (or just cake if the ice cream is too difficult) and stuff to drink. For a theme, pick out a kid's paper table cloth with whatever you like and then get plain colored paper plates and cups to go with it. If you buy all Hello Kitty (or whatever) for all the pieces you'll end up spending a fortune, so just get the Hello Kitty table cloth OR the Hello Kitty plates and make everything else plain but colored. You really don't need to have a big complex "theme" anyway. The theme is cake! That's all kids care about anyway.

As to invites, the only thing important about the invites is that people know when and where to show up. Email or call if you want, get a cheap packet at the party store (again, they don't have to be the Hello Kitty ones), make them if you're crafty and feel like a project, up to you. Send them out about 2-3 weeks ahead with an RSVP to you.

For a 1 year old, activities aren't required. If there are other kids there some simple kids things like big paper and crayons or a ball and a hoop will suffice if you're at a park. If your child is really the only child, then you're set. You do not need a magician, pinata, bouncy house, cotton candy cart, etc. etc. etc.

For time, I'd go with 11am and let the chips fall where they may. If your daughter is tired, that's ok. It is one day out of her life, she'll be fine. Have someone camp out at the tables you want early in the day to guard them from interlopers. You won't have to deal with other people's kids, they know the drill and will stay away.

All the best!
Tess

[talk2ham.1]

I didn't worry about much. I made cold veggie pizzas, had pretzels, candy, sodas, and cake. But even if I had done a BBQ, it wouldn't have costed much. I always get meats in bulk when they go on sale 50% off. Hotdogs and chicken don't have to cost much and really fill people up nicely. A watermelon or two are always a nice touch and add some fun to the day. Nothing like a watermelon seed spitting contest amongst the uncles and nephew/nieces to liven things up.

I did brightly colored plates and plastic table cloths and balloons for a picnic out in the backyard. I chose backyard because it minimized the work I had to do to get ready indoors. Picnic theme also meant that I didn't have to worry about making everything perfect. That meant I could hostess with less stress and actually enjoy the party myself instead of worrying about every little thing. Fewer decorations, no worries about kids running around with sticky hands, no worries about the smash cake mess. Everyone brought his own lawn chair. We just invited family . . . but that accounted for about 25 people by itself. The kids played in the grass and sidewalks while the grown-ups gabbed. Very low key, but lots of fun.

If you do it right, the party could cost you almost nothing. Cold veggie pizzas: pillsbury crescent rolls for crust, cream cheese and fresh veggies. Wait for a sale to get the cream cheese. Use produce WT's for the fresh veggies. It's usually a big hit at parties and really cheap. Pretzels, candies, chips, dip: all that is stuff that goes on sale and often has coupons to make it very cheap or free. Picnic ware has been going on sale a lot lately. I think more sales are coming on the paper goods too, so think ahead. Sodas don't have to cost much and were on sale this past week across the country for pretty cheap. BBQ chicken and hotdogs are cheap enough if you think ahead, watch for sales, and freeze till the party.

The cake: wait till boxed cake goes on sale for free or pennies. Bake a sheet cake, decorate it with chocolate icing, vanilla icing edges, (which you also get on sale for free) and brightly colored M&M's. Decorate another small smash cake for your little one. If you want to spend money on having a cake decorated, spend the money on a very little one for him to smash. It will cost much less than having a large one decorated but will still be fun to take pictures of him staring at the candle and decorations of it and diving in when you put it on his highchair tray to make a mess of. The sheet cake that you make yourself can be cut up ahead of time and served with a scoop of ice cream after everybody enjoys watching the birthday baby have a blast for a few minutes.