First Birthday Party

[LillieAnnesMom]

Our daughter is coming up on her 1 year mark and I want to have a birthday party for family and potentially some friends. All of our family lives out of town and I want to include them. Any suggestions on how you've handled this big milestone? Lillie turns 1 on 3/21/03 and I want to get the invitations out by the beginning of February so everyone has time to make travel plans if they want to attend. I'm also curious about birthday cakes. What have other people done -- do you bake a cake or have you bought one all decorated? We would love to hear your suggestions!

Thank You,

Winifred & Lillie Anne 3/21/02

[sweetbasil]

We kept Kellen's first and second birthday very low-key...family and a couple of a close friends. We served his favorites foods (that scared people, when the invite said it'd be his fave foods!), but for year one it was ham, green beans, goldfish, Kix, a veggie tray, etc., and for year two it was pizza. Then for cake, I ordered one from Albertson's. They and Randall's (a.k.a. Tom Thumb--- we're in south Texas) offer a free small cake for any baby's first birthday, with purchase of a larger cake. So the adult cake was a 1/4 sheet, and his was like an 8" round. WAAAY too huge for a little guy to eat, but he could play in it and we were able to enjoy our (untouched) cake at the same time. Have a great time!

[kathsmom]

Hi, Winifred!

For our DD's first birthday, we kept it just for family. Her first birthday was near Mother's Day, which was also the day of her baby dedication at church, so my family came to see her get dedicated, celebrate Mother's Day, and celebrate her birthday. DH's family couldn't make it, because of the distance.

We had regular adult food for us (I believe ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, etc.) and since DD was the only child present, we gave her whatever she wanted to eat. I got a chocolate cake with chocolate icing from Publix (grocery store). We stripped her down to her diaper and had a blast making the video and taking pictures of her eating her cake. She was a huge mess, but it was lots of fun. However, I did not realize how difficult it is to get chocolate icing out of a child's ear!! If you don't want to worry about sugary icing, DD's daycare (when she went to daycare) told us that they preferred cakes/cupcakes with whipped topping frosting, because it was easier to wash the kids up with that. The only caveat with the whipped topping is that you have to keep it refrigerated, or the icing could melt.

You might want to check out books on children's birthday parties at the library. I have found them to be helpful for ideas and recipes.

Good luck and HTH!

Toni - mom to Katherine (5/19/96) and Andrew (9/23/02)

[LillieAnnesMom]

Thank you for the suggestions. I hadn't even thought about looking for some books at the library! Good suggestion.

Also, thank you for the info on the cake -- I will keep the tip on chocolate frosting in mind!

Winifred

[mama2be]

Some of my favorite picutres to see are one year olds playing with their little cake in front of them...cake everywhere...hands hair and face and the biggest smile in the world. I so hope that I do that for Tristan's first birthday...