First Birthday Party ideas, please!

[HHCs Mom]

DS's birthday isn't until April, but I'm already thinking of theme ideas, etc. Can y'all tell me what you did for your child's first birthday? We will have family and a few friends over for cake and ice cream. I'm not feeding lunch to a bunch of people or anything like that.

He's not really *into* things yet like Thomas the Train, Wiggles, etc. so a theme like that is not what we're looking for, more like generic themes like circus or cowboys, something like that.

Suggestions??? Thanks a bunch!

Kim
~ mama to a chunky monkey named Harrison ~ 4.6.04

[laretce6]

I haven't done a party yet, but I'm already looking for ideas and ours won't be till August ;-)

http://www.birthdayexpress.com and http://www.kidspartiesbylori.com both have cute tableware, depending on what you're looking for and www.birthdaypartyideas.com has TONS of descriptions people have posted about their own parties. It's kind of disorganized, but there's still good info there. Also the parents magazine and family fun websites have lots of info and cake pictures.

At this point, assuming I don't change my mind 10 more times I'm planning to do a farmyard theme and make this cake http://www.parents.com/articles/food_fun/5644.jsp?page=2

HTH
Caroline
Mama to Eleanor Katherine 8.2.04

[whittyanne]

Kim - we went generic with "sports". I had baseballs/basketballs/soccer/football on his invites. The decorations themselves were mixed although we were a bit heavy on the football/Eagles b/c we're in Philly and it was football season. I gave away little tubs with blow-up balls, sports-maracas and some other cheap sports-themed items (easy to find!)

We had a really cute poem on the invite too - it went something like:

Football or baseball, which will it be
soccer or basketball, we'll just wait and see
Our little all-star is about to turn one
so we're having a party that's sure to be fun!

Come join us, etc etc. And I put a pict of DS on it with his Eagles jersey on...

Anyway... we've also been to a ton of 1st birthday parties in the past few months. One was cowboys/western and very cute. You could also do a "farm" theme... or Sesame Street...

HTH!

[Toba]

We are having 30 - 40 people at our local firehouse. We're doing a Classic Pooh theme. I found plates, cups, hats, party favors, table covers, etc. at birthdayinabox.com. The shipping was SUPER fast and everything was perfect. I've since decided to order a Winnie the Pooh pinata (couldn't find one in Classic Pooh, so plain old Pooh will have to suffice) that has strings to pull at random instead of beating it to death. Noah obviously won't be up for it, but there are a few other older kids that will. I'm sure you'll find something that will work!! Good luck!


~Kimberly Anne~
Noah Nevan, March 12, 2004
*the light of my life*

[June Mommy]

My DS won't be 1 until July, but I've already been thinking about this! Our friends and family are spread out all over and our home wouldn't be the best place to have the party, so I think I'm going to do one at a 'paint-your-own-pottery' place. The babies can do handprints or footprints on a tile (we did one of those at 6 weeks!) and the older kids can actually paint something. The only thing DS really is into at this point is Baby Einstein, so that would be the theme. I want to make the invitations and have a cute cake made, and just buy plates, napkins, etc. to match. My idea for the invitations is to cut out circles of different colors and glue to the card to look like the B.E. 'caterpillar.' I want the cake to actually be cupcakes put together and decorated to look like the caterpillar. (I saw this once and it was so cute.) I can't wait to actually get started! Have fun with your party!

[stefani]

We kept it as simple as possible for DS's 1st birthday party. After all, he doesn't really comprehend it anyway :-) We had about 20 people (5 children total). The theme was Pooh (a combination of Classic Pooh and Winnie the Pooh). The lunch was for celebration for us (his parents), so we used colored plates, napkins & cups (save money :-). The Winnie the Pooh (from Party City) part was cake plates & napkins, and table cover. DS has a stuffed Classic Pooh, so I put that by the cake before the cake was cut.

DS got a wagon from us (Radio Flyer Traveler), so we took that out before opening all the other presents. Well, that was a hit, so all the children got a ride around the living room in it several times
:-)

O yes, it is probably best not to have chocolate / nuts in what you serve since at that age those two are probably not introduced yet into their diet.

Have fun!

[Tondi G]

we had a big party for DS's 1st. BBQ and pool party, lots of friends and family! I did a 1st birthday boy theme and bought extra table cloths and such in solid colors, red,blue,yellow,green.

Here is the theme we used

http://birthdaydirect.com/cgi-bin/cart/cart?cart=Search&Pattern=HUGS+BOY&title=Hugs%20and%20Stitches%20Boy%20theme%20birthd ay%20party%20supplies

Here is a link to all the 1st bday themes!

http://birthdaydirect.com/1st-birthday-party-supplies-catalog.html

A friend of mine did a jungle theme for her sons 1st and it was super cute

http://birthdaydirect.com/cgi-bin/cart/cart?cart=Search&Pattern=JUNGLE+PARTY&title=Jungle%20Party%20theme%20birthday%20party%20 supplies

I've ordered from this site several time now and really like their CS and everything has always come quickly and the order was always correct!

Good Luck... HTH's you!

~Tondi
Mommy to Mason 7/8/01
and lil man #2 edd 5/5/05

[KrisM]

No suggestions, as I was just wondering the same thing today. I love the links people have posted. I just want a nice "1st Birthday" theme. DS isn't "into" anything yet. He doesn't watch TV, so he doesn't know a lot of the themes that are more popular.

Thanks for the great links!

[Mommaof2]

Cute 1st boy party. Wilkins even makes a cake pan of a 3d duck. Lots of great ideas on the earlier mentioned link. Make blue punch put small yellow ducks in it to float, etc. You should also be able to find a great duck outfit for your son to wear.

[HHCs Mom]

These are some really cute ideas! Thanks everyone! Now I have to narrow down my choices! :)


Kim
~ mama to a chunky monkey named Harrison ~ 4.6.04

[ribbit1019]

Thanks for the post Kim!
I was wondering what I was going to start with for DD's party..
Now I am on the right track!!


http://www.tickercentral.com/view/172x/4.png


http://lilypie.com/baby1/050609/1/0/0/-5/.png
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_garnet_6m.gif

[hellosmiletoday]

If you decide to do the rubber duck theme I noticed that the brand "cross my heart" makes duck diecuts to attach (3D) to an invitation -- you can find it at a scrapbook store. I noticed the duck diecut while searching for diecuts for DD's b-day invitations -- I got some cupcakes with one little pink heart. The invitation supplies came out to about $1 a piece. DD also has mini-rubber duck personalized with her name...another cute idea for a duck theme.

Mommy to baby girl 5.8.04

[corrie23]

We did a frog theme for DD's first birthday because the party was on Feb 29th (leap year "day"). Her second birthday party is tomorrow and we're doing a music theme bacause she LOVES to sing, dance, and play musical instruments. Both years I bought chocolate lollipop and candy molds online to match the theme. I filled a couple decorative tin pails with floral foam/spanish moss and stuck the pops in there as table decorations then sent the pops home as favors. I used the small chocolates in the same shapes to decorate the cake. I also made/decorated frog sugar cookies last year, but skipped cookies this year since I made a birthday cake AND cupcakes.

If you want cute, super cheap invites, you can just type them in a cute font on word and insert clipart (like a rubber duck top center). I made our invites a single sheet approx 6x8 and printed them two to a page on photo paper. I then cut the page in half, rounded the corners with a CM corner rounder, and sent them in envelopes I bought at Michaels.

It's probably too advanced for a first birthday, but for DD's party, we're giving supply/goody bags with a pair of small maracas, a jingle shaker, a velcro jingle bell wrist/ankle band, and sheets of music note and birthday themed stickers (almost eerything-including the vinyl bags was from Oriental Trading). We'll have a craft activity the kids can do at their leisure (making tambourines out of small paper plates they can decorate with stickers and then their parents can assist in stapling the plates together with beans inside). My brother is a song leader/musician and he's going to do some song leading with the kids using their instruments, and then we'll do a light lunch, cake, and then "free play" with music/toys.

I just bought basic solid colored tablewear. I didn't see a need for the plates to fit the theme per se, I just try to be consistent with my colors (e.g., last year we did lime green, hot pink, and a bit of yellow accent that was carried through on the cookies, cake, etc. This year we're doing primary green, blue, red, and yellow).

I already have next year's theme planned. We're going to do a "dough" party. We'll make/play with play doh, we'll have raw pizza dough and toppings so the kids can make their own mini pizzas for lunch, and we'll make cookie dough as a precursor to a giant cookie cake (I will have made/decorated for DD ahead of time). Goody bags will be a wooden mini rollong pin, a small container of homemade play doh, the play doh recipe to make again at home, and a small cookie cutter or play doh pounder (haven't decided yet).

Can you tell I'm a bit of a planner (and incredibly compulsive-lol)

-Corrie