First Birthday Help

[jdk]

My dd is a few weeks away from being 1 yr (June 10th)!!! We don't have any family in the area, but good friends tell us it is expected that we will throw a HUGE (renting a hall etc.) party in her honor.
We had not planned on doing anything so extravagant.

Does anyone have suggestions of how they celebrated the big number 1?

Thanks,

Julie

[deborah_r]

Sounds like a weird expectation to me, unless it is what you want to do! If you have a lot of friends, and would enjoy it, then go for it. Or you could just have a few of your closest friends over for a small celebration.

I thought about doing a large outdorr picnic where we would invite a lot of acquaintances, but then changed my mind because it just didn't seem worth all of the stress for people we don't know that well. I know DS could not care less what kind of party he has. Then I wasn't going to have any party, then DH freaked and said we HAD to do something, or else when he was older he would be upset that we didn't have a party on his first birthday! But we don't have family here and only have a small circle of close friends, so we are just having a few people over, eating, doing the cake thing. maybe we'll wander down the street to the park for a while, and htat's about it!

Do what makes you happy!

[jd11365]

> it is expected that we will throw a HUGE (renting a hall etc.) party in her honor.

No way! I have my good friends where I live and my inlaws were coming down anyway regardless of a party, so I did a picnic in the park and just invited everyone. Honestly, I mainly did this so I could see all of them and we could all get together to have a good time. (It had literally been a year since we had all been anywhere near together in one place now that we have children!)

If I didn't have my friends or family in the area, a cake and a candle would have been just fine to me! Honestly, even the picnic was a lot of work and I didn't even have time to share with my friends anyway because I was bustling around being a hostess/mommy. Have a few people over for some cake and ice cream...have a few mylar balloons if you like...presto birthday celebration!

ETA: Yes, once I decided to have a party I did make it a real party with theme and all...I know my BBB friends out there already know that. (I don't want to sound hyprocritical at all.) My point is, it wasn't an EXPECTATION by any stretch and a cake and candle would have been just fine if that's what I chose to do. As a matter of fact many of my friends have chosen to do that and I nor anyone else ever questioned them. We wouldn't be very good friends if we did that now would we?

Have fun...it's YOUR special day with your DH and DD!

Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
5-1-03

[gour0]

My goodness! Huge? Not me! We had a very low-key thing here at home. Both sets of in-laws flew in. BIL, two kids, his sister. And one friend of mine. That's it. I made an elaborate cake, but no other exertion at all. My dad hung streamers and I got Ben a balloon.
Now, my SIL who has more friends here had a very nice party. Much more involved than ours. It was a fairy theme and she made tissue paper flowers and hung up paper mache butterflies and lots of balloons. She bought her dd fairy wings and pinned them to her dress and put a garland in her hair. She was completely adorable. She had this amazing buffet set out and m&m's in flower pots with the paper flowers growing out of them. But there were still less than 20 people or so.
But no hall. I guess it depends on you and your style. I don't think your dd will care either way.

Here's a shot of my neice opening presents. The wings were already history.
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/6231.jpg

[cchavez]

I put a lot of thought and planning into D's first b-day party. But I don't think we went overboard. We had about 25 people attend the party which was held in our home. We had a big Mexican (fajita) buffet but we always like to feed our friends well.....that is just the way we are. Do what you are comfortable with but the one thing I would suggest is make sure you have activities for the children. It doesn't have to be anything big but something like bubbles or just having several toys out so the kids can be entertained.