First Birthday Party - Share what you did for yours!

[dianna]

I'm in the midst of planning DS's 1st birthday party and my mind is swimming! I'm leaning towards a fishy theme...he loves all his Ocean Wonders stuff. Plus I can do it fun, yet classy, to work for both the kids and adults.

I really want to throw a big party for our friends and family. I don't care about the gifts, he doesn't really need anything, I just want to have lots of people over to celebrate and have a good time. It would be mostly family, and our closer friends and their kids (mostly age 3 and under).

So...if you threw a big party for your DC, describe what you did - theme, food, activities, cake, etc. Did you open presents while people were there or wait til after the party?

I kind of want to say "No gifts" because I don't want people to think we are having a big party to solicit presents (nor does DS need them), but at the same time, its a birthday party. I'd never show up at one without a gift, so that makes me think its rude to say "no gifts". Plus etiquette wise, its kind of assuming people would bring gifts, which is not really proper. Thoughts?

Feel free to share your party details! I need help!

[hudsonam]

We had his party in our small townhouse, so we couldn't have tons of people, so we just had immediate family. I made him a cake that looked like a train. It took me 4 hours to decorate, but it came out really cute. I just bought colored crepe paper in primary colors (to go with the cake) and hung them up, and bought primary colored table cloth and napkins and cups. Everything was red, blue and yellow. I got a cold cut platter and rolls from a really good bakery in town and also made a second, "regular" cake in case the one wasn't enough. In addition to the platter, we had salads and my mom and MIL made beans and swedish meatballs and I think we had cookies too. It all turned out nice. :) HTH!

[purpleeyes]

We did a big party-DS's b-day is in august, so it was a chance to get the whole family together for one last summer BBQ. We had a 'bath/duck' theme b/c he loves baths, water, etc. (also the FP aquarium stuff!). We had plates/napkins with ducks on them, and we made a 'bath' cake (simply a layer cake decorated to look like a tub) with duckies on top. We had matching crepe paper and balloons, too.
I did bath toys for the favors (we have a few kids in the family young enough for this.)We did do presents-everyone WANTS to bring presents and it was exciting. We opened them b/c people wanted to see if he liked it. :)

This year I think we'll still do a bbq b/c it is so good to get everyone together! I am worried about the 'solicitation' of gifts like you mentioned. I think we'll reduce the guest list a little and it may work. This year the theme is trucks! ;)

Gotta run-crying, but I may come back to add more!

B

[shilo]

hi diana,

we did a 'fishy' theme for DS's 1st bday in may. i had 4 1year olds, 1 2 year old and close family/friends over for a total of about 20 people. it was a great party. i carried the theme into decorations and the cake, but not to food (standard BBQ and summer salads fare) and we didn't really have 'games' per se b/c of the age of the kiddo's. they (esp. the 2yr old) really liked the bubbles i had out and the 1 year olds all liked the balls i included in the goodie bags (like the 4 inch gertie clearly bumpie balls - picked them up in a 6pack at a lakeshore learning store).

anyway, here is the cake i did (i made/decorated the cookies and had the local grocery store bakery do the cake and asked them to just make the icing 'blue like water and waves'). i got the idea for the cake from someone here who posted a link to www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com. they have a whole section on fish/ocean themed cakes.


Sam 5/19/05 How lucky I am that you chose me.

[Jenn98]

My DD's birthday is right around the corner, and we struggled with the no gifts thing too. I decided to not say anything because after talking about it with my mom I realized that if I said no gifts, then I was expecting a gift. Also, my mom pointed out that gifts come from the givers because they want to give. She told me I'd be taking all the fun away from people if I said no gifts. I agreed and we have just decided to accept any loud, noisy, plastic, battery operated gifts graciously ;)

We are just having an afternoon BBQ kind of thing. Invite family and friends and have everyone mill around and chat. Eat, cake, and open gifts. That's it. I did decide to have a separate party for our playgroup and any friends with little ones. That way they don't get lost in the shuffle of family and childless friends. It's going to be just a regular play date at my house with cupcakes and opening of small gifts.

[Tondi G]

we had a Monkey party for Aidan's 1st Birthday! I had the idea and then someone here on the boards posted pics of her sons monkey party and that sealed the deal for me!

We had yellow plates, napkins, utensils etc. I got a lot of the neon monkey stuff from Oriental Trading ... party hats, napkins bubbles and porcupine monkeys etc for the favors. I dressed DS in the Gymbo Go Bananas outfit. It was really cute. For food we had Pizza, fruit salad, green salad, potato salad, chocolate covered pretzels and banana chips in bowls. I put coconuts and bananas on the tables and we got little palm tree food picks with little monkeys on them also from Oriental trading and put them in the salads! It really turned out SO cute, everyone loved it!

Here is a pic of the bday boy with the favor bags I made!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y195/Tondi/Aidans1stBday120.jpg

and one of the cake and a little of the decor

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y195/Tondi/Aidans1stBday069.jpg

I think the fish theme is perfect for a first birthday! My neighbor chose fish/Nemo for her sons 1st birthday later this month!

http://birthdaydirect.com/kids-party-supplies-page-underwater-friends-party-supplies-c-863_993.html

http://birthdaydirect.com/theme-party-supplies-tropical-party-under-c-50_1006.html

http://orientaltrading.com/application?namespace=search&Ntk=all&origin=searchMain.jsp&Ne=90000&Ntt=fish&Ntx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&y=10&event=button.search&N=377320&x=23

Good Luck

~Tondi
Mommy to Mason 7/8/01 and Aidan 5/4/05

[kboyle]

for charlie's first bday we did no theme, but it was at my MIL's backyard which is pretty big, she's got an in-ground pool, bar/cabana & tons of deck space, so we just had it there...i think we just did grilled food (hamburgers/hot dogs) mac salad, beans & fruit. pretty much we ate, then did the cake right away & then immediately opened presents. since it was in june it was hot and we didn't want to waste time and drag it out so we got all that out of the way so that people could leave or swim.

max's 1st is in aug and we'll be doing the same thing, a no-themed pool party :) we're planning on just having fried chicken (ds's uncle works at Heinen's, a food chain grocery store here and can get the fried chicked at a good price, plus it's AWESOME chicken), probably 1.5 sheets of pizza, mac salad, green salad, beans, fruit and of course, a bit of lite booze :) i'm thinking that some lite margarita's sounds good in the 90 degree weather around the pool! we're expecting about 65 people PLUS kids, so it'll be a pretty big event. and again, the invite says 1p so we'll probably start the food at 1:30p unless a lot of people aren't there yet then we'll eat at 2p at the lastest, probably have the cake around 2:45p, get him cleaned up and do gifts immediately after, with a lot of people and a lot of gifts i want to get this over with since i'll be H-O-T!!!

we went to dh's cousin's son's 1st bday party last weekend, it started at 2p and we didn't show up till 4:30 due to us working and they still hadn't opened up gifts, TONS of people were just looking at their watches and lingering around the door, it was about 92 degrees and there wasn't a breeze around and NO A/C in the house so people were getting a bit antsy...i don't want that, it'll be a: food, cake, gift...then you can leave kinda party, stay and swim if you want, but most people really want to leave after the gifts, well, in my experience at parties and charlie's parties, esp in the summer when it's outdoors and HOT!

i always get my cakes from the grocery store too (Giant Eagle) because they have the BEST satin frosting, lite, not sugary..kinda cool whip-like! AND they give a free "smash" cake for the bday baby.

because my MIL has this pool we're pretty much there EVERY Sunday doing this same thing, just on a smaller scale with less people and no cake, last night we had a pool party with about 15 of us with pasta, pizza, corn, fruit, salad & some cookie bars...and, of course, margarita's...we're partyin' people :)

i'll probably also do little favor bags for the kids since we'll probably have about 10 kids (ages 1mo - 9yr)and i'm thinking possibly straw cups, or Nuby sippies for the little one's and who knows for the 3 older ones.

[HHCs Mom]

For DS's first birthday we did a First Birthday theme. I debated using other themes but then decided that this was the only time we could do the First Birthday theme, so we did. :)

I made a carrot cake from scratch and we had other munchies to eat and punch, tea, and water to drink. I do 90 minute birthday parties for DS --- socialize a bit, cut/eat cake and other food, open gifts and that's it --- I try to keep it moving so people don't get bored. The kids are too small to last more than 90 minutes and the parents don't want to have to wrangle their kids in someone else's home for too long, either. ;) I've been to too many parties where things move SO slowly and they last for hours, which ends up being no fun for anyone.

Hope y'all have a great time at your DC's party!


Kim
~ mama to a sweet boy named Harrison ~ 4.6.04

[TraciG]

AWESOME CAKE !

[sdjeppa]

We had a luau for DS's first birthday. It was a blast...we asked everyone to come "dressed hawaiian", so all the pictures are really bright and colorful with almost everyone in Hawaiian shirts...normal Luau decorations...pulled pork sandwiches, fruit, hawaiian bread dip, etc. Had a surfer cake :).

As it was mostly family, we did not put "no gifts", and we did open them then, but now i wish I had waited, it was nuts.

[Hilerie]

Please, please, please tell me how you made those amazing cookies! I completely want to steal your idea (if you don't mind, of course!) but where did you get those great shapes, and how did you decorate them so beautifully? Do tell! :)

[cdlamis]

We had a luau. We decided on that theme after going to Hawaii and learning that it is customary to have a luau to celebrate your child's first year of life. We loved the idea and had a great time!

Sorry- I can't remember too much since it was 4 years ago but I am sure you can find a lot of Luau ideas on the internet. I found some great ideas on Birthday Party ideas:
http://birthdaypartyideas.com/html/party_ideas.html

It was for Julia's first birthday so there weren't any other kids (no cousins yet, etc). We bought most of the decorations from Oriental Trading. I found a lot of menu ideas online.

On the invitations (or party favors, can't remember), I wrote down each person's Hawaiian name.

Daniella
Mom to Julia 6/02
and Bella 12/04

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif

[JTsMom]

I kept meaning to post some pics of Jason's Barnyard Bash, but I never got around to it!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZtmbhs3YtWHw

I turned our dining room table into a cow, made cow gift bags with farm themed stuff for each kid- stickers, a rubber duck, a cow print jump rope, etc., made giant animals for decorations, had big animal shaped balloons, cow print balloons, turned our entertainment center into a barn, made a cookie bouquet with farm animal shaped cookies, a barnyard cake (pathetic as it was, it was cute in theory!), and did a fruit arrangement like the ones at ediblearrangements.com

It was SO much work, but fun to do. We did do presents at the party- we didn't have too many people, so it was no big deal. For food, we did pizza, salad, garlic bread cake and ice-cream, cookies and fruit. Nothing fancy- pizza is Jason's favorite food.

I think a fishy theme would be adorable! You could have a lot of fun with that.

[samsonsmom]

Wow---y'all are supermoms!

Underachiever here: I didn't have a theme and didn't make much from scratch (just the potato salad I guess, and my mom did most of that), but we did have a boatload of people in our VERRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYy small house: 18 adults, 5 babies, a toddler and a 4-year old. We started at 5pm and grilled burgers (Bubba Burgers, no less...didn't even make our own patties!) and served the standard other stuff---potato salad, chips, veggie tray, fruit salad. I didn't say anything about gifts, except to members of our playgroup where I broached the topic, having the first baby to turn 1, and we agreed on a $10 limit. I actually wanted to make it $5, LOL! Even bringing up the topic was awkward though, because you're right, then it makes it seem like you're expecting gifts. What I really wanted to say was that I'm totally cool with re-gifting, garage sale and goodwill gifts, but again it still made it seem like I was expecting gifts. D'oh!

One thing I would do differently next time is not make it dinner. I did have a good reason to have it at 5pm instead of earlier in the day, but now I can't remember what it was. Anyway, because it was getting late in the day, I was feeling pressure to keep things moving, knowing that DS would be getting tired soon and it would start being not so fun. But I didn't want to move on with gifts (yes we did open gifts while people were there, I figured people would want to see our appreciation firsthand) until everybody had at least STARTED eating, but then I felt the temptation to rush people. If I had just had finger foods, I wouldn't have cared if people ate or not, I would have just figured they would eat if/when they wanted to. I don't know if that makes sense at all.

By the time we got around to the cake, DS was pretty much done with the whole thing. It was hard to keep him from crying when he was supposed to be enjoying his first experience with cake!

All in all I think it was a reasonably fun party for most that were there, but maybe not so fun for me. Contributing to that was major exhaustion from having been at the ER for five hours the previous night with my mom who slipped on my kitchen floor and hit her forehead on the corner of the counter on the way down (11 stitches), plus I was about 6 weeks pg but didn't know for sure, plus I had spent the whole day cleaning the house with DS in a pack on my back.

Sorry, that was long (blush).

[shilo]

no problem. someone else asked the first time i posted a pic after his b-day. i posted the recipes and patterns i followed, as well as the link to the page where i 'stole' the idea from myself :) :

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=37&topic_id=325484&mesg_id=325746&page=

ETA: i realized, re-reading this post that i did have one other shape i used besides the puzzle pieces and the generic fish (nemo shaped fish in orange, royal blue and turqoise blue in the picture) and star cookie cutters. the moorish idol (yellow and white fish with black stripes) i did by finding a clip art picture, printing it out on a piece of paper, cutting that out and using it as a template to cut around on the dough.

hth, and have fun!
lori
Sam 5/19/05 How lucky I am that you chose me.