Baby's First Birthday

[elizabethkott]

HELP!!!
J is turning one on January 5th. I know, I know, it's WAY far away. BUT, I have a crazy mother who is already asking questions. So...
Do I do just family? Do I have 2 separate parties, one for family and one for his (read as: our) friends and their parents?
He's not really "into" anything yet, aside from Barney, and I think I will hurl if I have to buy purple dinosaur crap. So what do I do for a theme? Clowns sorta scare me, so that's out...
What time do I do this at? His actual birthday falls on a Saturday this year, so that makes it a bit easier. I would like to have a party on his actual birthday. :)
GAH! Like I need something *else* to obsess over... not like I'm hosting Thanksgiving for the first time in a week and a half or anything... :)
TIA!!!

[Tondi G]

I would have ONE party! We had big parties for both our DS's and it was great!

I would check this site and pick a 1st birthday theme... it makes it easy and is festive without having a "theme" character per se!

http://www.birthdaydirect.com/1st-birthday-party-supplies-c-33.html?osCsid=b55d055b223643e777983e6b737c86ad

What is his nap schedule like now? Is DS still taking 2 naps or is he down to 1? I would attempt to have it start after he wakes from his nap... he'll be in the best mood that way!

Good luck and HTH's you!

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

[eliasmom]

FWIW, I had a small dinner gathering for on DD's actual b-day w/my parents, my sister, BIL & their 2 kids - it was perfect. We had a joint huge b-day (one of my nephews is almost exactly 1 yr older than DD) party that weekend with my husband's entire family, some friends, etc. DD, who is usually a great napper, didn't nap and totally didn't get it. Neither did the 2 yr old. It seemed like everyone else had fun, but I was stressed out because she didn't nap and was not at her best. We didn't do a theme.

My sister just convinced me to do another joint party for the kids this year, but we're doing it at a public park where the kids can run wild. Otherwise, I was going to do another little family dinner and call it quits until she was old enough to really notice. ;)

Bottom line: just think about what would be easiest on you because you'll be doing most/all of the work. No matter what you decide, it will be fine. Good luck!!

[colleenfs]

One party is more than enough. It will be for you and your friends/family. He won't know what's going on!! I like the suggestion of a small family dinner on the actual day, and then a larger party later.

Oh, how about a DUCKY theme? We did that for Emma's 2nd birthday. She loves ducks!!

Also, you are not starting too early. Julia turns 6 on January 10th, and we've been planning her Wizard of Oz party for months already. (blush) You'll find that you have to plan early as the years go by. If I'm not done with planning before Thanksgiving, the birthday gets lost in the holiday shuffle. :(

~Colleen
Julia, 1-10-02
Emma, 7-27-05

“I do believe in fairies. I do, I do.�

[KBecks]

I like simple first b-day parties. We did family and godparents which totals at around 20 people which is more than enough.

I do simple themes too, I think for Alek and John it was primary colors and balloons. So the invitations were from Target w/balloons and then I had balloons on the cake and balloons for decorations.

One thing I did for the first b-days was to make a photo record of the first year with photos from each month. For Alek I made collages on colored construction paper for each month, and for John we did a simple photo album for guests to go through.

So we had a low-key birthday. Eat food, sing and eat cake, open gifts, talk to the family and hang out for 2 hours. :)

I don't think we'll ever have a big spendy party. I'm actually thinking of making the next birthdays even less involved and doing something like a date at the Zoo with just the grandparents or some special outing with just a few people.

Have fun!

[elephantmeg]

we did 1 big party (and in Feb so it was inside our 1200 sqf house!). I think we had 28 people there, a mixture of family and our friends, including 3 who had babies 4 months or so after us (I think we started something!) It was a ton of fun. DS's nursery theme was jungle animals and I did that as our theme, with stuff from target and oriental trading. It was a lot of fun, no activities, just free play for the kids, finger type foods and cake with homemade ice cream. Good luck!

[maestramommy]

IMO you do whatever the heck you want, and take into consideration your child's temperment. I know the first birthday is a biggie, and the kid never remembers it, but I knew enough about Dora to know she would have a miserable time if I had a big bash like a couple I went to beforehand.I just didn't want that kind of responsibility on my shoulders. We had a small party with just my parents, sister, cousin, and a good friend. Dora had a great time, she just thought we were visiting the grandparents. We had BBQ, and cake with ice cream, and then she/we opened the few presents. Very low key. We had it on a Saturday, the day before her actual birthday. No decorations. I am such a Scrooge! But we had fun at her party :-)

Some kids are fine with a big bash, others will just cry with all the attention and chaos. Do whatever you think is right for your kid and your circumstances.