1st Birthday

[Newyearbaby08]

Hello,
My son will turn 1 on 1/1/09 and I was wondering if anyone could give me b-day party ideas. We live in Florida so we were thinking of having it at a park. Most of the kids attending range in age from 2-9.

I would love to know what you did to celebrate your little ones 1st birthday.

Thanks in advance.

[sunshinejune]

On both my daughters 1st birthdays we did a memory box for them and invited friends and family but instead of bringing gifts for a 1 year old they brought cards and things for an 18 year old and we did a video that they will watch on their 18th birthday. They got some really neat things(they don't know it yet) and the people who know them at 1 got to say some things to them for when they are heading into life. Some of my favorite things in there that people brought are savings bonds(which will be matured by then), a penny for their shoe on their wedding day, a locket from a great great grandmother who won't be living in 17 years, pictures of the house and town we were living in at the time, I put in a nice set of makeup brushes for each of them. the best part is having on video the special things that people had to say.

[Misunderstood]

thats a good idea Sunshinejune i wish i had thought of that. My daughter just turned one years old and we had two parties kinda because my mother wanted to just do one with family. So we had just a small cake and dinner. then later we did a bigger party with little kids ages 2-6 and played outside and had food,cake and ice cream and opened presents. It was fun my daughter had a good time and by the end of the day she was so tired she just wanted to go to bed which was good for me

[Disco Lemonade]

Hey there! I live in the Miami area, I too was going to do it in the park, but being October I was afraid of rain falls. Her bday is on Oct.19 here is what I have planed. She loves to watch Ni Hao Kai Lan from nickJr so I focused on that. The bad thing is that they have noooo party supplies for this character so I have made everything custom! I bought a bunch of Chinese decor im making the cake which will be a lantern, im hanging lanterns all over. The favors for the kids are a Chinese take out box which will contain Chinese toys inside. The color theme is going to be red, black, and gold. The piñata will also be custom. I advice you to check out Orientaltrading.com it helped me allot! I also got her a little red and gold kimono! lol...just stick to a theme and go all the way with it, it will look really nice. Oyea, I almost forgot to tell you, I also made the invites. I did them through shutterfly, they are great quality!

[CLS]

This is a great post by the way, and I love the idea sunshinejune! I watched a Rachael Ray show where this mom spend $12,000 on her daughter's 1st b-day party. (ponies, clowns, petting zoo, the works) That just seems obscene to me. My favorite parts on my son's 1st birthday were 1.) Watching him eat his cake 2.) Watching him try to open his presents, and then proceded to stand on them and dance instead 3.) Reflecting afterwards on how different he was at age 1 compared to the day he was born.

So, I guess if I had it all to do over I would focus more on making memories than on having the perfect theme, decorations, cake, etc. Although, I have to admit picking the theme/decorations/cake is always so fun.

Good luck, and you'll have to let us know what you end up doing.

[Disco Lemonade]

Oyea def have that camara ready!! Thats an obvious one! I agree with cls I cant wait to see my baby trying to open those gifts and dig into that cake! lol, but really themes are what make a party "fun" for the kids. If your not into that and just want to focus on the memories than you really don have to worry about a party, you could just do something with the family

[charliesmommy]

Charlie will be 1 October 18th. His party is planned for the 11th. We are in the Cleveland, Ohio area and I'm hoping to get better weather by planning it early. Our house is big but not big enough. We really need to be able to go outside.

The party is an open house that starts at 4 and will go until our friends leave. My hubby is a graphic artist and he made the invites with Elmo on them. Yea, the theme is Elmo but I'm not going overboard. I'll be getting a few Elmo decorations and to keep the cost down I'm getting the napkins, utensils and table covers in Seasame Street colors rather than Elmo.

I can't wait to see what he does with his cake. It's tradition in our family that the baby has his or her own little cake shaped like the number 1. Boys cakes are blue and white and girls are pink and white.

I'm also looking forward to seeing me try to open his presents and then procede to play with the boxes that they came in.

On his actual birthday we're taking him to either Chuck E. Cheese or one of those indoor blowup playgrounds. That day will be just for us.

[ktejmommy]

I just went small for DD's first b-day. We had a small gathering of family and it was done within a couple hours so she could still get her nap in before she got cranky.
The one thing I did though was to sit her down with a piece of paper and some markers and had her draw, then I got it copied and put on her cake... so she got to decorate her first birthday cake (without the mess) and her drawing is framed in her bedroom as a keepsake from b-day #1.
DS will do the same. His b-day is 12/13... in OH... yay. So we'll prob be in the midst of a snow storm like we were the day he was born. No chance to do anything fancy anyway.

[Disco Lemonade]

I notice that most people tend to do something small for a first birthday. Not only on here but so have my cousins and friends. I dont think Im being "obscene" just because I want a birthday bash for my baby girl. This tends to run in the family, I guess its just the mix of loud Central/south american Italian family...??? We throw a huge party for anything. Why do most chose to keep a first birthday private? Its just a question

[charliesmommy]

I notice that most people tend to do something small for a first birthday. Not only on here but so have my cousins and friends. I dont think Im being "obscene" just because I want a birthday bash for my baby girl. This tends to run in the family, I guess its just the mix of loud Central/south american Italian family...??? We throw a huge party for anything. Why do most chose to keep a first birthday private? Its just a question

Charlie's birthday may sound small but it won't be. My husband comes from a huge Irish family and I am Italian. That's why we are having an open house. This way people can come anytime after 4. Our friends will more than likely come about 7 and stay until the weeeeeee hours partying in Charlie's honor. The family will probably show up between 4 & 5 to see Charlie bust into his #1 cake.

I see nothing at all wrong with giving a birtday bash for your baby girl. How else will all of your friends and family see how much she's grown and how beautiful your one year old little baby girl is?