What to do for the 1st birthday?

[JordanKX]

DS's is coming up. I'm on the fence of not doing much (except to have great pictures for memory to show) and having a full blow-out party.

What did you do? Or what are your plans for the upcoming 1st birthday?

[busymama77]

For my ODS, we had close friends and family over and the party lasted for maybe 2 hours? We had cupcakes, hot dogs, chips, veggie and fruit trays (DS is a fruit NUT), and dog bone shaped cookies as handouts/party favors. The theme was Clifford. Very cute!
For my YDS, I haven't really thought about it much, but we'll have it at our house, with the same family, some friends, godparents, etc., I call him my "chunky monkey", so it may be monkey themed or jungle themed. I've seen so much cute animal stuff lately, but that may all change in 6 months.

[Bokonon]

We went to Disneyland for a couple of days for DD's first, and had cake at home. It was special but not as stressful as a party! DS's birthday is a month later, so in future years we might just split the difference and have a combined party in between the birthdays.

[ann_of_loxley]

We did a BBQ with close family and super close friends only for DS1. I think we will do the same for DS2!

[confustication]

We will be doing a close family/friend laid back thing- probably a BBQ. His birthday present will be a hand made and carved toy box (thanks to grandpa and his woodshop ) and a few things to go inside it.

My kids wouldn't have done well with a big party at any early age- it would be overstimulating and a recipe for disaster.

[zinemama]

We had a party for all the family and friends who helped us get through that first, difficult year. It was more of a "thanks for enabling us to survive this" party than anything else. Lots of wine and good food. And of course, a cake for the birthday boy (who wasn't interested...)

[TnMsMama]

For DS (he's about to be 6) I had take out fried rice, his fave, and a tiny little cake. It was him, my parents and I, that's it. It was lovely.

For DD, however - DBF's family is HUGE (different dad than DS) and also, Daddy's team plays their frist game of the season on her b-day, so in order to keep complaining down, DD is having a UT Football themed party and we'll be watching the game and doing cake during half time.

Hook 'em!

[Mom2M]

Honestly, I love parties and have huge birthday parties for all the kids.

For the 1st birthday party, I always have it at home (or at the park next to my house) because then there is no interruption to the baby's schedule of naps, etc... The party is a big celebration with all of our extended families and they are big! Plus our friends and everyone's kids, etc...you can see how the # gets to be huge. Lots of food, games, etc...and the birthday girl/boy gets lots of attention in small doses at a time so they are not too overwhelmed, but they are pretty used to loud chaos at an early age, lol

We usually have something like a collage of pictures for each month of the 1st year so everyone can look at it and sign a little note to the baby.
It's always the Sunday before or after the actual birthday so on the actual birth date it is only us. Mom, Dad and siblings.

[cocoanib]

DD's is still a ways off, but we will probably just have a potluck type get together.
Close friends and fam and good food. I'll probably make vegan cupcakes or something liem that. We don't want a big blow out. Just a celebration of our year with our little love.

[JordanKX]

Originally Posted by Bokonon

We went to Disneyland for a couple of days for DD's first, and had cake at home. It was special but not as stressful as a party! DS's birthday is a month later, so in future years we might just split the difference and have a combined party in between the birthdays.

DSS's birthday is also a month later and I suspect that we might combine them in later years, but not for a while. DSS will be 4 this year, and definitely needs his own celebration :-)

For DS, I suppose we'll have friends & family. We have a lot of family here - could be 20 people. I've been considering that it's a Lot of people - but hey, for one day, for one short afternoon party, it'd be fun. Totally overstimulating for DS! But hey, it's only one day.

[cristeen]

I'm planning an open house style party. I'll do platters of finger foods (cheese, fruit, veggies), invite family and friends to drop in and schedule it between morning and afternoon naps.

Hopefully open house style will prevent it from being a big crowd and too overwhelming.

[kismetbaby]

We won't do anything huge--its just not our style. My parents might be in town around then, so we'll plan it for when they are. We were thinking either to gather in a nearby park or just to have it in our backyard. I'd prefer to be at home and not have to lug food etc. to a park, but our yard is all rocks and concrete, not very baby friendly. We'll probably do it post-lunch hour and just have light snacks. I imagine it will be my parents, our neighbors, and about half dozen couples with LOs the same age (our local play group of sorts).

Not sure what to do about a "theme" or a cake. I might skip both. But if I do a cake I either won't feed any to DS or I will have to come up with some sort of dairy-free, low sugar option. I'm tempted just to have a watermelon party and keep it that simple. DS loves balloons, so we'll have to have a bunch of those Oh, and I bought a box of bubbles on sale for the kiddos.

[Carhootel]

I like the open house type idea. For ds's we went to a park near our house at about 10/11am and I made muffins instead of a birthday cake. Put up some streamers on the shelter and just did muffins, juice, water and fresh fruit while adults chatted and watched the kids (cousins) play. We kept it small, family and only one set of super close friends. It was really fun

[cocoanib]

Originally Posted by Carhootel

I like the open house type idea. For ds's we went to a park near our house at about 10/11am and I made muffins instead of a birthday cake. Put up some streamers on the shelter and just did muffins, juice, water and fresh fruit while adults chatted and watched the kids (cousins) play. We kept it small, family and only one set of super close friends. It was really fun

Love this idea with the muffins and all. A nice brunch potluck might be nice too.

[Pookietooth]

It was just me and dh for ds' 1st bday, but then dh is extremely introverted and I am a terrible housekeeper (and we were living in a 500 sf apt). I think we will probably just be low key with dd and have just a small cake with just us. I think if we had close family (that we got along with) and/or a circle of friends we knew well we'd invite them, but that's not the case.

[Coconut Chronicles]

We're doing a party with family and friends (about 8 or so kids coming ranging from 8 months to 5 years.) We're doing a very hungry caterpillar theme. Food is going to be a snap... all the things the caterpillar eats in the book. All in all we have about 20 people attending so not huge but not small either.

[rhiOrion]

I LOVE throwing big parties (pot luck style).

So I have the feeling that DD's first birthday will be a grand affair at our house. We have a fenced in back yard and a big detached garage to use as shelter in case of heat/rain. Her birthday is early spring, so I imagine everyone will be itching to get outside.

That said, in September I'm hosting my first large party (an end of summer party- invited about 65 people, imagine about 25 will show) since DD was born. I may change my mind about my love for big parties when having to host one with an infant!

[jimblejamble]

We're having family and close friends over. No gifts, just time together to eat and have fun. For food we're doing black bean burgers, hummus & guac with chips & veggies, homemade popsicles (banana, strawberry, peach), and date cake. The cake is from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, although the recipe in there is for date bars. I didn't read the recipe so I just dumped the date/lemon juice into the dry ingredients which ended up being more cakey than bar-y.

[slimkins]

Well, we never do parties, let alone 'big' parties, but this time I am going all out. At first, I wasn't even going to have one, but then last week I had a lot of time on my hands and got carried away.
We are also moving sometime within the next 6-8 months. I think that was also part of the incentive.
I am doing a "Root Beer & Summertime" theme. There will be more adults than kids. I am going to make all the food and already have my menu planned out. Most of the things I can make the day before and will actually taste better.

Hereare some of my decorations I have already gotten or made. The old radio flyer I am going to fill with ice and root beers. and if you can see the Kern-mason jars, I am going to fill them with ice cream and put on ice near the root beers. So, people can make their own floats. I'm also going to buy some of those old, paper straws.
This is some of the flag garland that I made.
Here are the cupcake holders that I am going to put the cupcakes in (and last night, I found recipes for root beer cake, so, I am going to give that a shot!!!). Who knew they make root beer schnapps.
and here is the cutest, littlest, itty-bittiest bunt pan that I found at an antique store that I am making my DS's cake in. Probably just vanilla.
Since I never throw parties, I am determined to make this one fantastic since I won't be doing it again for a long time!

[tzs]

Originally Posted by slimkins

Well, we never do parties, let alone 'big' parties, but this time I am going all out. At first, I wasn't even going to have one, but then last week I had a lot of time on my hands and got carried away.
We are also moving sometime within the next 6-8 months. I think that was also part of the incentive.
I am doing a "Root Beer & Summertime" theme. There will be more adults than kids. I am going to make all the food and already have my menu planned out. Most of the things I can make the day before and will actually taste better.

Hereare some of my decorations I have already gotten or made. The old radio flyer I am going to fill with ice and root beers. and if you can see the Kern-mason jars, I am going to fill them with ice cream and put on ice near the root beers. So, people can make their own floats. I'm also going to buy some of those old, paper straws.
This is some of the flag garland that I made.
Here are the cupcake holders that I am going to put the cupcakes in (and last night, I found recipes for root beer cake, so, I am going to give that a shot!!!). Who knew they make root beer schnapps.
and here is the cutest, littlest, itty-bittiest bunt pan that I found at an antique store that I am making my DS's cake in. Probably just vanilla.
Since I never throw parties, I am determined to make this one fantastic since I won't be doing it again for a long time!

cool!!!!
i was also up last night trying to think of themes. i want it to be more fun for adults because babes will have fun anywhere and there's alot of friends i really want to catch up with.

i thought of doing a movie "drive-in" in the backyard with a big sheet as a screen and a projector, old couches, chairs, blankets, popcorn, etc...i really want to do it but we have an early september b-day and it would be too late at night and we don't have a garage or anything to do the movie in.

so i think i've settled on doing a "baby olympics" with like baby races, maybe toy archery for older kids, badmitten, potato sack races for adults, medals. a friend thought of getting plastic diaper covers and sharpies and decorating your baby's "uniform." i can totally picture dd in a mini headband and wristbands already.