Congratulations! Ours will be one in June so I will be reading the responses as well!
I think it depends on what your daughter is most comfortable with. If she seems cool with opening her gifts and isn't freaked by all eyes on her and the ooooohs and aaaaahs and such, then go for it. It might be a good idea to make treat bags for the other children (can be really inexpensive and fun) maybe some homemade playdough, a non-chokable bouncing ball (the bigger kind about the size of a baseball), little treats etc... and give those out when she is opening her presents or just before so they will have something to occupy them and also so it will minimize any possible jealousy or upsetment at her getting gifts and them not (though most kids are cool with it)...
If not, I am sure the others will understand, just explain your dd may get overwhelmed by all the attention and that you don't want the other children to be bored/jealous/upset/whatever...
For the other children in the way of activities, you could do an arts and crafts thing-- simple and entertaining, plus busies them while the adults are chit chatting.... you could (as mentioned) make some homemade playdough, or make party hats out of thick white posterboard and have the children design and color and glitter them themselves....you could do beanbag toss which small kids like, or you could get an old sheet or butcher paper (beforehand) and color or paint a big, easy *human maze* where they have to walk from the start to finish...
You could have a water game where you buy really cheap floating duckies (reuse them for your daughters baths in the future) and paint different colored dots on the bottom and flota them in a big pot or bowl and (just as an example), whoever finds the blue dot gets to have the first piece of cake (after dd of course), or whoever finds the green dot gets to hand your daughter her presents... I'm just thinking off the top of my head, but make it so everyone *wins* and gets some sort of treat or *special* job at the party type thing....
I am just thinking of games that may suit all of their ages even if the smaller ones don't *get it* but can still have fun type things...
You could do a simple treasure hunt, I don't know if your family does the whole easter thing, but since it is so close to easter you could buy a bunch of those plastic eggs really cheap and put little inexpensive treats and such in them and hide them...
Pinjatas (sp? sorry) are always fun, super easy to make out of paper mache' --- you blow up a huge balloon and paper mache' over it with strips of newspaper and glue water, and then pop the balloon (when dry), paint and decorate it, put a tail and ears and all that (beforehand of course) and you leave a little hole to put all the treats in, which you paper mache' over and paint to close it... suppppper easy....let the kids whack away at that for a while lol
I'm sure the other mamas will have some great ideas...Happy birthday to your dd...take lots of pictures!
I think it depends on what your daughter is most comfortable with. If she seems cool with opening her gifts and isn't freaked by all eyes on her and the ooooohs and aaaaahs and such, then go for it. It might be a good idea to make treat bags for the other children (can be really inexpensive and fun) maybe some homemade playdough, a non-chokable bouncing ball (the bigger kind about the size of a baseball), little treats etc... and give those out when she is opening her presents or just before so they will have something to occupy them and also so it will minimize any possible jealousy or upsetment at her getting gifts and them not (though most kids are cool with it)...
If not, I am sure the others will understand, just explain your dd may get overwhelmed by all the attention and that you don't want the other children to be bored/jealous/upset/whatever...
For the other children in the way of activities, you could do an arts and crafts thing-- simple and entertaining, plus busies them while the adults are chit chatting.... you could (as mentioned) make some homemade playdough, or make party hats out of thick white posterboard and have the children design and color and glitter them themselves....you could do beanbag toss which small kids like, or you could get an old sheet or butcher paper (beforehand) and color or paint a big, easy *human maze* where they have to walk from the start to finish...
You could have a water game where you buy really cheap floating duckies (reuse them for your daughters baths in the future) and paint different colored dots on the bottom and flota them in a big pot or bowl and (just as an example), whoever finds the blue dot gets to have the first piece of cake (after dd of course), or whoever finds the green dot gets to hand your daughter her presents... I'm just thinking off the top of my head, but make it so everyone *wins* and gets some sort of treat or *special* job at the party type thing....
I am just thinking of games that may suit all of their ages even if the smaller ones don't *get it* but can still have fun type things...
You could do a simple treasure hunt, I don't know if your family does the whole easter thing, but since it is so close to easter you could buy a bunch of those plastic eggs really cheap and put little inexpensive treats and such in them and hide them...
Pinjatas (sp? sorry) are always fun, super easy to make out of paper mache' --- you blow up a huge balloon and paper mache' over it with strips of newspaper and glue water, and then pop the balloon (when dry), paint and decorate it, put a tail and ears and all that (beforehand of course) and you leave a little hole to put all the treats in, which you paper mache' over and paint to close it... suppppper easy....let the kids whack away at that for a while lol
I'm sure the other mamas will have some great ideas...Happy birthday to your dd...take lots of pictures!
