1St Birthday

Hi, Jeanmarie.. I have a couple of suggestions only because I have thrown several parties. For my twin's first b-day I got those clear plastic 4x6 frames and wrote each childs name one it w/ a paint marker. I had kids up to 14 there and they all loved it. Also for the smaller kids, I had a clown there so I took a pic of each kid (if I could) w/ their face painted and then mailed a copy w/ the thank you. I recently, for my baby's Chirstening, went to the Christmas Tree Shop and got for $1 each, it was that pastic netting and inside was a shovel, pail and sand mold. I opened them up and wrote the kids names on the pail. For the older kids (8 and up) I got those photo boxes and wrote on the tops. I wrote the child's name and then the word stuff so they knew it was for their stuff. When my baby turns 1 in December I will be giving Xms ornaments w/ the kids names on them. You can order those from Oriental Trading. Hope this helps. Good Luck!!!!

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It depends on how many children you will have. You could put in bubbles, silly sunglasses, sidewalk chalk, buckets and shovels for summer fun, and some finger paints. These are some things I have done in the past.

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I'm planning a 1/2 birthday party for my two little girls, this will be our first non-family party. They were both born around the holidays, poor Susannah's birthday is the day after Christmas, and people are just NOT in a birthday mood, except for her Grandfather, who luckily has the very same birthday...they are best buddies, too..

I'm planning a 101 Dalmations party and I got some fantastic ideas from www.birthdaypartyideas.com. It's party ideas sent in by regular people who threw these parties for their children. These people are amazingly creative. Plus they'll tell you what worked and what was a bust. I think focusing on a theme helps me keep from going overboard, there are so many cute ideas out there!!

Although I pretend to be exasperated at the very thought of this undertaking, I'm secretly so excited about planning this party, I think the girls are going to love playing puppies with their friends..

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Our daughter just turned 1 in May. We had the party at my mother's beachfront house. So for favors I had bubbles, crayons, and play-doh all personalized and instead of goody bags I put them in plastic pails along with a plastic shovel and sand rake and tied to each goodie pail was a mylar balloon(mylar is less of a choking risk than the latex ones). They were great for the little ones, but I doubt if it would fly with a 12 year old. I try to avoid handing out candy as much as possible.

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Hi Jeanmarie, for my daughters first b-day, I gave the children buckets with shovels, filled them with bubbles, sunglasses, chalk, and any other outdoor activities that fit in the bucket. I made name tags and attached them to the buckets with ribbon that coordinated with the party colors. Water guns in the buckets also worked the smaller ones.

Good luck let us know how you made out.
J.

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wow...well you didn't specify whats going to be the birthday theme. for my lil girl's 1st birthday, her theme was "disney princess" i ordered everything absolutely everything from www.allaboardtoys.com its excellent because they have everything for any theme. So like i was saying...the theme was disney princess and for the girls i got tiaras & for the boys crowns instead of hats that way everyone was a princess and a prince! it was very cute!

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Hi Jeanmarie!

I was in the same situation last summer. I actually put snack packs together that included goldfish, teddy grahams and animal crackers. Then I bought small things in bulk that I could add in depending on the child. Like there were a few little girls that I could give the beaded necklace/bracelets to, some boys that I could give a matchbox car to. The little ones that were 1 or under I got them a teether of some kind. If you go to Walmart or Target they sell a lot of those things in sets of 3 to 5. The older kids were hard, I actually stopped giving goodie bags after the age of 7. I offered the two older kids some of the snacks.

Hope this helps.

H.

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you could let them make there own take home gift. by going to the party/craft store && getting foam doorknob hanger && then getting different stickers for them to put on. ex: letters, hearts, dino's, stars, animals. && let them make there own..
or you could always give out like little toy noise makers && for the babys if any. there goodie bag can be filled with hairties && things if there to little for candy or toys.

Hi Jeanmarie,

Wow...you sound just like me. I am also a 32 year old first time mom, and my daughter just turned 1 on June 2...what a joy :) I also can't wait to have more kids!!! I am not creative at all and kept the party very simple...just pretty decorations and good barbecue :)

If you ever need advice or just want to swap stories, feel free :) Good luck!

J.

My son just went to a birthday party and everyone got a Little Tikes bubble blower. Each one looks like an animal with a handle on the back. When you squeeze the handle, the head tilts back and bubbles come out. I don't know how expensive they were, but it's very cute and my 19 month old loves it. I think older kids would like it too.

I just had my sons second birthday and me to had ages ranging from 17 months to 10. What I did was buy things in the dollar store and snacks like goldfish, graham crackers, cheerios and put them in goody bag. They were a hit.

I saw a cute idea on Semi-Homemade on the Food Channel. She "painted" flat bottomed ice cream cones with chocolate and then filled them with candy, but you can fill them with anything you want.

I'm having my son's birthday party soon as well. The theme will be Michkey Mouse Clubhouse. If you look at some websites, they have great ideas and gifts. Also, ebay has great prices as well. That's where I went. Hope this helps. If you want you can email me at ____@____.com

Hi Jeanmarie,

I would stick to goodies that can be eaten...fruit sancks, animal crackers. You can get these all at Coscto or BJ's. I find that we have so many toys...I don't want more added. I think books also make excellent favors since you can get them to go with your theme.

Good luck...tell us what you decided to do!!!

Hi,

Thats funny, because I just put up an request for adult 1st birthday party favor ideas!! lol. Well my daughters birthday is 2 weeks away and since she has a summer party I figured give the children (1-8 yrs.) cool stuff that they can use to enjoy the rest of thier summer days! For thier goodie bags I will be buying sand buckets with shovels and filling the buckets with fun outdoor toys sucj as sidewalk chalk, jump ropes, bubbles, etc. You can find most of the toys I mentioned at any 99 cents store or discount store. hope this helps!

if the birthday hasn't passed already...i would definitely suggest a park! bring stuff for a bbq, and just pick a set of benches and bbq area that's close to a play area. i'm right near roosevelt park, and i know the park in highland park, plus the one i'm near both have access to that. i think if you really want, you can call up the parks department, and they can reserve a spot for you....i think donaldson park (i think that's the name of the park in highland park) allows that. i'm not exactly sure where you're located, but check with your local park. i've been to a couple different birthday parties that were set up like this, and they were for all age groups (even adults) and we always enjoyed ourselves. good luck with the big day!

I am the queen of party planning (or at least my friends think so). First off you need a theme for your party, after that you work everything from there. Orential trading company has alot of great stuff and you buy in bulk and they are pretty cheap. For my son'd 1 st i bought eveything through them and I spent maybe 100 bucks for all 18 kids. THey even have games and stuff to play and the parties. you can order online which is great and shipping is quick I didnt even use rush service and i got it in a few days.Please let me know if you need any help I would be happy to lend a hand I love party planning!!!!
Beth
Saddle Brook NJ
son to 16 month old Mikey

coupons for Friendly ice cream or a local ice cream place near you

I usually stick to party favors that relate to the theme of the party and or one of my child's favorite things (Pez dispensers, bubbles, kick ball, candy necklace, etc.) However...the one thing I have learned that was very helpful is to pre-create a generic thank you note on a pretty business card size peice of card stock and then hole punch it and tie it around the party favor, so you can count that as your thank you note and don't have to worry about it later. It looks great if you tie that paper color into the theme as well.

oh heck, I'd just run to party city and grab some goody bags and fill them with a variety of things, but have different age groups for different colored bags. like a specific color of bags for children ages 1-3, and 3-10, and so forth. bubbles are great, sidewalk chalk, etc. micheals craft store usually has a few great deals, and for the babies' bags, there are foam blocks for 1.00. throw a few of those in a goody bag and your set for that age group. they also have some decent books for a fair price too, just not any huge brand name ones. I'd say the 12 year old would be easy to customize their own bag if it was a girl. depending on the mother, get some bratz lipgloss or other girly stuff. I'm lost if it was a 12 yr old boy.
that's good for a general theme though. if you want a theme, then we can go crazy with ideas.

how about buckets of sidewalk chalk? you can pick up big buckets of them at the Rag Shop for about $1 each and kids love it! plus it washes away so you dont have to worry about permanent pictures all over your driveway, patio or deck!