1St Birthday - Celina, TX

How exciting for you! I think that first birthday is more exciting for us first moms than it is to our precious little ones. It is also the year that you get to decide what to have. (By the time they're 2 they really start having their own opinions of what they do like.) I know we did a small family "party" at the park for my daughter. It gave everyone plenty of space and all the nieces and nephews a place to get out their energy as well. My daughter loves the outdoors so she was just happy to be at the park. And balloons!!! That was her favorite part of the whole day.
Have a great time and take lots of pictures!
A.

I would keep it small if I were you. OR how about 2 parties, one playdate and one family? One year olds get overwhelmed very easily, and too many people might cause a meltdown. Also, don't make it too long for the same reason

I had "brunch" parties for both my boys. I decided to do this b/c the kids do better in the morning and tend to be crankier in the afternoon. With brunch I was able to make many things the night before. This worked out great for us!!

Good luck

Try to ignore any pressure you get from others to have a big party. I agree with the others to keep it simple, small, and low-key. YOU are celebrating surviving the year. Lots of company makes it difficult to enjoy and really see the little expressions. Wish I'd known that.

I've also observed that having a party in the afternoon to fit the adult sweetooth can be a disaster. I would suggest brunch or early lunch, party, then nap. Or party right after a refreshing nap--if the guests can be quiet, a rarity with my family. LOL!

Have fun and minimize your stress. That will help baby, too!

B.

remember that this one is mostly for you... as your kiddo can neither comprehend nor understand what it's all about... if they even eat the cake... lol... is usually another good question.

I'd do just family b/c who knows how cranky they'll be with too much stimulation. Keep it simple...

and get a "smash" cake so that everyone can have a piece but you can still have those precious pictures from her eating her cake. :) (and take her out of anything you want to keep free from stains when you DO let her eat the cake)....

FOr both of my kids first parties, it was just something more like a family get together... (burgers, lasagna or something simple) with cake/ice cream....

For my daugter's first birthday, we decided to have it at a really nice park (it is a summer birthday) and had it catered by Sonny Bryan's barbecue and everything. It was a cold rainy windy day. Turned out it was the last day of rain before a 2 month+ long drought that summer. Wouldn't you know it? Most of the people came, but my daughter got soooo sick we had to cut it short. I wish we hadn't gone to all the trouble because she definitely doesn't remember it and it ended up being so miserable, that's all anyone remembers about it when we talk to people who were there. The food was great, the cake was great and the kids that came had lots of fun at the park when the rain would slow down enough for them to play, but if we were to say "Remember our daughter's first birthday?", the response is usually "Oh my gosh, yes, that was miserable...". That's so hard to hear when you're thinking of memories of your little kiddos.

When my son turned one, we decided just to have a birthday party at home with snacks and cake and invited all friends and family. It turned out my son got sick that week and all our friends with kids decided not to come because everyone was trying to get their kids over the same virus my son had come down with. It was a bit of a hassle calling everyone at the last minute to tell them the birthday boy was sick, but better that than having our friends mad at us for not telling them and getting their kids sick as well. All our family came, which was nice, and because it was just family, there was no need for a big "to do". We did get some cute pictures of our son with his cake and the balloons we bought. But all the streamers and other decorations we purchased are still in the bag we bought them in since we never used them.

Moral of the story, the first birthday, as most everyone has already mentioned, should be the least hassle for the parents it can be. The child won't remember it and there are so many things that could go wrong, it's really not worth putting too much effort into it when the little one won't even know what's going on. That's my opinion thru our past experiences anyway. :-)

Good luck!

I had a tough time planning my son's first B-day because I wanted it to be so special! He wasn't old enough to be into any of the cartoon characters, and I knew most of the people at his party would be adults. So, I went to a scrapbooking store and picked out some paper patterns that I liked, and made his invitations and deocorations myself. I also had a sillouette that someone did of him at the mall, so I took a picture of that, put it on my computer and printed a bunch of them up. I put those on the cards, and that was his "theme" kind of. Just a sillouette of him on some cute paper. We bought cheap balloons and plates to match. It ended up being a great idea, because it was so indivudual, and fitting. We spent about the same as we would have buying a whole set of Elmo party supplies at Party City!

Good luck, and have fun with it!!

It all depends on your situation. We were going to do one friend party and one family and thought that would be too much. We were also afraid that not much family would show up, so we combined them, and thank goodness. One family member showed up out of my huge family, so it was good to have some friends there. We have a little group that always gets together, and so that's who was invited. The kids played with all the toys and balloons. They had fun (as much fun as a 12 month old can have). Good luck, and have fun with it.

My suggestion would be to not go all out with decorations and such because it's more hassle for you and nothing that your baby will remember. Just a few balloons would be fine. I did make small goody bags that were age appropriate, though. You can find things at a party store for that type of stuff.