1St Birthday - Denham Springs, LA

If you are worried about having a big crowd just invite relatives. Invite the grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles and then it will feel more like a get together like Thanksgiving or Christmas. That way she will feel more comfortable and will be happy that they are there just for her.

We had a baby Elmo theme for my daughter's first birthday. I got some of the plates & cups. Then I think I supplemented the plates & cups with just plain color coordinating ones for the adults, also just got a plain colored table cloth. We maybe had about 15-20 people, most of them were family which included a couple girls a little older than my daughter. You don't need a lot of little kids there for the first birthday. This party is more for the adults than for the little one! She won't remember it :)

I also went to Publix and got just a cake that was decorated with pink roses. They also made us a little round matching one for a "smash cake". Then we had some finger foods like chips, crackes, and I think a veggie plate. For the kids I also had little bags of Goldfish (3 different flavors).

Actually, you can see pics if you want haha http://baby.bestwd.com/photos.php?catid=12

Hi B.,
I've learn that having a big birthday party is not the thing to do especially if your child is spoiled and not use to a big croud of people. I invited my immediate family over, some people my child's already fimilar with. Hope this help.

We just did immediate family (Great grandparents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins), no friends, for the first birthday. This way it isn't too overwhelming & it's all people she knows & loves. I would suggest just having cake & ice cream; make it only for 2 hrs; & make sure it isn't too close to her bed time. After her nap would be the idea time. Then she'll be in a better mood. Enjoy the party!

I would do something with immediate family and close friends that your daughter is familiar with. As far as the party idea, do something that your daughter is interested in cartoons etc. I bake and decorate character cakes for family and friends and other customers and their favorite cartoon characters are always a good choice.

I do hope this helps, have a very blessed day!

I have a few close friends who have kids my son's age and we meed regularly for playdates. So for my son's first (and second) birthdays we just invited a few of his little friends over, their parents, and a few close relatives. 12-20 people total, including us and and adults at each. His parties lasted no more than 2 hours, and we didn't bother to open presents as he would've lost interest and gotten frustrated 1/2 way through.
We served kid-friendly fingerfood and bday cake, and scheduled the party after naptime so he would be refreshed and ready to play. Things went really well. I'm glad we kept things small.
If you have a lot of close family, might I suggest having a little playdate party for your daughter and friends during the week, and another on the weekend for family? Large gatherings at this age will be lost on her anyway, and might be overwhelming.

My daughter had her first birthday last June. We did a pink/purple & butterfly theme. I just bought the supplies from the local Family Dollar store. Try any dollar store. We invited friends & family, we had about 20 people here. Make sure you plan it around nap time(s)!! Try to make sure she gets a good nap in before the party, and has been awake for about 30mins to an hour before the party, and make sure she's fed before party time (just don't over-feed). I would only schedule the party for 2 hours (we did 1-3pm). Don't expect her to be too interested in opening presents, although my daughter did like the ribbons & bows.

At one, the party is for the adults, not the child. They will not remember it. It is fun to have some pictures and memories to share with your child later, but don't go overboard. I have three children and, trust me, save your stress of planning birthday parties until they are old enough because there will be plenty of time for that. Our children didn't have sugar before their first birthday and it was fun to give them a miniature cake and let them play with it and discover sugar. More ended up on their hands and tray than their mouth. I would suggest a family party and to only include friends if there is someone that is very special to your child. We always had a low key family dinner with grandparents and aunts and uncles and just enjoyed being around family. Good Luck!

I have a couple of cute ideas for you! Get a piece of poster board and turn it into a giant invitation. Decorate with whatever the theme of your party is i.e. flowers, cupcakes, etc...then prop it up against your couch and sit your little one right next to it with a few of her toys. Then, snap a picture of her sitting next to the "invitation". Then make copies of it to send out. I even put a little sprinkle of confetti into the envelope! It makes a super sweet home-made invitation and it is an awesome keepsake for everyone! Also, put down a plain white paper table cloth on your table. Set out crayons and have everyone who attends the party write a message and sign their name. You can even sit her up to the table and have her doodle on it. It makes a great keepsake for you and her!!! As for how big a party...I think you should keep it small. Family and maybe a close friend or two. Simple will go a long way! If you want, I can email you a picture of my invitation that I made for my little boy's 1st birthday. It came out so cute! Anyway, what ever you do, have fun with it and just enjoy her at this age!! They grow up so fast. E.

Hi,
Well this may sound strange, but we own a roller skating rink in Opelousas, LA and we do many 1st birthday parties. Actually we had one this past sunday. The reason I am suggesting this, it because like one of your responders said, its for the adults more than the 1 year old.
This party is a self entertained party. You don't have to worry about what you will do for the other kids that are older and need entertainment. Also, the adults will skate too. I would suggest you ask for a private party. You should have the whole rink to yourself. You will also have alot of room to open presents, and eat cake and have a place to change her after she gets her own cake to make a mess with. Your home will not be left a mess and everyone leaves on time. I know we let the kids bring scooters if they don't know how to skate well.
I hope this helps and have a great party!
N. Blanchard

We don't really do first birthdays in my family. I did make a small cake for my son and of course his Grandma was there. He took one taste of the icing and cried. We bought him one gift and he LOVED the paper and box it came in. I have pictures and it was enough for me and him, so we were happy with it. We didn't really get into birthdays until his past 3rd, which was WAY fun...lots of superheros and he was excited about the whole process. I would suggest giving her her favorite food to destroy instead of cake. In my experience with other babies, most don't like cake or icing.

We had just moved 2 months before my son turned one so he had 2 parties. One was just juice an dcupcakes at the park with our moms group and we went back to florida to have his big party. We had about 30 people, but my parents have lots of land and everyone was spread out and my son loved it. Being that his birthday is in august we had 4 different size pools, a small water slide, trucks, sandbox and things like that. He opened his gifts the next day with just me, my husband and his 2 cousins so that it wasn't so over whelming. As long as nobody is stressed i find that the birthday child has a blast:) good luck!

I would get it to a small family gather , maybe a few friends who real mean something to you and they had a sepcail contact with the child. Then found some nice first year baby plates etc. Kept it short about a hour at most. Take lots of pictures. JUst have fun and relax it will be wonderful a time to truesure .

Hi B.,

It is so tempting to have a huge party with lots of friends and family to share the big day with!!! However, every birthday party my son (14mo. old) and I have been invited to has been huge, extravagent, and simply extremely overwhelming for all the special 1yr. olds. They all have cried, thrown-up, or been a complete mess. Just imagine your wedding day as an adult; everyone calling your name, hugging a bunch of people, and trying to get you to smile for all the pict.s. I strongly suggest that you do a small party for your precious one. After our experiences as guests of our friends one year olds I took mental notes as to what we were not going to put our son through. We had 8 people at our 1yr. olds party; Grandparents, Aunt and Uncle, and a family of 4 that we are friends with. What a wonderful 2 hour birthday party with no tears. We practically pushed them all out the door at the 2 hr mark. Whatever you decide to do I hope the best for you and remember you have many years to roll out the red carpet for birthdays!
M.

My daughter's first birthday is coming up in less than a month. I'm just doing a family party. However, a family party for us is not very small. I'm trying to keep it as small and simple as possible. I'm doing a cupcakes and ice cream theme with pink and brown as the colors. There will be about 6 older kids there (cousins) so I'm going to have ice cream toppings so that they can build their own sundae. We're going to do the little cake for my daughter to dig into and that's about it. I'm doing it on a Sunday afternoon from 2 to 4 so she will have her nap in before the party starts. I would suggest just doing something small with family and keeping it as simple as possible but still have fun, after all this is a celebration of her first year of life and your first year of being a mommy. Best wishes!

We recently celebrated my daughter's 1st birthday and had the same concerns. We ended up having a small party on Sunday afternoon during the time she is normally awake and started it at a time when she normally has just woken up. She is at daycare all week and hardly naps when she is there. Having the party on Sunday allowed her to catch up on her sleep on Saturday (she normally naps 3 times on Saturday). We just invited a few neighbors and it was only a couple of hours long. It actually worked out great. She was in a great mood and didn't fuss at all.

HTH!
S.