Baby's First B-day!!

Hi A.!

Our first, Emma Kate just turned 1 on October 5th! We did a bar-b-que with bugers & hot dogs and had some sides for the food. I did a whole pink & green theme, so I had pink & green cupcakes on two cupcake trees (you can get them at Target and Michael's, and they're SO cute to display cupcakes on). The cupcakes were great for everyone... easy and no plates needed! Her invitations were big lollipops with pink & green swirls, so I made sugar cookes-on-a-stick and "painted" them with pink & green icing, wrapped celophane around them with ribbon... these were the favors. For the safari theme, you could get cookie cutters in animal shapes or they have those cupcake cakes now where its a bunch of cupcakes put together and the frosting covers all of them. I bet you could get the store or bakery to do a cute monkey or lion or something.

For something for the adults to do... I boght a small scrapbook that I am scrapbooking her first birthday in (my goal is to do a book for each birthday). I was careful to take pictures of each guest/family (not awkwardly, candids are fine) and I set out cards/pieces of paper matching the theme of her book and pens. I asked everyone to write a special note to Emma to go in her book. For the kids, I set out crayons and they each drew her a picture. It turned out really cute. One of our friends' 5-year-old little boys drew a picture for Emma of his daddy on the toilet! HAHA! We'll laugh at that in her book for years! I know I would have loved looking at a book like that when I was little, and I'm excited to see Emma Kate enjoy it as she grows up!

Good luck and enjoy your little one's first birthday! It IS for the baby, but I think it's really like an anniversary of becoming parents for you and your husband, too! I know Emma's first birthday was really special to me. So don't feel bad about that... and have fun!

-S.

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Hi! As everyone says it'll probably mostly be adults with just a few kiddos, right? So what we did was order bagels and coffee for 20 from Einsteins Bagels on Lamar(and they included like 5 different kinds of spreads- both sweet & savory kinds- for the bagels plus all the utensils, cups, napkins, stir-sticks, sugars, creams, etc) and we had the party at 10:30am, brunchtime. It was awesome
and the kids that were there were not tired out since it was so early. We also had fruit salad we bought premade from Central Mkt., and a birthday cake, of course.
Worked very well, was easy, and we had a lot of compliments.
Good luck

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My son's first birthday was Oct 20 and I got 26 emails about how much fun it was and how much everyone enjoyed it. It too was mostly adults (there were 30 adults and 7 children): NOT the normal birthday party to have that many, but it was more an introduction party as well because most of my friends from "back home" had never met my husband or son...
What they all said about it was that it was great to visit and see everyone, and the food was great. That's really about all you need! We did jambalaya and white beans (fed 40 people, with left overs, for $40) and then I made my own veggie tray instead of paying $30 for a stupid premade one! I think it cost 10 that way. Then we had cake! Adults really just want to enjoy each other and food and get to see/play with the birthday boy. Maybe some good music, with the volume NOT so high that it distracts. Simple is good!

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Instead of party hats. Go get jungle animal masks for everyone to wear. You can also make it an activity for everyone to create their own masks. Use paper plates, markers, cotton balls, feathers, construction paper, string to tie around head. Cut out eye holes and holes for string. Make elephants, lions, tigers, zebras, giraffs, birds. Do a safari hunt. Like hide and seek. Make lil man the hunter and have to find all of the safari animals.

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When we planned our son's 1st B-day in June, my goal was to keep it simple so we would get him at his best & he wouldn't feel overwhelmed at his own party. We planned it in a 2 hour time frame during his best part of the day, kept the invitation list small, and kept things moving along so there wasn't any down time.

I had a few things out for the grown ups to do. I bought a plain white t-shirt (kid-sized for our son) for adults to write a b-day message for him, sat out tons of pictures from the past year (great conversation pieces), and set up a few outdoor games like backyard golf & a bean bag toss game (to play while everyone was arriving).

It'll go by pretty quickly & it'll be so much fun! Good luck!!

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My son just turned one at the end of September and we used a jungle theme as well. I also have a daugher who is 4 so we've had practice with a few different kinds of birthdays. My thought is keep it simple. I LOVED his birthday this year. We had it at a local park and just picked up some chicken and decorated the pavillion with 'jungle theme' stuff. I had a some animal crackers and glo sticks for the kids that did come (mostly little cousins). Also-to go with the jungle theme-our present to him was the fisher price animal train..not sure the specific name..but he LOVES it. Even as I type right now he's playing with it. You push on it and it starts to move and sing. Really neat. I wouldn't be too concerned with the adults that will be there. They're going to understand they're going to a one year olds birthday party. Of course mine was all family and one friend.

Good luck and ENJOY every moment.

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Give your little one a cup cake, without candles. We set a cup cake in front of our daughter with a single candle for a picture, and guess what she did: reached out to touch the candle, and burned her hand. Hello. WHat were we thinking? No Candles for 1 year olds!!!
Do the party early, time it near a time she can be napped and happy. That is early evening for our children. Limit the number of people, and watch her cues. When she gets tired and overwhelmed, slow things down.

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I make diaper cakes and the one I made for my grand daughter was jungle friends and it was really beautiful. I put all the jungle toys around the bottom of the cake and wrap with netting.
I think in your case I could case leave the cake unwraped and each person could take one animal and make the sound for your baby to repeat or they could point to the animal in the netting. This could be a great center for you table. I don't have the picture of the one I made for my grand daughter but I will have it e-mailed to me later today if you would like to see it. you can see my work on www.diapercakesbybetty.com e-mail ____@____.com
Please give me a call if you like ###-###-####
Thanks B. W

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that's a cute theme.
1. if it will be mostly women i'd say have like a scrapbook party. you get all the pics from since he was born spread on a table. you can buy pre-made, or make the layouts a head of time to same time and incorporate your jungle theme.
2. Or you can all play board games that you use to play when you were young, but as to how you can do jungle theme.... maybe play jumanji or something.
3. Eat jungle foods.... i'd think a textured salad for an appetizer and then some hearty food? and then you can play some baby food eating contest and have them use their finger because you don't have forks in the jungle!
4. you can watch some family videos that you may have
5. have it outside and have a obstacle course for the grown ups! that should be fun.

Also a tip, don't make tons of little things, that just makes more work for you. but if you are going to do that, ask each guest to bring something. I suggest that you just make an appitizer, a main dish and one side and then the dessert. Most of the time people get full on the food and don't save room for the cake!

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A sweet first/birthday tradition is to get a special piggy bank or wrapped box with a slit in the top and Have your guests write on special paper that you prepare and give a special note and a "gift" for the future. (usually a financial gift for a college fund or something like that.

you can also have the adults play charades but using childrens themes for the game

A. J

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