Princess Birthday Party

We did princess for my daughter's 1st bday too, but didn't really get too gung ho with it because it was only family. Her cake said Happy 1st Birthday Princess Emma Grace and had a wand and tiara that she could play with. We used some princess balloons (i got a prepackaged balloon bouquet at Party City) and tablecloths and plates and stuff and that was pretty much it. I knew she wouldn't remember so didn't want to go overboard. The princess party she wanted for her 3rd birthday is another story........

I would start with a guest list and a budget and then go from there.

Hi J..
Try www.parents.com and at the top click "fun". Under that there are categories on birthday party planning. This should help you with everything you need.
Have fun planning and hope your party turns out well. Enjoy watching your little one on her special day.
A.

Unless you have a nice bank account or have lots of friends and family with kids that will be attending...I wouldn't spend that much money. My daughter turned 4 in September. I had a Princess party for her then when she has friends from school and knows what a princess actually is and is into Disney Princesses,etc. I had all of her friends wear their dress up clothes (not sunday but literally like princesses) and then I used all of my crystal and china to make it look all formal. I let the kids have punch in the crystal punch bowl and use the little crystal cups (they loved them). They loved that their party favors were more princess stuff like crowns, jewelry, etc. We played put the princess in the window (a pin the tail on donkey game- bought at party city for disney princesses). I made her a standing princess cake (you can buy the pan usually at Wilton and just insert a barbie type doll). Good luck with whatever you do but you may want to save princess until she is old enough to remember it and keep this the standard 1st birthday stuff or something baby like Pooh or Elmo. Something she probably has been more exposed to in her first year.

At 1 they don't really "enjoy" a birthday party. Limit the number of children to 5, include parents with children. Keep it SIMPLE.

Remember the 1st birthday party is more for you than it will be for her, so don't go too overboard! If you go to Nickelodeon.com, they can give you some great ideas. My daughter had a Wonder Pets themed party for her 2nd birthday and they had cake templates, placemats, pages to color, & lots of free stuff. There were even enough coloring pages that I could print them out and make a coloring book to give to the other children. Maybe the Disney website would have something similar for a princess party. Good luck and have fun!

There is this website that has a bunch of party themes and you can order invitations and everything...it is www.birthdayexpress.com I got my daughters tinkerbell party from them and it was awesome. Just remember, you want it to be special, but she wont remember it so dont stress out too much over small details.

I just read some of your other responses and I agree. Your child will not remember their first birthday at all. Do you remember yours? It is not worth it to spend a lot of money on a first birthday. It is nice for the birthday child to have their own little cake so they can dig in it and play with it. It is also nice for them to have some new toys....possibly a ride on or push toy. Have a few friends or family, but don't over do it. I have always heard to invite one child for each year of your child's age. Save the money for a birthday party they will be aware of and appreciate! My children all seemed to get excited about birthdays around 3,4, and 5.

My advice? Don't go crazy over the first birthday. The only ones that will remember it are the parents. She will not remember the theme or decorations. The basics are: Baby's own cake (trust me, she needs her own), cool new toys, and friends and family. As long as those things are there, it will be a success.

Well, first of all, you have to decide if it is a specific princess, or just princess overall theme.

You need to know WHERE AND WHEN.

Put together your invitation list with addresses.

Buy your invitations and party supplies (balloons, decorations, plates, cups, goodie bags, etc) to coordinate with your theme.

Send out invitations 2 weeks prior. Order cake 1 week prior and purchase her gift from you.

I have a friend that each year her theme changes and she dresses her daughter in the coordinating theme. Last year it was Tinkerbell, the year before Little Mermaid.

Good Luck!

Don't over do the first one. Here is where I've gotten 7 years of ideas... dltk.com

great site and it is all free.

first off, don't overdo it. that first birthday is special, but i've seen every range of dollar amounts spent on a first birthday, and the one baby enjoyed the cake-and-ice-cream afternoon get-together as much as the other baby enjoyed the professionally-baked choo-choo train cake, real train ride/conductor, late-into-the-night bash.

basic things you'll need to do are...
*decide on the guest list
*decide what time the party will be (do it at your daughter's best "mood time" of the day)
*according to the time, plan the food (if you plan it around lunch or dinner, people will expect to be fed more than just cake and ice cream, but mid-morning and mid-afternoon can be only cake and ice cream if you wish)
*decide on the cake - do you want to bake it, or do you want to buy it? i know publix groceries will give you a tiny cake for free if you purchase a larger cake for the baby's first birthday - the baby can get into the tiny cake and you can save the big one for guests. i made a cake for my daughter and gave her a cake slightly bigger than a cupcake to dig into.
*decide how much you want to decorate. make that call BEFORE you go into the store to buy decorations. there are a lot of cute ones out there, and if you haven't decided ahead of time, you may end up leaving with a lot more than you planned on! or, just make your decorations!

(for my daughter's first birthday i did a sesame street theme. it was held late afternoon, but before people expected dinner. i made the decorations by hand - just a sesame street sign and a big "B" for her name and a big "1" for her age. i bought a few balloons, some for inside and some for the mailbox. we had grandparents, aunts/uncles, and some of my friends who had children close in age - probably 20 people max. i baked two cakes, one big, one small, and decorated them with big bird and elmo and her name. i made three additional "snacks" and made them match the theme - cookie monster cookies, decorated with the letter B and the number 1, coconut/chinese noodle "haystacks" that i called big bird's nests, and rice krispy treats that i tinted green, served in tin foil, and called them oscar's trash. the guests arrived and snacked while we waited on everyone. once everyone was there i quickly did the cake thing, we sang, and i let my daughter get into her cake. then we cleaned her off and let her "open presents" while the guests ate cake and ice cream. the party lasted about an hour and it was a great length of time for my daughter to handle. it seemed to be a good flow that worked for us, but i think the most important thing is that i didn't try to make it too much or get too worked up over it.)

I only invited the paternal and maternal grandparents to my kids birthday parties, when they were 1-5. We had icecream, punch and birthday cake.
P. S

http://www.birthdayexpress.com/ is a good website for birthday party stuff.

But she's turning one. My advice is to not overdo it. You don't have to stress yet -- whew! Get a couple of decorations -- maybe plates and cups for the theme, the cake, perhaps crepe paper and not a million guests. Generally, a first birthday party theme is usually "First Birthday". Easy Peasy.

I agree with sosme of the others. Don't go overboard with expenses and just do local family. The other web sites are great but also go to orientaltradingco.com for decorations. VERY inexpensive and cute. They also have some great bulk candy and toys,pencils caps and crafts for older siblings and cousins for gift bags and to tell you the truth,I LOVE some of the stuff for myself too! The main thing to remember is record it and take LOTS of pictures to show them later. My 8 and 4 yrol son's both love to see the pics from their party. Get lots of the "slam"cake that is just for her. They come out hillarious!