Seeking 1St Birthday Party Venues/Activities in March

T.,
The word of wisdom on children's bday parties, is one child/guest per year of age - thus a six year old would invite six friends (and possibly their parents, though most at that age drop the children off). Planning a party for a one year old is clearly for the adults, and often overwhelming for the children (remember, even their solid food diets are still limited).

That being said, if there are lots of children to be invited in your family, you might check out Tilden Park. There is a nice room there where I've seen weddings done. (Check with East Bay Regional Parks). Places like the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley would be a great indoor space for an older child, but I'm not sure how many children you are inviting and what adult accommodations they have.

I think the idea of checking out a church or community center would probably work. In that case, I would do it soon, so you can pick a date without a wedding planned for the room.

Enjoy your maternity leave, and try not to rush through your baby's first year. There are so many fun things for you to do and celebrate between now and then. Enjoy each day and each month/stage, if you can take your focus off a target date you will be less stressed.

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I don't know of a venue, but as for games/activities, it depends on whether this is an adult party or a child's party. Will there be a lot of children older than 1? If so, you definitely need activities and games. What activities and games depends on the average age of the children who will be attending. There aren't many activities and games that a 1 year old can play but if the other children are a little older, you can try a face painting table, pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs, etc. These are all things that can be done inside. As for food, kids love hot dogs and mac and cheese! Have fun!

RELAXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, don't go overboard, this is her first birthday and she won't know what all the excitement is about. . .but just know it's hard to go "down" in Birthday celebrations. Each year you will wreck your nerves trying to do the birthday better than you did the year before.

For a first birthday, usually a quiet dinner party with a cake is plenty for a one year old. . .too much excitement (jumper, clowns, Chuck E Cheese) is overwhelming for a one year old; and believe m; your relatives will enjoy the party more than your daughter.

In this day and age Birthday Parties are EXPENSIVE, and unless you are looking for a $500.00 event each year, I would think small, or at least something that is manageable. There are plenty of time for the more elaborate parties. . .but just know if you start doing these parties while they are small, it will be hard to stop later. My six year old, now plans her next party at the present year party (whew). . .Some ideas are Chuck E Cheese, The Jungle, Fairyland, Pixieland, Jelly Belly Factory, Build a Bear Workshop, area park (my daughter's birthday is in Feb, thus it's hard to plan out door activities) Bay Area Children's Museum; McDonald’s. . .but keep in mind all of these ideas are expensive.

I would love to hear from other parents on idea’s as it’s no joke to plan a party without taking out a new mortgage.

Pardon me for offering an opinion that you didn't ask for, but 100 people for a 1st birthday is really overboard in my opinion. Your child will not remember any of it, after all. So who are you planning this big party for? I would strongly suggest that you consider a much smaller party with just family and keep it to cake and ice cream. Good luck.

There are lots of places in the East Bay that will accomodate that many people. The Lincoln Park Rec Center in Alameda is an okay place - if you are creative, you can decorate it nicely. It's pretty much a blank slate. The park is right there for older children and there is a fenced in outdoor garden to mingle and set up for your party if the weather is good. And the building's doors can be closed so you don't have to worry about little toddlers wandering off.

As to the petting zoo, etc., that's not the norm. I don't have one friend who did that for a first birthday.....or second or third. I suppose my friends and I are a much more practical bunch and we don't spend the money on something like that until the children are able to remember it. You could rent a jumpy thing for about $100-$200 (depending on size) for the other children to play in.

Dear T.--

You are right. Birthdays can get pretty amazing. But have you looked into your beautiful daughter's eyes and asked her what she wants for her birthday? What is her personality like? Would she be happiest with a small group in her back yard where everything is familiar? Or does she like to socialize? Does she prefer quiet routines? Or is she excited about new experiences? I see you are reading a book to your daughter. For one of my daughter's early birthdays, everyone brought a book for a present; we built up her library instantly! We had a storyteller visit. Good luck with this. If you have a large family, have you considered letting different members oversee different parts of the party so that you can relax and enjoy your daughter's special day?

Are you sure you want to have 100 people? Large parties are overwhelming for little ones and she won't even remember it at her age. If the party is for mostly adults I would consider reducing the amount of people you invite to just family and very close friends. Most people in my community have parties at home for the 1st birthday. If you feel you have to have a large party you could check out the community center in your area. The San Ramon Community Center has rooms you can rent but you will have to have activities for the kids. Many of the indoor places like Just Your Party, Pump it Up and Super Franks party places are for kids 3 years and older and can be expensive. I highly recommend cutting your list to a small group and having cake and ice cream at home.

RELAXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, don't go overboard, this is her first birthday and she won't know what all the excitement is about. . .but just know it's hard to go "down" in Birthday celebrations. Each year you will wreck your nerves trying to do the birthday better than you did the year before.

For a first birthday, usually a quiet dinner party with a cake is plenty for a one year old. . .too much excitement (jumper, clowns, Chuck E Cheese) is overwhelming for a one year old; and believe m; your relatives will enjoy the party more than your daughter.

In this day and age Birthday Parties are EXPENSIVE, and unless you are looking for a $500.00 event each year, I would think small, or at least something that is manageable. There are plenty of time for the more elaborate parties. . .but just know if you start doing these parties while they are small, it will be hard to stop later. My six year old, now plans her next party at the present year party (whew). . .Some ideas are Chuck E Cheese, The Jungle, Fairyland, Pixieland, Jelly Belly Factory, Build a Bear Workshop, area park (my daughter's birthday is in Feb, thus it's hard to plan out door activities) Bay Area Children's Museum; McDonald’s. . .but keep in mind all of these ideas are expensive.

I would love to hear from other parents on idea’s as it’s no joke to plan a party without taking out a new mortgage.

I'm gonna have to go with Jen on this one...
I think 100 people sounds more like a wedding than a 1 yr old's birthday party. If you just really like throwing big extravagant parties and you need an excuse, by all means - throw a birthday party. However if your reasoning is because you think that's what the norm is these days... save yourself some work and lots of $ and host a small family BBQ.
My daughter turns 1 in Sept. My plan is to invite the grandparents and aunts and uncles - that's it. All you really need is the picture of your kid shoving their face in the cake anyway. You could even do that with no one around.

Dear T.,

First off, congrats on your new little girl. I am sure you are having such a great time being a new mom and are full of joy and excitement about having her.

As for her first birthday, I know you want to plan but you should really consider waiting a bit before starting to plan. Having a huge party can be extremely overwhelming for a little baby. Your daughter might end up being very social and fine with large groups or you could find that she cannot handle lots of noise and tons of people. You will probably not really be able to tell tht until she is 8 or 9 months.

You might come to find that a small gathering of close family and friends at home might be best for her and you. When we planned my son's first birthday party last December,it was two hours long at our home and there were about 20 people including 4 baby friends around his age.

If you havea huge family it is nice to include people but you may spend more time dealing with you little girl crying and feeling overwhelmed.

I would suggest you wait a bit until you really know the little person you have and how she might handle a huge party.

As for indoor locations you might look into some of the local churches near you. Many of them have community rooms you can rent that are inexpensivbe. Most of them also have access to kitchens. Then you can have games and access to tables and chairs and bring your own food which will be much less expensive.

Hope this helps and enjoy your little one.

N.

As everyone has said, the petting zoo seems a bit much. I went to a first b-day that consisted of Chex Party Mix and icecream. For my daughters birthday, which was in Feb, we broke the party up into two shifts. Family in the morning and friends in the afternoon so that we could accommodate everyone in our house. As for venues, I know that there are a few that will hold that many, but I don't know if they really would hold the interest of a one year old. Pump-It-Up in Oakland does only private parties, and most of the baby play places like Tumble and Tea and Habitot also are available for private parties. Good luck and, like most have already said, your baby won't remember this and really will probably only be up for about 3 hours of party max, with out a nap.