1St Birthday Ideas........

I custom print on balloons. I printed a lot of balloons for 1st birthday. That is an idea for you. You can visit my web site at www.extratwist.com

When my kids were that little, we had a piece of material for the table covering and let everyone write something on it for my daughter and put it in her special box.

We created a 'timecapsule' for each of our kids..at their first birthday parties we asked guests to bring something that would remind them of the current events from this year..magazine, newspaper, top song lists..etc, everyone brought something to the party, and it was put into the capsule (rubbermaid tote), and we taped it shut and put "do not open until the birthday boy's 18th birthday...we still have 12 years to go until we open it up...

Whatever you want is what should happen! You can do the smash cake or you can get a giant cupcake at Kroger....really cool!
Happy 1st Bday to your son....take lots of pictures to scrapbook!!!

Hi S.

I suggest keeping things very simple and low key. One year olds can get very overwhelmed very fast, which leads to a big meltdown! For both my boys, we just had a the grandparents over, and maybe one little friend or two. A few presents, some cake smeared all over the place, and everybody was happy! You might just a small cake for your son, or even just a cupcake for him to dig into. Most of all, just relax, don't expect too much, and enjoy the moment!

Hi S.,
Learning from experience, My suggestion would be to do the party in this order

Cut the big cake and serve your guests, while they are eating cake open gifts with your little one and THEN give them their own special smash cake.

The reason I say this is because once they get a taste of that cake they get cranky when you take it away to open gifts lol..

No matter what you decide it will be memoriable!!

S.

p.s. since it's at the end of may, depending on where you live if it's warm enough have a kiddie pool handy, those are great for clean up after the cake!!

HI S.,

My sister always has had very extravagant parties. She rents little tables and chairs, has a really trendy cake with a theme like princess or whatever, spider man for the son, has all the family come late, friends with kids first so they can play, she does magician or the bouncy thing you rent outside, one year with a huge water slide (summer) she had some people come dressed as her favorite princess one year (Belle) and another charachter....

We made it much simpler as we also don't know as many people. Had immediate family over like grandparents and 2 friends with husbands and kids. We had cupcakes, some deli and veggie trays, I went to aparty store and bought everything one theme, the banner, hats, plates, napkins. My daughter had NO IDEA what was going on, she played and went for her nap and woke up clueless haha ;)

Hi S.!

I kept my son's first birthday very low key, just family and my best friend. Even though he was a very outgoing, happy 12 month old boy, I thought too much stimulation would not be good. Even though he was so young, I still went with items he loved at the time: Seasame Street cake from Giant Eagle (tell them it's your child's first birthday and you get a smash cake for free!), Elmo plates, Seasame street, Barney, and Elmo balloons, and his favorite food...pizza!

I pretty much let my son set the schedule. We ate first, then opened presents at his own pace (it took over an hour, but was so much fun!), and lastly did cake. By the time that was over, he was ready to play quietly with his toys. It was a very nice, intimate party; something special for my little man.

Hope you find something great for your little guy!

I think cupcakes are perfect for first birthdays!! I made my daugher monkey cupcakes, they were so cute. They are also the perfect size for little ones.

WE don't do anything special other than the small smash cake. We do have more people than usual for the 1st birthday, great aunts, uncles and a few close friends. After that year it's just imediate family.

S.

We just had my sons first birthday in April. Because our family is so large we had aprox. 40 aunts, uncles, god parents and cousins. We kept it very simple with a lot of colorful streamers & balloons. We ordered pizza and I made some chicken tenders (Costco had shapes for the kids to enjoy), poured some salad from a bag into a bowl and cut up some fruit. We did get a smash cake (free from Giant Eagle), but my son didn't seem interested in the cake. I also had cupcakes for the little ones. My son prefered to "smash" the cupcake, which was smaller and easier to handle. Good Luck. Just remember to relax and have fun. Your son won't remember any of it. The party is mostly for the parents. I also kept the "favor" bags to something simple. A press on tattoo and some bubbles from the dollar store.

Honestly, low-key is best. Baby tends to get tired out quickly and then gets cranky. It's more a party for the adults at this point. Even showing baby how to open presents may be an issue. I know for us it was, with both of our boys. Neither got the hang of it their first year. So I'd say keep it to maybe cake & ice cream, presents, and a little visiting with the grandparents, then call it a day.
I mean, you can decorate and all that, we always do, too. But as far as games or activities, unless you're having a lot of older children over, it's really not necessary just yet.

S.,
Simple is best. The 1 year old party is really for adults to reflect on how much things change in the first year of life and to celebrate this new personality you now have in your family.

Definitely cake smash pictures are the funnest and the best. Here's a tradition to add to that.....after the 1 year old cake smash, the baby gets to give mommy a big gooey cakey kiss! That's what being a mommy is all about - loving them no matter how icky and gooey :)

L. Mercer
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HI there! We just had my son's first birthday and December and it turned out really well. We had a small party with family and friends, maybe about 20 people. If your child gets nervous around big groups he may not act his best so keep it at a comfortable amount for him. We got his cake from Giant Eagle, if you tell them it's for a first birthday they will throw in the smash cake for free. We made sure he had a nap ahead of time and had his dinner before the guests arrived so he'd be in a good mood and then just snacked on crackers and cheese instead of trying to feed him a meal during the party. We chose to do presents first to get that out of the way and then moved right onto the cake. He had a ton of fun and was a very happy and good boy through the whole party. Don't worry about a big blow out but make sure you take pictures the whole time so you don't forget a thing. We also had a friend video tape his cake part so we can show it to him when he gets bigger. Good luck and congrats...you've made it through the first year also! My husband and I celebrated our 1st year of parenthood with a glass of wine after our son went to bed!

How exciting!!First birthdays are soo cool.
Get him his own little cake to "smash" and dig in and one for family to eat. Just make a big deal,clap and hooray everything he does at his party. It'll be fun no matter what.
Enjoy!!
R.