to ask how much you spent on your child's first birthday party?

[Twinklestar2]

And what did you do?

We had maybe 10 adults and a handful of small children over at our house. The kids played with our toys, the adults chatted. We bought ingredients for a simple meal and a cake, some pop and juice, and a board game to play. Didn't spend that much, but it was fun.

A family tea party with cake and 'a spread' brummie ways.

Only Spend what you can afford and is appropriate that's my mantra.

If you want an excuse to have family and friends around for a knees up, then a child's birthday is as good an excuse as ever.

My Exh left a few weeks before DS's first birthday, so I couldn't be bothered beyond tea and cake. However I wanted to invite a few people just to stop me spending all days on the sofa in tears...

Erm nothing either time

So what if it's a party for the parents not the baby, you are allowed to celebrate and enjoy having a family. £500 sounds about right for what you're planning.

I've never done it, but have been to others do's like this and they've been great fun

Enjoy and take photos

We spent £30 on a village hall for the afternoon. I made the cake and most of the food. Brought along a load of her toys and chucked them on one side of the hall for the kids to play with. Threw a few balloons in the mix as well. Overall I'd say less than £50. We would have done it at home, but our living room is tiny and the weather was too cold for the garden (also tiny!). There were probabaly about 30 people there, mainly adult family and close friends, plus a few little ones. It was a nice excuse for a get together to be honest.

I would just say don't put pressure on yourself. If you want to do it and it's fun then go for it. If you'll just end up exhausted and stressed trying to sort it all out don't bother, because it's not worth it.

For DS's second I appropriated a friend's tea party, brought a cake and some balloons and called it his birthday party (with friend's backing!). Adults got pissed and kids entertained themselves. Everyone had fun.

Nothing at all for any of my three DC when they were 1yr old! (And not much later on either.)

I think I did 1 or 2 parties for each of them during their primary school years. (Just some school friends over to the house. Very simple.)

It hadn't even occurred to me that ppl might have a party for a 1yr old ... until I was invited to a party for a 1yr old 'friend' of my 1yr old DC1. I didn't know the hostess very well so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was her 1st DC, so I thought she was just being a bit 'precious'!

There was only 1 other guest (Another mum who I didn't know at all. With her 1yr old DC1.). So the 3 of us had a cup of tea and a piece of cake at a table, with our DCs on our laps.

I thought it was OK, but slightly bizarre. (But then we never really did birthday parties when I was growing up!)

We had a joint birthday party for both my sons 1st and 13th birthday. Hired a hall, entertainer, candy floss and popcorn machine, catered food for 100 adults and children cost around £3000.

Um... About £600... Hired a room in a restaurant. Invited family and friends (about 60 in total) and put on food, some drinks and cake. I don't have christening/naming ceremonies so I like first birthday to be a big celebration. Did the same for DS2 this year.

Had a tea party for 6 one year olds ... Carnage but fun. Made little sandwiches, had some fruit and baby friendly nibbles and breadsticks and made a cake. Splashed out on M&S sandwich platters for the adults. Was very sweet. They all played nicely with the balloons and I did mini party bags with little books (bargain 5 for a quid in pound land) and bubbles and bath duck. Prob about £50 all in.
Also had a family meal. Both sides round for a one pot meal plus another cake for pud. DH splashed out on some fizz. Not OTT but I'd been in hospital for a D&C following MMC the day before and DS was particularly precious at the time. Cost a couple of hundred with booze but it's nice to have an excuse to get the family together (about 20 of us with both sides) so comparatively not crazy expensive.

Picnic in the park for some local friends with babies, and then a tea party / bbq at DD's grandparents'. No idea exactly how much I spent, not much - everyone chipped in with food / drink. I made a cake. Birthday present (rocking horse) was £45.

How in earth are some of you managing to cater for so little? Buying the stuff for Sunday lunch for 4 puts me back £50 easily!

Crafts, you want to go to Lidl! £50 is approximately our food budget for the week, not one meal...

Maybe £20? We had a tea party for family. I baked cakes etc and bought party food. I made bunting and decorations myself. My youngest son we had a day out as a family as we had moved by this time and our nearest family is now over 200 miles away!

Possibly about £30. Family only, shop bought cake and nibbles.

When DD was 3yo we spent about £150 on hiring the party room at a local farm park with soft play. We invited 10 friends and their parents, but DD had been asking about a party and still remembers it now.

1st birthday - grandparents came round for birthday tea. Just a few quid on a cake and a bit of party food. dd liked the cake, but didn't know it was her birthday.

2nd birthday - was going to be the same, but she was poorly so we didn't do anything.

no Christening - sounds like that saved us a load of cash

3rd birthday - a few friends coming round to play in the garden. Just the cost of party food (for the kids and parents) and cheap tat for the party bags.

4th birthday - same as 3rd

We didn't really bother spending much until she was at school. That's when soft play, swimming parties etc all kicked in.