Ideas for 1st birthday on a budget please...............

[LonelySingleMummy]

My son is 1 Nov 5th and I desperately need ideas on cheap ways to celebrate. There would be adults and kids invited but being single mum, must be on a budget
All ideas welcome please! x

balloons. lots and lots.

my ds's first b'day was a tea party in doors tbh few ballons (and feeding the ducks) and that was about it. his second birthday was the same with a trip to a farm as well.

no need to push the boat out, that will come on demand in later years! So, make the most of just a birthday cake and some nibbles.

hi! just read your message, i have lots of 1st birthday banners, ballons bags etc ( all pastle blue), am also a single mummy so know what it is like budgeting, went a bit ott! lol! you can have them if you want all unused as my mum and da did a party for my ds in the end as we moved the weekend before and my mum said i didnt need the stress!
also i strarted saving about % a week to put towards it from now (my son will be 2 in oct) and i had plenty of money to buy food and do party bags etc ( had to do 25 for nursery...wasn't having everyone in there know i was skint and the only single mummy!)
hope all goes well!

Katexx

Thanks Katiekins83 that would be most appreciade Mail me. I'm a bit like that, I have to let ppl know we can manage and he doesn't go without! Sad really isn't it lol xxx

yes, sad but true! wouldnt have him be the only child in the whole nursery not to give party bags out tho!
i will get them out of the cuboard in the morning and post tem to you at some point on friday!

hi...again, they wont let me message you unless i pay...email me you address and i will post them email [email protected]

hey lonelysinglemummy, it was ds first birthday last week. we were going to have a teddy bears picnic in the park.... everyone bringing their favourate toy along... however it rained so we just had a picnic on the living room floor.
If you want cheep party food iceland is the place to go... cocktail sausages £1 sausage rolls £1... pizza £1. then all you have to do is bung it all in the oven and make a few sandwhiches... also im not sure where you live but in bristol we have a shop called rajanies... sells absiloute shite but you can get things soooo cheeply in there, ie party bags etc or wilkinsons is quite cheep and im sure they would sell the sorta stuff your after, I was going to make a cake but didnt have time. Also if you go into tesco on the day of the party you could probs get a reduced cake that is going out of date that day. hope thats of some help! x

crepe paper makes cheeap streamers and then cut out number 1 from pieces of paper and stick them on the wall. Cheap easy adn looks like you have gone to loads of effort!

I got special packs at the pound shop last year that had 10 party bags, 10 invitations and a banner for only £1. You should also look out for special offers. My local tesco's is selling packs of 2 mini felt pens for 10pence right now, usual price 49p. But a party bag really isn't necessary. If you have to do one buy cheap bags at the pound shop and then put a balloon a piece of cake and a very small gift. The gift usually gets chucked anyhow! Stickers always go down well I find with smaller toddlers and older children alike. You can buy a pack of 9 rolls for £3 in woolworths. Just cut them into sections and put a couple in each bag. you can also get packs of pencils and notebooks at the poundshop. More useful than a plastic toy which will just go in teh bin.

Poundshop also have party decorations, plates etc cheap there. I personally found it better value to get some of the coloured platic plates, bowls and cups that come in a pack of 6 at ikea. You can reuse them each year and they pay for themselves within 2 years!

To be honest a 1st birthday is more for the mum than the child. Don't worry about spending lots. A few friends at home with cake and crisps is all you need and some music to play musical bumps if you have slightly older children there too.

Have fun
Gilly

The other one we did at my sons birthday was put little packs of sweets in the balloons the crawlers and the toddlers had a whale of a time trying to pop the balloons to get at the sweets. Depends how confident the children are I guess.

Another game is crosses and blanks. Cut up a few sheets of paper each into about 12 squares. Mark some with a cross or you could print a picture on them. Fold each square into 4 and scatter them around. If they find a square with a cross on they get a sweet, then go back for more, if the find a blank they return it to you and go looking for another one with a cross. High energy and no loosers.

Best of luck I'm sure it will be brill.

Do you need to have a party for their first birthday? They won't remember it or know what's going on!

Just keep it really simple and stress free.

Don't bother with party bags for one year olds either. Just have your friends round, eat cake and drink tea and let the kids play together, with balloons if you want.

Balloons, bubbles, music. If the weather is nice, outside. If its not, inside. Some nibbles and if there are older children, some party games.

For DDs birthday aged 2, we are going outdoors if we can, small picnic, rugs and on one rug we are having dolls and teddies with a tea set, on the other we are having musical instruments, and on another some plain hats and an adult with glue - the older children have to go and find some things to make hats with.

A 1 yo will not be bothered by big expensive things, just people around will be enough. And photos for memories.

Sainsburys often have really cheap offers on things like bubble blowers and paddling pools and balls to make a ball pool. Probably you won't be outside on Nov 5th but you could put a paddling pool in the sitting room with balls in it for the babies to crawl in and out of. Last year I got a paddling pool for £1.75 and the balls for £4 at the end of the summer. Bubble blower would also keep 1 year olds v happy, I should think, as long as your floor can take it and they are cheap at the moment.

As for food, 1 year olds will be fine with some little finger sandwiches, fruit and fairy cakes. You could ice the fairy cakes different colours v cheaply.

Thanks all I have some ideas now! Just got to start planning lol xxx

what you will take from the day is how much laughter and love there was so just put your focus on having a great day and celebrating your lovely little ones entrance to the world. my sons first birthday i was broke so my family were great - i asked them all to bring a plate with them and i put up tons of balloons. i kept all the cards after and took pics etc and have them all in a little scrap book for my boy to see when he gets older and i did that by hand as well so it was really cheap.