1ST BIRTHDAY - HOW DID YOU CELEBRATE?

[hopey]

Although DD is only 8 months old, I have recently been wondering what we're going to do about her b'day. DH is of the thought that she should have a party but is worried that she won't have enough frineds for it. I think she'll be too young for a party and will find it overwhelming, so have proposed inviting a few relatives round for b'day cake.
I would like to know what some of you other mums out there have done in the past as at the moment I'm really stuck.

We celebrated dd 1st b'day with an informal Open House 3 - 5pm one Sunday afternoon. Did afternoon tea (scones, cakes, little sandwiches etc) and served wine, beer and soft drinks. Invited mostly adults (in our case close friends as we don't have family near by) and a few children her age from a baby group we go to, with their parents. There were a whole range of other kids too , children of our friends.
It was lovely to celebrate her first year.
No entertainment of any kind. Just food and drinks.
Our dd loved it but if you think your dd could be a little overwhelmed, I'd opt for a smaller, family party. The main thing is to have a photo opportunity for that cake!

Hopey, just have a small family do. DD will not recognise any babies or children there as friends in the true sense but will enjoy being made a fuss of by familiar adults. You can make it party-like with a nice cake and carefully supervised balloons, but our view was that birthday one was more of an excuse for us to celebrate surviving our first year as parents, so don't forget the wine.

We also had a little family do with grandparents and a couple of other relatives. There was jelly, cake etc. and it worked well, we did the same when DD was 2. Parties will get more comlicated when she gets older and more able to appriciate them

We too just had grandparents and aunt. We had a cake, jelly and ice cream and all the lovely party food you miss out when you get older. He is two in September and this year it is Play Zone.