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Original poster

1yo birthday ideas?

17 replies

ac27 · 14/05/2009 15:25

Any Londoners have suggestions for what to do with my DD for her 1st birthday?

When my DS turned one, we took him to the zoo, and, of course, he was more interested in the automatic doors than anything else -- so thinking maybe 1 is too small for zoo.

Any ideas appreciated!

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chaosisawayoflife · 15/05/2009 11:36

Aquarium?? That's where we're taking my dd for her 1st birthday last week. We went to a fish shop to buy some new tropical fish a couple of weeks ago and she absolutely loved it, so hopefully she'll enjoy the aquarium too.

knickers0nmahead · 15/05/2009 12:08

We didnt take dd anywhere for her 1st birthday. We threw a little party for her, no1 turned up, so will keep an eye on this thread for ideas for ds's.

gegs73 · 15/05/2009 12:13

We threw a very small party for DS2 also when he was 1. We got a paddling pool and filled it with some plastic balls/ball pool which the babies liked. Bit of cake, adults had wine job done

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pudding25 · 15/05/2009 22:12

Don't know whereabouts you are but on DD's actual 1st birthday (last week), we took her to Willow Farm at London Colney. She loved seeing all the animals and they have a nice soft play area for under 2's.

BiscuitStuffer · 15/05/2009 22:24

I think they just love to see familiar faces and/or animals so it depends where you are. We have a little farm local to us in london BUT for DD we just had a friend round and adults had wine. Other 1 year olds had 5-8 friends round and it all ended in tears.

LuckySalem · 15/05/2009 22:25

All we did with DD was have some friends around with a bit of food. She enjoyed playing with her friends but she wasn't interested in much more and was completely worn out after a couple of hours.

HSMM · 15/05/2009 22:47

A few friends, some cake and the back garden worked for my DD.

wotulookinat · 16/05/2009 11:45

Whereabouts in London are you? Polhill garden centre (right near Orpington, junc 4 of M25) has lovely big fish, and a rather nice cafe too! There's also a nice outdoor playarea if it's a nice day.

Original poster

ac27 · 16/05/2009 19:56

Thank you thank you, this is all really helpful.

We're in central west London, so the Aquarium could be a goer. Willow Farm sounds great, but we're going with my DS as a school trip later in the summer, so I'm going to save it until then.

We're also doing cake and family round teatime, but wanted to think of something that SHE would really enjoy, rather than me getting to dress her up and make a cake and explode with love and pride - which she can take or leave!

OP posts:

naomi83 · 17/05/2009 07:44

I would keep it low key. 1 year olds can only handle a couple of hours of excitement. I would just do the cake and family, and if the weather is nice blow lots of bubbles. Oh, and throw and kick some balloons. Job done.

BiscuitStuffer · 17/05/2009 20:07

We took DD to the aquarium when she was about 1 and she was very underwhelmed by it all. It cost a fortune for us adults to get in and then she got bored very quickly and it was very hot in there so all a bit of a waste.

UniS · 17/05/2009 20:25

my family ( well Dhs family really) have a tradition that on 1st birthday tea party, the child is given their birthday cake to rip into however they want.
LOTS of very messy tots covered in iceing having a VERY nice time eating cake.
Choc iceing for white kids, vanilla for black... makes for some happy photos. UP to the parents how bigtehcake teh child is given ... our boy was given a large slice as I only made one cake, my SiL made a large and a small for her younger kids 1st birthdays.
A change of clothes is often required. and maybe a hair wash. Credit due to SiL she introduced the tradition and her girls have braided afro hair.

Original poster

ac27 · 20/05/2009 11:20

Just to report back - we went to the Aquarium and was fabulous hit. Both 1yo and 3yo transfixed. Would highly recommend, with the tip that you should pre-book tickets in order to jump the ticket queue - had we been stuck behind the 30-strong line for tickets, the trip may well have faltered before it started. So thanks very much chaosisawayoflife.

UniS - what a great tradition. Had my DD in a beautiful dress given by her granny, so was too chicken to go ahead with it!

OP posts:

Gateau · 20/05/2009 12:05

I think he's too young to appreciate being taken anywhere.
Low key is the way to go; we had low key parties for DS's first and second b'days. We took full advantage of low key while we still could; it's all they need at this age.
Plenty of time for bigger things when they're older.

poshsinglemum · 20/05/2009 13:40

We took dd to the zoo when she was 8 months and she enjoyed it. The only animals she really noticed were the fish and penquins in the aqariums and peversely the iguana

poshsinglemum · 20/05/2009 13:41

Any entertainment at this age is probably more for your benefit

chaosisawayoflife · 21/05/2009 12:01

I'm so glad you enjoyed it ac27. We're going on Saturday (lo's b'day tomorrow) and can't wait. I noticed they are doing 2 for 1 on tickets if you travel by train, but I don't think you can book in advance if you do that. Will have to weigh up options of money vs time saving!

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