First Birthday Advice Needed...

[mummamango]

We are having a party for DS'S 1st b'day.

Just wondering about timings really...

I was thinkning of starting at 12 / lunch at 1 / cake at 2 / end at 3 0r 4?

Does that sound too long / short?

DS will be knackered after all that but also thought it would be good to let adults without kids know what's happening when, so they can just pop in for a slice of cake & a glass of something and avoid sitting thorough noisy chaos of 20 kids!

Any advice greatly appreciated!

whenever you do a party for tht age group you will go straight through someone's nap so is difficult to avoid every child's.

You can't do party games with that age group, what do you intend to do with them? Presumably you will be feeding all the adults as well - so a lot of catering to do?

I might be inclined to have a much shorter party for children - 2 hours tops, around meal time, then put your child down for a nap to firmly signal the end of the kiddy party, then invite child free adults later for wine/cuppa and cake when DS will be awake again and you've had chance to clear up and sit down for a breather!

I would say start at 11-11.30, lunch around 12, cake soon after, finish 2-2.30 for the children. Childless adults/close family drop in whenever/stay longer???

It depends how old the children who are coming are. DS1 had a party last month for his 3rd birthday, 11-1, the children were more than ready for lunch at 12 and two hours with 30 children was great but enough! This was in our village hall though, but if it was in your garden or something you might be prepared for it to go on longer.

Also be prepared for your DS to be a bit overwhelmed with lots of people and noise (if he is anything like my DS2 aged 13 months) so you might be pleased to have a limit to the chaos!

Good luck, hope you have fun!