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Parties/celebrations

Whether you're planning a birthday or a hen do, you'll find plenty of ideas for your celebration on our Party forum.

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Original poster

DD's 1st birthday party ideas (December)

30 replies

nm123 · 08/10/2012 23:30

So. I know it'll be "wasted" on her as she's so little but I would like to do something for DD's 1st birthday in the first week of December... But - I'm totally clueless as to what to do! Our flat isn't big enough to host it here...

Our NCT gang are getting together the week before to celebrate at a local soft play place (just us, no GPs or other friends), so doing that again seems pointless....

DD is invited to a Baby Sensory party in November - could we copy? What other similar "classes" do parties? We only went to Jo Jingles once and DD cried (was just after her jabs though).

Writing a quick list of guests gives me 25 babies Shock plus parents.

Help! Need to get sorted soon what with it being so close to Christmas.

Damn. I was determined for DD's birthday not to be a wash out due to December shite weather / Christmas looming but feel I'm struggling at the first hurdle Blush Sad!

OP posts:
SoleSource · 08/10/2012 23:37

Pub?

defineme · 08/10/2012 23:37

I think you maybe being a little ambitious/ott: most people have a little tea party for immediate family for the first party.
However, if you're determined why not suggest meeting at somewhere like a pub with soft play and having a meal/bring a cake?
Are you sure you're not putting needless pressure on yourself?

BlueSkySinking · 08/10/2012 23:40

Just take some birthday cake to cut at soft play.

WorraLiberty · 08/10/2012 23:42

My DH and I just spent a quiet day/evening with our kids at that age...looking through their baby albums and dvds.

I agree with Blue, just take a cake to soft play...and don't forget the camera.

Tweasels · 08/10/2012 23:43

25 babies? Your choice obviously but that sounds like a nightmare. And a completely unnecessary expense. Who are you doing it for? Surely anything on that scale will overstimulate the babies and it will end up rather stressful for all involved.

Small family tea would be my vote. There are loads of years ahead where you'll be forced happy to tolerate that size of party.

maddening · 08/10/2012 23:45

We got a room at the local village hall. Did sandwiches, bit of a buffet and finger foods for little ones ( or you can do little lunch boxes for over 2's for example)

Got a few balloons and a banner etc and a bubble machine, loads of toys and matts etc and a CD player with nursery rhymes

If you want to take the pressure off and can afford to you can get the people who do all those baby groups - jo jingles, rhyme time etc etc -we got a fun one which did lots of things on the parachute, bashing drums and dancing etc ( any dc who don't fancy it can play with the toys).

WitchesTitWhistles · 08/10/2012 23:48

Your first sentence says it really.

ScaryBOOAlot · 08/10/2012 23:50

25 babies? You are shitting me, right?

First birthday - closest friends and family over to yours, some nice snacky foods and a few bottles of wine. Bake a reduced sugar cake. Sorted.

GoldPlatedNineDoors · 08/10/2012 23:54

Ive took the day off work and will take dd out somewhere. dh will come too if he is off. just the zoo or soft play. we will have a glass of wine and a take away to celebrate becoming parents a year ago. On the saturday closest, family will pop in to have a bit of cake and take some photos. Low key and low cost

CheshireDing · 09/10/2012 00:25

We had pfb last weekend.

10 adults - just immediate family so grandparents, gt grandparents, uncles etc.

Tea party 12-2pm. Small sandwiches, scones, birthday cake, cocktail sausages, macaroons, tea, juice.

Everyone left at 2pm and pfb fell asleep at 1pm!

Literally that was it, we had a lovely 2 hours, which was plenty, total cost £50.

Anything more is wasted, they will fall asleep anyway Grin

HappyJustToBe · 09/10/2012 08:42

We took DD to the Monkey Forest with our parents
and siblings and then had bratwurst at home whilst DD slept. Bliss.

I wouldn't put too much pressure on yourself or it might become too much to enjoy. I speak from experience!

Pascha · 09/10/2012 08:47

We had immediate family round for pizza and cake and themed it pirates as we had a cool pirate outfit for DS. 2-4pm. We do have a decent size kitchen and garden though.

MuddlingMackem · 09/10/2012 08:57

We did a Brewsters pub for the first birthdays of both DC. Us, godparents, grandparents, my DB and his girlfriend and DH's best friend and his wife and son. Good food for the adults and a little soft play area for the kids. And the pub provided a brief visit from Brewster bear which the kids loved.

Everybody happy and the adults all had a decent feed.

Seriously, first birthdays are for the adults, save the big parties for when she's at school and wants to celebrate with her choice of friends. :)

KenLeeeeeee · 09/10/2012 09:02

First birthdays really are an occasion more for the parents and family than the kid (not that there's anything wrong with that).

DS1's first birthday celebrations consisted of a little tea party at home with grandparents and a couple of my friends with their kids (don't do this if you have naice cream carpets... jam handprints are a nightmare to clean up).

DS2's first birthday was spent with just me, DH, ds1 & 2 (lived too far away from family by then) and we went to London Aquarium and TGI Friday's for lunch, then back home for cake.

DD's first birthday was a bigger family gathering (grandparents, aunts & uncles) at TGI Friday's (I'm sensing a theme to our family celebrations...).

DNiece's first birthday was a much bigger family party at BIL & SIL's house. BBQ, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins.

DS3's first birthday is 2 days before DNiece's 2nd birthday, so I might see if SIL wants to combine efforts for a family do. If not, we'll probably end up at TGI's again!!

BionicEmu · 09/10/2012 09:42

For DS's first birthday we just had a little party at home. Think there were about 10 babies, we just pushed the living room furniture back, shoved all his toys in there, got some balloons and did a finger buffet + cake. Didn't cost much, but the babies seemed to enjoy it.

Original poster
nm123 · 09/10/2012 09:45

Well the party would be amber the weekend and her birthday is mid-week so DH will take the day off work and we'll hang out the three of us - I go back to work the following day so that'll be nice.

All 3 sets of GPs will want to see DD and so will her cousins - that takes us to about 15 people inc kids/babies and we just don't have the room at home.

Perhaps a small hall with music and balloons etc will suffice? Just worried that won't be enough for any older kids (ie 2-6yo).

Btw - that 25 included older kids/toddlers, probably half are

OP posts:
CMOTDibbler · 09/10/2012 09:46

For ds's 1st dh,ds and I went out for a nice lunch, then had choc cake for tea. It was all that was necessary.

There are many years of parties in front of you, don't spend a bucket load of money on babies who won't even notice

ENormaSnob · 09/10/2012 09:50

We just did a buffet and drinks at home with family and close friends round.

unclehairysgirlfriend · 09/10/2012 09:57

We had a Baby Sensory party for DDs first birthday last December and LOVED it! Worth every penny and lots of lovely photos to look back on.

BionicEmu · 09/10/2012 10:08

Ah, we did a party for other babies on the Sat, then family came round on the Sun (his actual birthday).

Think it was easier as we have a stupidly large living room though!

A friend of mine recently had her DS's first birthday party. They hired the village hall and loaned a heap of toys from the local toy library. That way there were toys there for the older kids too. Worked v well.

BionicEmu · 09/10/2012 10:14

Also, whilst I get that the baby won't care, I really wanted to mark the fact that we'd made it through the first year. It was really a "look, we've survived a year and not thrown him out of the window yet" party. Wink

Most of the other NCT group didn't have parties for other babies, just for family. We all went to Sea Life centre to celebrate their first birthdays. But as DS was 6 weeks early there was 1.5-2 months between his birthday and most of the rest of them, so we had a separate party for him too.

SneakyNuts · 09/10/2012 10:42

I'm in the process of booking a hall and baby sensory party for DD (second week of December)

Don't stress yourself out, let them do the hard work for you Smile

PatriciaHolm · 09/10/2012 10:58

Perhaps a small hall with music and balloons etc will suffice?Just worried that won't be enough for any older kids (ie 2-6yo).

Most 2-6 year olds I know would love to run around a hall kicking/throwing balloons to music! Your problem there is that it would be bedlam! Might be a bit too much for all the little ones?

Hall, lots of playmats with toys, balloons+bubbles for the older ones, VERY SIMPLE buffet (sandwiches, crisps, cake!). Done. If you really felt the urge for the older ones, you could do a pass the parcel or couple of VERY SIMPLE games (musical statues etc).

deliciousdevilwoman · 09/10/2012 11:03

DD was 1 on December 18th. We had a tea party for close family-I think there were around 16 in all. Far too many for our house, so my PIL (who live 10 minutes' away) kindly hosted.

It was lovely. We had a cake made, champagne for the adults and fireworks in the garden when it got dark (not as extravagant as it sounds-DH had the foresight to buy them in the sale after Fireworks Night!)

This year, I am not planning a party, but DH and I will probably take her out somewhere nice for the day.

elliejjtiny · 09/10/2012 11:15

For DS1's first birthday I had PND, DS2 was very poorly as a baby, FTT etc which was still going on at 1. Then I had a miscarriage 3 weeks before DS3's 1st birthdays. So for various reasons we kept it small. DH had the day off work, we took them to softplay and then had grandparents round for tea and cake. Took loads of photos including one of them trying to cram a whole piece of cake in their mouths at once.

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