1st birthday experiences please

[June2009]

right, I am wondering if you could point me in the right direction, or inpsire me by telling me what you did for your child's 1st bday party.

We're having some friends and family over, probably inviting around 25.

I've never been to a first bday party and not sure what is usually expected.

It's in a month and I keep changing my mind about what to do bbq & cake, finger food & cake, just cake? party bags? What time and how long...
There will be a mix of people: 3 couples and their babies from AN classes, ils and a couple of aunties, cousins and friends.

I quite like the idea of a bbq & cake but worried food is going to drag on (ils & aunties are always late for whatever we invite them to). I don't want to leave the cake too late as the babies will get tired and I don't want them to leave without cutting the cake. (also woud be nice to give them some cake to take home which we can't do if they leave before we cut it.)

I also seem to be very good at missing really obvious things that people usually take for granted.

Any suggestions welcome!

We've always (three kids) made 1st birthday parties a bit of a grown up "remember this time last year" event. Lots of champagne, finger food, cake, and a very laid back approach. We managed one with AN friends and their babies by having a collective afternoon nap for the babies while we all chilled out! Unfortuntely you can't always plan that.

Thanks cat64 and sunny, informal sounds very much like our type of thing on this occasion.

Did you send out invitations?
I wasn't going to send any but noticed a couple of AN friends have received some, one of them gave us one for her son's bday. It would also be nice to keep in dd's "memory" box.

I'm thinking of asking the family to come over at 1pm and the other people to come at 3pm so that everybody comes at the same time...

We tend have have two parties- -one for the family (usually a BBQ and drinks for grown ups in the late afternoon / eve ) and a little tea party for her baby friends one afternoon( tiny sandwiches and cupcakes). That way it does not get too noisy, messy and cramped!
I certainly don't do party bags, but have sent out invites this time.

I had a tiny party for DS - just us, my Dad, my sis and her 3 girls (2,3 and 5 at the time) and my best mate and her DS, who was also 5. Plus another mate who was starting up as a childrens' entertainer - she brought puppets and musical instruments and it was fab. I did party bags - a couple of little toys, colour plastic pretend glasses and bubble mix. As far as I could tell, DS loved it!

Went to a 1st birthday party yesterday - but the little girl has a 3yo brother, so lots of bigger DC were there as well - big garden party (am in Oz) with bouncy castle, barbecue sausages (natch!), finger buffet, lots of sweets and little cakes, crisps, cut fruit etc. Fizz for adults, cans/bottles of beer (natch again) for the blokes, cans of soft drink for the drivers and under-agers. Birthday cake with candles.

I'd say it was a big party - probably 40 adults and about 25 DC of ages between tiny baby and the biggest looked about 10.

We got party bags as well. Sweets and trinkets.

Let your aunties know that time is a pressing matter and that you will start without them.

We have our dds on Sunday. Having big garden party with bouncy castle and BBQ. Have about 40 coming which includes 10 children. Lots of booze, food and good company. I feel it's such a big birthday, so much has happened/changed in a year, but they are so tiny still they don't get it, so it's more for adults and older kids.

For DS's 1st birthday we had a lady come round and do hand and foot prints on ceramic things that were then taken away to be glazed and fired to make beautiful keepsakes. But then, at the time, most of the friends we spent time with were the people we met at our ante natal classes so all of the children were just turning 1. It was a special time for everyone.

for ds' we had about 20 people round (a mix like you) from about 2-5 in the afternoon and had a selection of cold party food available all afternoon so there wasn't a fixed eating time and had lots of stuff that was suitable for the babies as well as the adults. Had wine, pimms, beer available for the adults and did cake about half way through when I decided there was the most people there. Didn't do party bags but did have lots of balloons hanging up and great swirly things with the number 1 on which the babies loved looking at (and trying to climb up and get to!) Did send out invites but only by email

Thanks to all, the weather should be good (towards end of june) so we decided to do bbq for around 30ppl (dh to sort out food, kebabs and salads) to come at 2pm and cake around 4pm. Only did invites for the children to keep it informal.
Everybody is invited at the same time, people who come late can have leftovers ;)

I'd like to check a couple of things about party bags...(decided to do some).

The 1yo babies are getting a bit of a typical one: bubble mix, a mini book and a piece of cake to take back.

There's also a couple of 6yo, I'm thinking small colouring book, mini colouring pens and some sort of car for the by and a bracelet from "accessories" fr the girl.

• Does that sound ok?
• Also there are 2x 13yo coming, they are too old for party bags aren't they?
• I went and gt ink party bags, mmmmm, do I need to get blue ones for the boys? I should really have got neutral ones shouldn't I.

golden That sounds really great, was that expensive to organise?

I'm planning on getting a couple of garden things like a giant game, or a tippee.
We have a pool we can put plastic balls in.

I don't remember exactly how much it cost TBH but I think I paid her about £40-50 to do the party. For that she brought everything - all the paints, a range of ceramic stuff for people to choose from, brushes, sponges, covers for the table and wipes for hands. That also covered her taking all the finished items away, glazing, firing and posting them back.

I'd planned to spend about £4 per child to buy a coaster each for them to put a handprint on but in the end most people decided to choose something else and pay for it themselves. There were plates and clocks and money boxes... I see lots of them in my friends houses when I go round which is lovely.

It was great cause apart from clearing a table for her to set up on and making her a cup of tea, it took no organising at all. I got on with enjoying the party

Thanks golden I've checked the local shop and they do a party package which I enquired about.

Yey. Glad I posted now.

For my sons 1st bday. We hired a hall, did a big spread of food suitrable for tots to grannies. Filled the hall with lots of big toys like ride on toys/ ball pit etc and soft area for babies with play mats and soft toys.

We invited the kids from our baby group and lots of family and friends.

We managed to do a game of pass the parcel, but other than that, they were really too young to do other games. The kids were happy as long as they had toys to play with and it was also nice to see lots of family and friends to catch up and so they all got to see our little one.

We did a teletubbie theme. So cake party bags deocorations balloons etc were all themed. We also had quite a few teletubbie toys so had those out for kids to play with too.

The day was a success as everyone enjoyed themselves. It wasnt too stressful as lots of people helped out and all the kids had fun.

eek, mil wants to bring "lots of balloons"...
I wasn't planning on getting any because of the risk of choking for the little ones, plus the noise it makes when they burst (which you know the older kids will do..).

Waht's the etiquette on balloons?