1St Birthday Ideas - Manchester Township, NJ

I think the 1st birthday is more for the parents b/c the baby has no clue what is going on, I wouldn't break the bank for the 1st birthday. We have a friend who invited 80 people to her son's 1st birthday and spent over $400 on everything. It was crazy.

We had a princess themed party at Imagine That, in West Orange which is an indoor "discovery museum" which various pretend rooms, post office, garden, ballet, kitchen/supermarket, etc. lots of pretend activities for all ages. It was a big hit! They take care of the food, and goodie bags for all.

Good Luck!

M.

Hi N., The first birthday is so special! But you'll have many years for parties ahead of you, so my advice is to keep it simple. A nice ritual for the first birthday is to ask your friends and family to contribute a letter (I've had friends ask us to write a note that begins with "one thing you don't know about your parents is.....") or photo and a couple favorite items that you pack away in a "time capsule" box for her to open on a much later birthday. Pizza and cake sounds perfect. Get a dozen helium balloons, take lots of pictures, and savor every single minute!!

HI N., I think you have the right idea, cater to your guests. The first birthday is really an adult party anyway since the baby will not remember. You are celebrating that you are parents! We are having it at a local pizza shop. We are having kids attend and having toys and crayons to color for them during the party, decorating with balloons, putting out some snacks like animal crackers and goldfish crackers to snackon, having juice boxes for thekids and goodie bags to take home. My friend had cookies made with her kid's pic on them as favors for the adults. And a cake from the bakery. Opening gifts will be entertainment. Keep the party short so the baby can nap and not get cranky. That's about it. Have fun with it, don't stress out.

We just had a 1st birthday last week. The theme was balls and balloons, because my son is pretty obsessed with them right now (it was his first word). We did have a lot of guests, but that is the nature of my family and friends - there's just a lot of them. A handful of kids. We threw a whole bunch of balls and balloons into the middle of the room. We threw couches around the circle so all the adults were entertained by the kids, and that was that. We served cake and ice cream and held it at a time when no one would expect dinner or lunch. And we made sure to time his nap accordingly. A couple of friends brought guitars and played some songs . . . not the whole time . . . and they were happy to do it. We did not have party favors for the kids - little bags of junk just make me crazy. But we did give each family a jar of pickles from a really good local pickle place (10 jars total). But it would also have been fine to have no favors at all. We used real plates and produced much less garbage. Oh, and the best part was we had a stack of his pants from the past year and encouraged people to use them as the party hats. I know, weird, but hysterical. Just do what makes you happy and is low-stress for you.

I have a 19 month old and for her first birthday we invited a few friends and family over for a saturday morning brunch, everyone was kind enough to offer to bring a dish. We had breakfast pizza, sausage balls, OJ, donut cake, etc.
I can tell you after being a part of both my nephews "over the top" 1st birthday parties (rented a venue, pinatas, story tellers, 100 people!)that you do not want to go that route, the birthday boys had the worst time ever and all the kids were over stimulated!
Anything you do no matter how simple will be great, take a few pictures and those will be the memories your daughter has of her 1st birthday.

If you do it at a restaurant/pizza place, I would definitely make sure you have a sectioned off area, ideally with some space to run around in or to set up a small play area, because if your child is anything like a normal 1 year old, she is not going to be sitting still for very long, and the last thing you want is to have her screaming and whining. I would suggest just having it at your house, where your child is most comfortable, or renting a church or veteran's hall (they don't usually charge much and ordering pizza or something (and cake of course!!) - if your house is too small.

As for things to have/do at the party, I got our daughter a smash cake in addition to the regular cake. It's just a mini cake that is also sometimes used at wedding receptions (I guess to smash into your partner's face???). She got to dig her hands and face in it, and not ruin the real cake.

Also, the best thing I did was by a 1st birthday commemorative plate from Birthday Express. It's a personalized ceramic plate that comes with a special marker - your guest sign their name and a special message for the birthday girl, then when the day is over, you bake the plate in the oven to make the writing permanent. It's such a special way to remember who was there. Everyone thought it was the best idea ever.

we just kept it simple and fun for the adults for our sons 1st birthday. It was Elmo-themed, so we did play a couple sesame street games with the little ones, but it was mostly the adults who had all the fun! I wouldn't stress out too much because my philosphy is this: as they get older, their birthday parties get much more complex and can turn into stressful situations....they're young enough at 1 year old not to really notice how much trouble you went through! That being said in my opinion, just do something easy that you and your family will truly enjoy!!
Hope that helps,
Lynsey

for both of my kids, the first birthday was more for us grown-ups. They don't really remember it any way. my daughter's first was just with family at her grandparents' home. we had 2 cakes so she could play in one of her own. for our son's first, we had a small family reunion at a nearby restaurant. and his own cake (of course!). i didn't do favors for either, just thank yous for gifts. for our daughter's third, we did giant cookies - but that's another story! hope this helps.

Before you drive yourself crasy - remember the age of the birthday girl. Do something you think SHE'll enjoy, have cake and invite friends/family if they are close to you. Then relax, take pictures of her with cake on her face and wait until she's old enough to understand whats going on before you stress over perfect parties!

Hi N., congratulations on your daughter! I had a beautiful little girl as well born on the same day. We are starting to plan her 1st birthday and I have to say, I wish I was in your situation! My husband comes from such a large family, my mother in law has a list of 100 people. I told her she has to eliminate 50 of them.
I think your idea of having her birthday in a restaurant with a little cake is perfect! There is a lady in my area who makes delicious and adorable cookies, maybe there is someone in your area that does the same type of thing. You could give those out as favors. Don't worry about what people expect, do what you think would be the perfect 1st birthday for your daughter.

We just celebrated my daughter's 1st birthday a few weeks ago. My advice is to keep it small and simple, your little one is not going to remember any of it or even realize what is going on. We did close family and friends. Now for some close family and friends will mean 100 people. For us, it meant 30. Of course our house doesn't comfortably hold 30, especially when I have several family members in their 90's who need to use a walker to get around. So a November party meant renting space. We rented a room in the mansion at FDU. It worked out perfectly. They provided all the food, which was really good, plus the napkins, plates, utensils, tables, chairs, etc. We brought in decorations, the cake and utensils and plates for the cake. They supplied coffee and water, we bought sodas. We took home the leftovers and had dinner for the next three nights, it was great.

We laughed because it was a somewhat stately room and we had our ducky themed decorations so it was an interesting contrast. We also had the benefit of a projector and screen. We created a slide show on power point of pictures and video clips from her first year and played that for everyone. It was about 12 minutes long, which was the perfect length. We got a ton of compliments on it and now we have a nice memento for ourselves of her first year.

We also did this game, which they do in the Chinese culture for first birthdays. We put a bunch of items on the floor, each represents a possible career choice (paint brush, drums, pencil, book, stethoscope, cooking spoon, baseball bat etc) Whichever one my daughter picked up first is meant to symbolize her career choice. We had about 10 items on the floor. I put her down, she walked over to everything, actually paused for a few seconds and proceeded to pick up the spoon. So I might have a little chef on my hands. Anyway, it was very entertaining for everyone.

We had the party for 4 hours, but as expected everyone started leaving around hour 3. It really was nothing more than a nice family get together with ducky themed decorations, a slide show, the chinese tradition game and gift opening thrown in there.

I recommend www.birthdaydirect.com for supplies. There's free shipping if you order enough. They are cheaper than Party City. For example, I bought 2 duck shaped balloons for about $4.00, Party City then inflated them for me at a cost of .69 each. The same balloon in Party City was $7 to purchase.

Good luck!

my only advice is keep it small unless your little one is used to chaos, do it when they are in the best mood and don't worry about pleasing anyone. It is your family's memory, not theirs.

Idea for Party Favors are Chocolate Lollipops! You can find everything (chocolate, molds, wrapper etc..) at Michaels, AC Moore, I think even Walmart sells them now. I just had my twins baptized and had 125 people attend their party. I was able to make 150 lollipops for $50. It's something that's easy and doesn't take a lot of time & money to do..Good Luck!

3 Things:
1. Don't do something because others expect it, do something you want to do.
2. have a few family and the closest friends meet at a resturant, do dinner (everyone pays for themselves), bring a cake, and a few balloons. Sing happy birthday, eat cake and give the baby her own piece or even her own mini cake. BRING THE CAMERA, sit back and let her have fun! No goody bags needed. If you send out thank yous incude a great picture of th baby from the party.
3. Do something for yourself. Take a loooong bath, something just for you. It is your BIRTH - DAY TOO!!! A.

Hi N.~

You already got a lot of ideas, so I'll try not to reiterate anything here.

First, your guest list: You cannot plan on having it anywhere unless you know who’ll be attending. In my family, everyone attends, and I do mean EVERYONE! I have a large extended family and everyone is invited. We celebrate life and how special we all are to one another, which is a beautiful thing to pass along to your daughter. Once that is established, then you decide to have it at home, or a local park. You did say her birthday is in February, so perhaps a pizzeria or someplace where you could have your own space. Remember this: there is no hard and fast rule that says you must have the party when her birthday is. A friend of mine had his daughters’ first birthday party about 2 months after the actual date. If you do that, you could have it a local park and barbeque food, and games are provided with the playground.

Secondly, food: Take into consideration that you should be the one paying for everything, so cost is important. I love to cook and my entire family usually chips in and we all make something and bring it along. If you don’t have that, then think about making things you can freeze and cook the day of the party, like baked ziti, and cold food that can be made a day in advance and just serve it on party day. Please think about your guests and any dietary needs. Some people don’t eat pork and others could be vegetarians so make sure you have at least one meat free dish. Drinks are important, too. A fully stocked bar could cost a small fortune so keep it simple. Serve punch or hot cider (pour cider into a slow cooker, add spices in cheesecloth and you’re done), wine and a specialty drink. You’ll get people that drink like fish or those that don’t drink at all, and if you cater one way or the other, you’ll be broke by the time all is said and done.

Finally, party favors: I am a pack rat and save everything. I had bags and bags of old washed baby food jars and thought, “I hate to just throw these out, but I don’t know what to do with them”. A few days later, my son cane home from school and said he needed an empty baby food jar, so I send a bag full to the teacher, which was appreciated, but what I got was far greater! Turn them into candle holders! You’ll need clean jars, colored tissue paper, glue, water, and tea lights. Take some strips of tissue paper and carefully write “Happy First Birthday, Baby” and the date of the party. You’ll need one strip for every jar. Cut the tissue paper into shapes of your choice, and mix equal amounts of water and glue together. Take an empty jar and glue the paper onto it. When the jar is dry, put a tea light into it and you’re done. Keep the lids to use as a sniffer. If you doing a theme, allow that theme to dictate the color or shapes you use. Both the tea lights and tissue paper would be available at your local Dollar Store and you already have the jars. Still like the idea but don’t have the jars? Not a problem, check out your local Michael’s or Wal-Mart’s and get small, round candle holders. They vary in cost but only by pennies. At Michaels (by me, of course) they are 50 cents and I think they’re about 75 cents at Wal-Mart. In the grand scheme of things, either way, it isn’t a lot of money.

Every first your daughter will have will be special to both of you. And every 1st Birthday celebration I've attended included all the aunts, uncles and cousins. The party is in honor of her, but you are celebrating life and how precious our lives are, and how special we are in each other’s lives. It'll give her a sense that parties are a time to gather together and share our lives with those we love. I am a huge family person, and thoroughly enjoy gatherings every chance I get with both immediate and extended family so I hope you celebrate yours every chance you get. I suppose I'm like this because my own mother only lived to see 2 of her 7 grandchildren (and they barely remember her), and my own children live with their father so I rarely see them so I am huge with sticking close with your family whenever possible and for all possible occasions.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. If you need help or further advice, I'll be more than happy to help in any way I can...best of luck you to you, N.. And a very happy first birthday to your daughter.

J.

PS...I just read something about a Remberance Plate. Keep this in mind, too: you could do a plate as suggested or the mat for a picture frame. Or you could take a large piece of poster board and stick pictures all over it of your daughter, or make it more special for her and pictures of you and your husband from dating thru her first birthday! My sister did both the poster board and the picture mat for my niece. The poster board was her graduation and the frame mat was for her baby shower. Everyone wrote a special message on there or a special memory, The picture mat is holding his picture from the hospital and everyone's well wishes are in plain sight every day for him to know how loved he is.

Hi N., for both my 1st and 2nd child's first b'day I had them in our house with family and friends. For my first (a january baby), most of the kids were under 2 so they just roamed around and played with our toys, for my 2nd (in april) the kids played outside and had a blast. I now have my own business making personalized party favors for kids parties. Please check out my website www.littleshopoffavors.com. I give MamaSource customers a 10% discount have done several parties for MamaSource moms. Good luck.

Hi N... My daughter just turned 1 and I had alot of trouble deciding what to do as well.. I went back and forth on who and how many to invite and what to do.. My advice is just go with your gut and do what you want to do.. Really I don't think there are any 'expectations' and 1st b-day partys can range from a small get together for cake to a big party...

We ended up having it out at a resturant in a private room and we had about 35-40 adults and about 6 kids. It was our immediate family and friends.. I decided against our aunts/uncles/cousins because that would have made it way to big.. I did it out to avoid cleaning and having people at our house (minimum close friends/family would have been about 30). I also decided I didn't want to cook either way, so if we did it home I would have catered... I did do the cake (I took a cake decorating class so it was a big flower cake) and I did favors.. I did chocolate lollypops and decorated cookies.. (our theme was flowers and butterflys - the hugs and stitches from party city) My friend made some other favors - pretzels w/ a melted choc chip and m&m... I got decorations for the tables and balloons... I also did a little baby blessing ceremony...
So I did a little more probably than was necessary...
The party was good, but my daughter wasn't acting herself, and she ended up with a fever that day... Overall I'm glad I didn't do it any larger and I'm happy with what I did for it..
So go with your gut - a pizzaria and cake sounds great! If you want to do favors - chocolate lollypops or something like that are easy and can be done ahead... I don't think people will expect favors though. You will be busy enough eating and taking care of you daughter so I think you will need to do games... If you have any good friends or family that would like to help - delegate! maybe they could help w/ favors or decorations!
Good luck!
L.