Babies 1St Bday Party

S.:

The cheapest party is a Chuch E. Cheese party you plan yourself. I have spent $50-$75 for each CEC party I planned myself. If you join the CEC club, on their website, they will send you coupons for pizza and token specials. I went to the $1 store and bought $15 worth of goodie bag items, spent about $45 on pizza and tokens, and made extra copies of the token coupon for parents who wanted to supply their kids with more tokens than I passed out (10 each). It turns out really nice and CEC will allow you to bring in your own cake. The only difference is that you don't get a reserved table. I typically get there early find a couple of tables and booths, decorate the main party table and leave room for presents at a booth nearby. The kids are all over the place, it's fun, parents can let their kiddos run wild and for the older kiddos, they love it too.
My daughter's 1st was a home with family and close friends and we didn't do anything over the top, but I did buy a small small cake for her to eat with her hands and make a good ol' mess. It was just as fun without spending alot of money. Games were the toys in daughter's room cuz kiddos attention span is quick. If you have a backyard, go by the dollar store and buy a couple of big balls and some outdoor toys that may be destroyed by the likes of 5 y.o. energy. Either way, have fun, enjoy the day, and appreciate the blessings.

Love and blessings,
N.

If the weather is going to be nice, you could set up a sprinkler and bubble machine and give them some bubbles or squirt guns as their party favors to play with. A pinata has always been fun with older kids at our parties. IF they are all under age 5, I'd save myself the stress and let it all be child directed. Have stuff for them to do at their own pace and as they want to do it. If you try to structure it too much, it's just going to drive you nuts.

I agree with letting it be child-directed if under 5. What I did for my son's birthday was have it at a park so the kids could play in the spray and playground. For my husband's upcoming birthday, I chose a location that is very close (again) to a fenced in playground for guest's children. You'll be busy trying to make this fun for your son (and yourselves) so you can wait a little on the kids' activities. Something that did go over well were the favor bags: I put in some mixed candy (big bag at Walmart was cheap), a sheriff's badge and mini watergun (sheriff's badges were inexpensive and went with the theme, and the little waterguns came in the pinata stuffer bag-big, cheap, but I put them in the favor bags because I didn't know if they were too big to fall out of a pull-string pinata) and tiny "individual sized" play-doh containers (mixed colors, a big bag for cheap). That kept some of the kids that wanted to stay close occupied while the older ones (7-9)played with it a little and then ran around the park. I did a pull-string pinata with a giant number 1, and the candy they collected, they could put in their goody bags. That was fun, and funny, but when the candy poured out and all the "big kids" dove in, it scared my son and he cried, but it was ok. Actually a little funny. What else...I did get a group picture of all the kids together. All that, combined with the food and expectation of cake was plenty. Have fun!

I asked the same question about a month ago and got some great idea's. First, buy a plastic baby pool $8 at Wal Mart and get a bag of balls at Wal Mart to fill the pool and let the kids play in the balls. Another good Idea is to go to a Feed store and get a couple of baby ducks and let the kids pet them and play with them. I also purchased a bubble machine (again Wal Mart) and the kids love chasing bubbles!
We are having my daughters first b-day party this Sat! It's a special time. Enjoy it!