Birthday Ideas - Utica,MI

If you can, try to make a room just for kids. Have a bunch of toys in that room, along with games. As far as food, I did cupcakes at both of my kids first birthday, and it worked really well. You don't have to get extra forks and plates to serve cake and your little one can have one...which I think is the perfect size for a 1 year old. Also for food, do something simple and non messy like pizza, or hot dogs and hamburgers. Due to space you don't want the food to take up all of your room. For drinks, see if you can track down a 5 gallon (usually orange) drink bucket. If you buy something like country time lemonade, you can just dump the whole thing into the 5 gallon of water and you will be set for drinks for everyone. I would also just have some pitchers of water out for those who don't drink lemonade. Plus if you have a spill lemonade won't stain. Hope this helps.

We didn't do anything fancy, but invited everyone to bring something for her time-capsule party. At the party drew and wrote messages on the table cloth, and after we put it and all her time-capsule "gifts" in one of those air-tight bags (vacuum the air out). We then placed that in a box and buried it, and we put a paver that she made (got our kit from Bass Pro Shop) on top of it to mark it. She gets to dig it up and re-open it on her 16th birthday.

A.,

Something we do when were entertaining a crowd that includes kids, is make hot dogs and sloppy joes (manwich) in the crock pot.

Put hot dogs in one crock pot and pour boiling water over to fill up the crock, then set it on low. I would start them about an hour before the party. Then we just make the sloppy joes the day before the party and put that in another crock pot on high about an hour before the party. When they are hot give them a stir and turn them down to low. Throw in some chips, potato salad or macaroni salad, and some buns, and the food is done. Very easy and very budget friendly.

Hope this helps.

Check out www.birthdaypartyideas.com. It has been a huge help for me!

cupcakes! I bought a cake for my daughters first birthday and traditionally people in my family let the birthday child tear into the cake but other people wanted to eat the cake -- so instead of buying two cakes or whatever- cupcakes work a lot better. Plus if you know the name of the children that will be there you can personalize their own cupcake with the gel, if you want to go through the trouble.

The good thing about first birthdays is that their not old enough to make special birthday request. Ive done 3 first birthdays, and i recommend having an inside and outside party. If the weather is nice you can get some water balloons or even regular balloons, bubbles, chalk and other inexpensive
outdoor activities and have the cake and ice cream inside. But this also depends on the age of the other party guest. It works for me because most of the children in my family are older than my children, so good luck and remember to take lots of pictures and have fun, the first birthday is easy to forget as the years past.