My son is going to be 1 year old on February 26. I want to have a small party for him. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas what I could do for him.
For my children's first birthdays, I always planned a party to honor and celebrated their birth, but invited all of my friends. It was always very fun, and the baby always had a good time as did I. One-year-olds are easily overwhelmed, so don't expect more than ripping gift wrap and digging into his own cake/cupcake from your son. I hope you have a really fun time.
Themes are soo much fun I love it when my sons birthday is coming because I enjoy planning it ... Now since your son is gonna be 1 obviously you dont want to overwhelme him. something small is great with a theme of maybe ABC's and 123's, or old mcdonald, or even his favorite cartoon character.. when my son was one he loved Blues clues so that was his theme. There isnt really that many "games" you can play at a 1 year olds bday party but it is still really fun. I had his first birthday at the part but i do believe the end of february will be to cold.. what about at his favorite play place if he has one
Get/make him a smash cake! (a smaller cake decorated similarly to the real cake that he can ruin my smashing it or squishing it between his fingers--be sure to have your camera handy)
I favor an open house type party for 1 yr olds. Invite family and friends. Provide snacks/food and cake. It's very casual. No games/activities required.
Another option is to have a combined birthday with other 1 yr olds in your neighborhood/mother's group. Then you can put the smash cake on the blanket and have them all crawl towards it.
For both my kids' first birthdays we didn't do a whole lot. I made a cake for them and invited some close family members and had a small party. Most of the time the kids were in the high chair trying to cover themselves completely with frosting. I hadn't started making fancy cakes yet so for my son's first i just made a plain 9X13 cake with his mane on it and gave him a piece to dive into. by the time my daughter was turning 1 i had been making fancy cakes for a while so i made her a small one with pretty pink frosting for her to smear on herself.
The parties were very small and ended with a nice bath to wash off the frosting before the kids got too tired and cranky. something to remember is your one-year-old probably isn't nearly as excited about the party as you are and they will tire and get worn out fast.
We had a few gifts and they got to open them before the cake which allowed the grandparents time to play while i got the cake ready. I didn't make a meal for everyone either, just had cake and ice cream so it would stay a small and relatively fast affair.
Now their second birthdays were a bit bigger and fancier, but they were old enough to handle a bigger party.
