First Birthday

I had my son's first birthday at Farrelli's Pizza! It was great, the pizza was great, didn't have to clean the house, didn't have to clean up after either! Depending on how many you plan on attending, could be pricey, but was definitely worth it for us. There are several Farrelli's around the south Puget sound area. Have fun!

I have the same problem my house is small so when we want to have birthday parties it can get pretty crazy! My daughters birthday is in November and it rains the whole month so we don't really get to use the outdoors as much but we found a way around that this year she wanted to have an umbrellla party we had tons of umbrellas everywhere and asked everybody to dress in rain gear and we did everything outside except the cake :) There is a great website that might give you more ideas www.birthdayparyideas.com there are also places you can go to accomadate more people, Chuckie Cheese, or there are a few jumping places where the adults can play too. Hope this helps ;) Good luck first year is so fun!!!

First birthdays can be overwhelming for everyone!!
We always just did a small family event at home~
some yummy organic- low sugar cupcakes and
lots of photos... I wouldn't even do presents it's
just too much. We looked at these early birthdays
as an opportunity to keep the "Hallmark" out of
the holiday:) Good luck & have fun!

Hi, for my son's first we did a pizza parlor. Everyone was on their own for food and I supplied cake from Costco ($15 and served plenty!) AND I asked Safeway for my freebie small cake for my baby. They said not a problem and I didn't even order another cake from them! :) We did Smokey's here in Vancouver and they had a somewhat contained play area for kids, as many people that came had kids. It lasted about 2 hours from start to finish and my son was EXHAUSTED when all was done. He got really grumpy during the present opening but held it together for the most part. Whatever you do, don't stretch yourself finiancially! And remember his schedule when you do plan. Time is HUGE when dealing with a one year old so let the party begin AS SOON AS he wakes from a nap. Unless he isn't much of a sleeper that is.

I had my son's first birthday at our local pizza parlour "Roaring Rapids",(Eugene, OR). I noticed you are in WA. I don't know of many places up there. We spent quite a bit on my son's party but we had over 50 people (large extended family). But you don't have to provide food either for people. We decided to just because we were able to do it at that time. Are there going to be other kids? If there are I would have it in a fun atmosphere for the kiddos...like pizza parlour, ice cream parlour, and such. A lot of times if you buy a cake for the party and you tell the bakery that it's your child's first year - you usually can get the small cake for free. I would ask wherever you are buying the cake from. Or you can do cupcakes too. They are seeming to become more popular now a days too. Depending on your budget...you do what you want to do and can afford. Don't stretch yourself to far either. And people are usually willing to buy their own food too. It's a celebration of your child's 1st birthday. I hope that I helped. Good luck. Let us know what you decided to do.

Dear M.,
The first birthday is mostly just for family. Just a little dessert or afternoon treat (after lunch) would be good. If you have lots of friends with children you want to invite, try having to separate little gatherings. A small party just for a few friends of Kody with moms and a family dinner with relatives. Just some ideas. R. S-D

Things I tried to keep in mind when planning my daughter's first birthday: If there were too many people, she would probably get stressed out/overwhelmed; not much fun for her! and the only way she'd remember it was thru pictures.

I did NOT invite all our friends and kept the guest list as small as possible. I made sure there were some kids (but not too many! just her 2 closest cousins) with their parents. I also put an END time on the invitation, to insure she would have time to wind down before bedtime (it was a dinner-time party).

It sounds like your family might be bigger than what we have locally, so that might be an issue. Possibly you could plan for a local restaurant? That would be less stress for you & less cleanup: ALWAYS a plus! If you do the restaurant you can require RSVPs, which don't always come when you have a party at home.

Just remember that your son will depend on your memory & photos for his first birthday. It doesn't need to be a huge blowout to be a success!

We had my son's first birthday at Milagros Boutique's play room on 33rd and Killingsworth in NE. It was reasonably priced and there were plenty of toys for kids to play with. You can check them out at milagrosboutique.com.

I'm struggling with the same stress. I have my daughters 1st bday this month too.

First birthdays are easy it just where you want to spend it. Everyone will pass around the baby, you will help him open presents and by cake time they are usualy ready to pass out! Try to do as little on your part as possible and I try to avoid meal time at this age as most of it ends up on the floor anyway! If you use a restraunt or public place find out what time is slow for them and plan a two hour party. Your family will want to sit and visit! I also love coffee shops for parties. They let me run a tab for the guests and usualy have books or something to entertain kids for a bit.

M.,

First birthdays are more of a big deal to us parents and grandparents than the child that’s turning one.

When my daughter's were young (they are now 28 & 30) we had family get-togethers for their birthdays till they started school, then they had parties with friends and family were invited if they wanted to come, we usually had them on a Saturday afternoon when everyone could make it. Most of the time their grandparents would come in the evening so they could have one on one time with them and watch them open up the gifts they bought. We didn’t have cake or ice cream when the grandparents came unless it was shortly after the original party.

Entertainment? For the younger kids it’s just playtime and keeping an eye on them. For the older ones games, pin the tail on the donkey, blowing bubbles and letting the little ones popping them, maybe instead of a cake have cupcakes and let the older kids frost their own an decorate them with sprinkles, red hots, M & M’s mini’s. Make decorating simple with streamers and balloons. Involve everyone in an area they would like to help to make things easier for you.

As far as where to have his birthday party, maybe one of the family members or a friend that has a larger place would offer their home or maybe a community center or senior center or if you go to church you could use the fellowship hall, if not you could see if one would rent The decorating and cleaning up would be your responsibility whether it’s at a private home, church, or community or senior center.

Make things easy and simple. The expense and how elaborate a party can be isn’t what’s important. Next year you’ll be thinking what you can do that will out do the previous year and it will drive you crazy and eventually indebt and you don’t want that. Your child won’t remember the experience, he will know and see the love of his family through pictures. Knowing that he’s loved is the most important.

Have a great time!!

P.S.
My four year old grandson's name is Dakota and he has a seven year old sister Montana.

My kids always have the same problem so they find a nice pizza place or some place that have places for the kids to play and reserve space there. You don't have to buy everyone pizza. Let the adults know that there is cake and ice cream if you want for the kids but they are welcome to order drinks or pizza. My kids have had great success doing this.

We had our son's first birthday at home, but it was very hectic for the reasons you mentioned. We had our son's 2nd birthday at The Children's Museum and I think it could work for a 1st birthday depending on the friends you plan to invite. Also, Gymboree does great parties for very young kids.

Good luck,
C.

Hi M.,
I am a first time Mommy at 32. I have a 2 1/2 month old baby girl that I adore. I used to throw birthday's for kids when I was managing the local toystore. As far as kody's Birthday, What about a local Pizza place or icecream shop? Unless you have a relative that has a bigger home that would let you hold a little gathering there, (like Grandma's house?). Where ever you have it I am sure that everyone will just be happy to be there for the celebration, and see the baby. If you want any thoughts for games for the bigger kids, let me know. I have alot of ideas. Hope this helps in some way. Have a good day!!! :)

I am mom to seven and I live in a small house. As a rule I just invite people over for cake and icecream, and I have a vegetable plate and drinks. That's as far as I take it. A snack in the afternoon that people can stop by and say hello, but never a big production.

Go to Papas pizza, as they have a play yard or Putters on hiway 99 also has a play yard for little ones too. You can bring your own cake and have pizza too.

I was confused about what to do for my sons first birthday too.But I figured that it's not like he is going to remember it or anything.It was mostly for the adults.So I had it at easter and just had my friends well my family mostly and we just did the easter thing and then had a Birthday party too.I decorated in Sesame Street/Elmo and got a cake at costco and everyone brought presents even thou I opened them of course..Then the fun part the cake..Make sure you take lots of pictures I don't know sbout you but I love to scrapbook so the more pictures you take then you can figure out which one to scrapbook if your into that type of thing..Anyways The first one is always fun..NOw this year I have to plan the second one and I'm confuesed again.. but if you don't have the space for people and no one in your family has a big enough house for it then you can always rent a hall or like go to a park or something like that..if it's nice weather..I hope this will help some. Hope it turns out how you want it to..Most of all have fun with it..from L.

M.,
I had the same dilema when my daughter turned 1 in November. So, what I decided to do was just to invite my parents and my husbands Mom and kept it small. Everyone else who wanted to give her a gift just brought them by either before the party so she could open them on her birthday or afterwards if they didn't make it beforehand. I made sure to send thank you cards to everyone who came as well as those who didn't...and for those who didn't come to the party, but gave a gift I also included a picture of her with the present that she recieved from each particular reletive or friend. Everyone was very happy with the end result and it was so much less stress. After all, your little guy won't know the difference between his birthday and any other day...so, don't stress yourself out over it. Good luck and I hope you can use this advise.

D.

My husband and I left our kiddo with his grandparents and had a nice date. 1st birthdays are just confusing for the child. However, if you want a kid-centric day, I recommend going to an indoor swimming pool (the Y has a non-chlorine system now that is very nice), or something of that sort.

Hello M., I am A. Gendron I am a 27 year old mother of 1. I do have a 14 year old step daughter that doesn't live with us but we see her every other weekend. Well anyway I would suggest that you find a place close by if you can to have it at or if possible that you clear a room in the house and just put chairs for seating and move your other stuff to another room for the time and that could save you money and be a lot easier not having to pack everything up and bring it back home. Just a suggestion. Let me know if that helps you.

We did a pool party at the YMCA in the small pool. You can reserve a party room as well. It is affordable and there is space.

Take your party to a bigger venue - check into your local park and recreation department to see if they have rooms that you can rent for a small fee that will accomodate your group. Also check swimming pools - they often have party rooms that they rent with no connection to having to swim - although it is a nice perk. Then there is always your local child friendly restaurants - many of them will allow you to bring in your own cake etc. - look for a public space - I think you can find something for not too much money. Best part is if you use a restaurant they clean up when you are done.

do you by chance live near a rec center? or a park? if so you could always check out those places. When my son turned 2 we had reserved the Old Spegetti Resturant, the back room and had his party there. It was lots of fun and no clean up.

This first one is all about family, not the baby! They have no idea of anything except everyone who loves them is there - a fun photo shoot (mashing a piece of cake) and present opening with photos for the relatives (send them the photo of their gift being opened: it's really about them seeing the baby open their gift since a babe has a short attention span). Make a pretty cake, have the house clean, lots of food your family loves - and you'll have a fabulous day. No 'activies' needed on this one!

My thought is that the first birthday is about the parents and the mom. Do whatever will make you two happy (you don't have to invite anyone). Visit the zoo and have dinner at your favorite restaurant, spend the day as a family doing something you have wanted to do for a long time. Additionally, the 40+ invitee party is usually too much for the birthday child!

For my daughter's first birthday I wanted it to be memorable...but I knew it was pretty much a party for the adults! I put together a spread of finger foods and beverages like lemonade, hummus, chips, veggies, salsa, and a homemade cake; it was so fun to feed the people that supported us so much for that first year. Her birthday is April 1st, I love spring, so I put together a bunch of Daffodils in little vases and put them around the house. It was a really nice touch to have fresh flowers, and cheap too. After the party I gave those little vases of flowers away to my most honored family members and friends, they were so surprised and happy to know we were thinking of them. Our daughter had so much fun eating her first chocolate cake and with all of our family and friends around made it so memorable. Even with a small house you can create a really warm atmosphere:) Good luck.

Do you have any family members with a larger house who would be willing to host the party? We have a small house too, so this year, we are having my daughter's 3rd bday party (also in February) at my mom's house. She has much more space. We will still be doing all the "work" - decorating, providing cake and food, etc. - that way it doesn't burden my mom at all to have the party at her home. Another idea is to move out some of your furniture into bedrooms or a garage if you have one. That's what we did for my daughter's 1st bday party. Any furniture we didn't need to use that day (bookcases, an excercise bike, toybox, beanbag chair, etc.), we moved out into the garage just for the day of the party and then we borrowed some folding chairs from friends and family to provide additional seating that didn't take up a lot of space. Even the diningroom table can be moved out if you have couner space in the kitchen for the cake and any party food. Finally, if neither of those two options will work for you, you should try to find a venue where you can hold the party. Our local children's museum has a party room and birthday package. Maybe yours does too? Depending on weather, you could have the party outdoors at a park or zoo. What about an indoor playground? Well, whatever you decide, good luck and happy birthday to your son!

Hello M.,
The first birthday is more a celebration of one year since you gave birth. Don't worry about restricting it to the ones who matter in your life, the one's who were there for you when you gave birth.
I am not saying not to make him, or buy him a cute little cake to dig in at his heart content, and take a lot of pictures. He won't remember the details of the even as well as you do, this is your day to celebrate being a mother for one year! congratulations.

J. (mother of 4, grand-mother of 7)

My advise would be to do something fun that your son would want to do, without all the guests. Mabey go to the zoo or something. We threw a party at a park and it was crazy. Our poor son was overwhelmed and exhausted. I say a small trip out, acctually for the child is better. Just my opinion. Good luck with the planning. Many Blessings!

One tradition our family has done on the first birthday is to give the little one their very own cake or cupcake, which they can eat with their hands. That way when everyone sings and you are trying to get a video you don't have to worry about them reaching out and grabbing the communal cake. We cherish our videos of our 3 kids reactions.