Hello, my daughter's first birthday is coming next week which will be more of a gathering of adults and their children. I needed some advice/suggestions about games and activities for the older children who will be attending (1-5). Should I have some kind of game for them to play and/or gift bags? Assuming the focus will be more on hanging out and eating, I wanted to be sure to do something nice. I also am not sure if this was a good idea, but asked people not to bring gifts, just themselves, as she received way too many for the Holidays. She already has some presents waiting from us and the grandmas and grandpas who cannot attend, so will have something to open. Thanks for your help.
For my son's 1st birthday we did a bowling party. Everyone loved it and it was super easy for me. We rented three lanes and all the adults were able to bowl with their kids. It only lasted 2 hours--one hour to bowl (kids get bored after about 45-60minutes) and one hour for pizza and cake. We also did the "no gifts" thing since he didn't need anything.
I tried the "no gifts" thing at my daughter's 1st bday. Most people still brought them anyway. Some were nice enough to give cash though :)
For the other kids, it would be nice of you for them to have something to do. This doesn't have to be elaborate of course and would depend on where you're having the party. You could just do a table with different art supplies on it (crayons, safety scissors, glue, feathers, glitter, maybe finger paint if you don't mind the mess); kids could do whatever they wanted, when they wanted; it doesn't have to be structured.
Another thing is a decorate your own cupcake table. For my daughter's party, we didn't have a cake. We just made lots of cupcakes and had different frostings, icings, sprinkles and such. The kids LOVED this, although I'm not sure the parents did ;)
Good luck and congrats on entering this new stage of mommyhood!
People are really want to bring gifts. I would ask them to bring hats, mittens, scarves, gloves, etc. that you can donate to kids in need. That way they will feel good about bringing something and you'll be helping kids in this cold weather, February is always brutal.
It would be really cute to hire a magician or some entertainment for the kids.
It's nice that you are thinking of the older children who will be at the party! I would not expect gift bags if I was a relation bringing my son to your baby's party, so that would be a very nice touch if you did it.
Unless YOU want to spend the party coordinating a game, a movie might work better. Or hire a nice high school babysitter to wrangle the other kids so the adults can visit. The sitter can supervise games or a craft project for you and you can enjoy your baby's special day!
At my grandaughters first birthday party we did the princess theme and we had rented a building and on each table we had disposable table clothand up and down in middle of table we had part favors and goodies for children parents and set with there kids so kids all got things aproprriate for their age. We had candy party horns little kalidescopes rings harmonicas. We had gotten a bag of stuff that was for a pinada but didnt get a pinada. the bag had a variety of treasures in it. and we also had gotten bubbles. We didnt play games we had cake ice cream and punch. small kids were busy with there goodies and cake.
I suggest setting up a table with craft supplies on it so that the kids can have an activity, but you won't have to devote yourself to setting it up and running it during the party.
I would cover the table with craft paper then put out supplies. Stickers, crayons/markers, anything with glitter is always a favorite but I would limit that to glitter glue unless you want to spend the next few months cleaning it up. Find a simple craft that they can do - maybe something with colored pipe cleaners and set up the supplies and the finished product as a sample. It takes a little work in the pre-party set up but then you should be able to let the kids create w/o too much interference. There's nothing like a few boxes of virgin crayons and markers to get kids excited!
Have fun!
our oldest daughter's first bday was the same - mostly just our friends and only some of them had kids. it was summertime, so we just set up the baby pools and the kids (and some adults - it was hot!) played or waded in them. we didn't do games, but i kind of wish we had.
i wasn't sure if you meant the kids' ages were 1-5 or there were going to be 1-5 kids there. either way, what about a good old-fashioned game of pin the tail on the donkey (or some variation of that)? that covers most ages. gift bags are a good idea - the dollar store has little things to put in there without getting too extravagant and you could get mostly things that kids of any age can play with. or you could go with simple treat bags - no toys, just edibles. i know, i dislike getting a bunch of gift bags with little trinkets i'm going to find all over the house or broken a few days later. why not fill the bags with fruit snacks or candies or whatever? just a thought. :)
for our oldest's first christmas, we asked everyone to forget the actual presents and asked them to just contribute to her savings (we weren't in a position at that time to give regularly to hers, and she really didn't need a billion gifts from everyone that she wasn't even going to know were there!). i think asking for no gifts is fine, especially if she's got a couple to open anyhow.
have fun! good luck! happy birthday to her!
