Need Ideas for 1St Birthday Traditions

I really racked my brain about giving my daughter a great, memorable present for her 1st birthday. I didn't want to give her toys or clothes because that's not memorable....so, I decided to give my daughter a "little girl" chandelier. I know that may sound strange....but it's something they can always keep and it looks darling in their bedroom. Several places sell them--Horchow, Bombay Kids, ebay, etc. My first one I paid $200 and my second one, I waited to get one on sale and found it for $70 at Horchow Finale! It may sound silly to some but I liked it!! good luck!!

For my daughter's 1st birthday we had a family party and instead of gifts, I hired a photographer. I figured the family would get her more gifts than she knew what to do with, so I hired a photographer to capture the memories and free my up from running around with the camera. I am so glad I did it and I got so many great pictures to look and and show her when she gets older.

Hi E.- saw this and realize its old- but my dgt is 13 and every year - wherever I have the party- I pop pictures of her from when she was little for the guests to see- Bathroom mirrors- doors, tables everywhere- it brings up conversations and its great for people to see that werent around when she was little.

If you ever want to enjoy your own party call- Party Angels Ltd.
Its my host assistant business and we will be happy to be of service to you!
www.partyangelsus.com
D.
###-###-####

I made a time capsule for my daughters first birthday. I asked all of the guests to bring a letter to my daughter and anything else they would like to include from the current year. It was so much fun. All of the letters are sealed to her and I have not read them. She is supposed to open it on her 18th birthday. All of it is in a metal fireproof lock box I bought at an Office Supply store. I am a mural artist so I decorated it and included her invitation, her party hat, and a napkin. It is in my closet and I have the key in my safety deposit box.

My kids always had their own personal small cake that they could dig into. It's a nice memory :)

Beginning a birthday scrapbook is a great idea. Kids LOVE to look at pitures of themselves and their families. My 3 1/2 yr old is constantly pulling out our scrapbooks and photo albums. My 17 month old has started joining her in the little walks down memory lane. It's fun to see them enjoy the pictures, their family, and each other this way.

As far as the party goes, keep in mind the attention span and nap schedule of the Birthday Girl! Simple is best! To make sure ours would be on their best behavior, we had our family start arriving just before afternoon nap was over. Sure, he was asleep when they got there, but since he's happiest as soon as he gets up, it worked out great. We had a small bounce house in the backyard to entertain the older kids (the 1-yr-olds weren't that interested in it), and the rest of us just sat around and chatted and watched the kids play. We ordered pizza for our guests, which was great. We tried grilling burgers for my daughter's 1st and it was a lot of work, and I didn't really get to enjoy having the family over. We were much more relaxed for my son's party!

When you buy a cake at Albertson's for their first birthday they give you a smaller cake for them as well as a ballon, and a number 1 candle for free. I think they also gave me a disposible camera too.

I also purchased an inexpensive 12 x 12 srcapbook with pages already in it, and every year on her birthdayI have a page to put her hand prints and foot prints on along with a picture of her on her birthday. Then I will give it to her when she is 18 so you can see her foot prints and picture from the hospital all the way up to her 18th birthday to see how she has grown.

this is what i did....take the bay food jars empty ones of course....put your guest names on them yor own creation...decortaed it then put a votive in it...that way you guest can take a gift home..they loved it at my 1 st..one thing i am good at is oming up with cute ideas for partys/..lol

K.

If you have other babies coming clear out the living room furniture in another room and make a huge playroom... paint large boxes to make forts and tunnels for the older kids to crawl through (as long as they arent to rough!) and have extra baby food availiable, cause when kids see other kids eat, they want too also.
Also make sure the camera knows what pics to take, my father in law did it and there are no pictures of either my hubby or I with Ally, and the only pics of her are with the cake, all the others are completely random.

E.,

I've started writing birthday "love" letters to my boys in a journal. I'll write an occassional entry if something major happens (broken arm), first steps etc.... but the journal is mostly for birthdays. I try to recall most of the year and tell them how loved they are, major events, etc..... I plan to give the journal to them when they turn 18, or get married......

Hi, I don't know if you are aware of this, but Wal-Mart gives a free cake for a child's first birthday. It's a small one, but it allows your child to have a cake to tear into if they want, and leave your beautiful creation intact, or at least, neatly cut. Just go to the bakery and ask for the free 1st b-day cake. My kids all loved it, and ended up with cake and icing everywhere! :0) I also stripped them down to their diapers prior to begining. One idea for a tradition would be to take a picture of your child standing in the same spot every year, maybe next to a door or a piece of furniture, holding a sign telling their age. You'd stand in the same spot, too, each time, so the perspective would be the same. That way you could create a really neat collage someday of how she grew up so fast. Hope this helps some!

When my daughter turned 1, for her party invitations I stamped her foot on some heavy stock paper then used a frame matting as the frame. To decorate the frame I bought some scrape booking decorations. Then on the back I put all the info. for the party. It is very easy and looks cute.

One thing that I do for my children's birthdays is to greet them in the morning with the camcorder. (not sure how this is going to work when they get older though) I've got one tape per child. I briefly tape us singing happy birthday to them in bed. But then I take a minute to walk around the house showing their favorite things. I kind of narrage their favorite toys and/or characters. I try to keep it down to only 2 minutes or so per birthday, but every year goes on the same tape. So while I don't have time to scrapbook, I get to video them and their cherished items each year.
Not sure if it's what you had in mind, but it's been special to us.

I am SAHM I have a 3 yr old and 1 1/2 yr old. So, I have been through the 1st birthday. Our son we got the free child birthday cake for our sona nd got a larger cake for the guests. He just looked at the cake and didn't knwo what to do. We had to put his hands in it, and he didn't like it. He shock his hands. He finally played in it and it was everywhere.

With our daughter we decided it was such a mess and didn't want it all over so we got a cupcake and found a large bib at Kid to Kid that was pink and had 1st birthday on it. It was cute and I put it in her to keep things, and looked cute with her dress too. We only had to remove the bib and wipe her face.
She hada great time and she didn't have all the extra sugar frosting my son had. So, if I had to do it again I do the cupcake again. It is definately big enough for them.

Good luck on the birthday ! If you like personal invitations you can upload pictures to Walmart.com and make postcard invitations with her picture its a personal Fun way to invite guests.