My son will turn 1 yr old on St. Patricks day and we're planning his party for the afternoon that day. There will obviously be lots of children present, ranging in age from 1 yr to 10 yrs, and their parents. The theme I've chosen and made invitations for is sort of "under the sea" or "a fish party"...
Does anyone have any great ideas for activities we could do at the party? I've never hosted a 1 yr olds b-day party, and never hosted an event on St. Patty's day, hoping for a few ideas, or what not to do's.
My sons birthday party went very well and I really appreciate everyone's advice. I kept it simple, guests arrived to finger sandwiches, a shrimp cocktail ring, fruit & vege trays, and a bowl of Goldfish crackers (it was a Nemo/fish party after all). We mingled for about fifteen minutes, let the kids get comfortable around one another, etc. Then we played a version of "pin the tail on the donkey" where instead of a donkey it was a fish bowl and instead of tails I made little paper fish. Only a few of the kids wanted to play, the rest were too interested in playing with my sons baby toys and jumping on furniture (stuff they don't get to do at home I guess... as a side note I was very surprised at the parents who just let their kids act like monkeys all over my house, I'm certain they don't get to jump all over the furniture at their own homes!) After the game we sang "happy birthday" and blew out the candle on the cake, and I invited the older kids to take turns opening my sons gifts. Then we served cake and ice cream and let the kids play. It was pretty stress free and without too much structure, which I think worked very well.
What not to do: Plan a lot of activities. At only one year old, their attention spans are very small. Plan on cake, gifts, and then let them play. They will get very tired of the *to do* list you have planned (cake, gifts, all the while smiling for this house full of people focused on them). I tried planning way too much for my son and we ended up just doing cake, gifts then handing out goody bags. Next year, plan on activities.
Do cake early and presents immediately after. He will be so tired by the end . . .
You may try to go these following websites for party themes...they give ideas on what to do at parties for kids. I usually review them and choose what ideas I think I can replicate or tweak just a bit to fit my own kids' parties. The site I frequent the most is:
http://www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com/kid-theme-par...
Because actual people submit ideas on what they have done with their children. I've learned alot from this site, however, below are a few additional sites to reference.
birthdaypartyideas.com
amazingmoms.com
boardmanweb.com/party/party_themes.htm
kidspartyfun.com
partysquad.com
I hope this helps. Good Luck~!
~T. (Mother of Four - 7yr, 6 yr, 4 yr, and 2 yr)
Get some blue construction paper and cut it into the shape of a fish bowl (you could do this prehand), get some goldfish crackers, and some glue. The kiddo's could then make "a fish bowl" by glueing the goldfish or "fish like things" to the fish bowl. I guess you could use fish shaped fruit snacks if you could find them.
If you intend to pass out party favors, there's no better way than to let them fish for them. Create a "screen" so someone can hide behind it. Get a strong stick, tie on string, and tie on a clothes pin. You'll have to make sure you can control where the kids are "casting" it so it doesn't hit anyone. Have fun!
Hi! My name is M. and I was in your shoes a couple years ago. For my son's first birthday we kept in really simple. We had a cake, chips and dip, fruit and a sandwhich platter. We had the older kids decorate sugar cookies. We also had the kids decorate wooden picture frames. We took the kids pictures with a polaroid camera so they we able to put ithe pictures in right away. It was really fun and kept them busy.
Hope this helps!
Hi J.,
My name is C. and i have 4 kids, and every time I had there 1st birthday it was always for the adults more than the one year old. lol
Today at my 5 year olds class they had blue day and on e of the games they played was fishing, and what you do is put a blue rug done for the water. Then you get some sticks and tie a piece of string to it and put some fish done on the rug and let them fish for the fish and count them. you could make the fish out of paper or you could get plastic one in the toys. if you use paper then put some tape on the end of the string or you can use magnets. I hope i have helped a little good luck.
I have a first birthday for my daughter as well coming up so any suggestions you get let me know please :)
This response is for Deveri...I have twins. For their 1st birthday, I had a "Splash Party" in my backyard. It was a blast! I had help from "Pseudo Mom", she is in the yellow pages. It was kind of expensive, but worth it. I plan to use her again this July for my twins 5th birthday. Pseudo Mom has lots of party ideas.
A couple of websites to look for creative ideas: www.brightideas.com and www.kraftfoods.com - I'm not very creative myself, and have found these sites to be fun! They have activities, recipies and more. I wish you luck in finding something that will work for you.
