Birthday party for 1st child

mrskiss

Hey ladies!

I know this is not about my LO due in September but I need some opinions. DD is turning 1 in June and since she is my first, I have not considered the birthday planning thing until now. I have a location and we are working on theme but I am not sure how far out to invite and if it has to be paper invite or if evite would work in this case. It is all family and our friends anyway, since DD really doesn't understand the concept of "friends" yet. Also, is it weird to invite friends that don't have kids?

Any advice from STM+ or opinions from FTM welcome. I thought about going to "her" board (June 2014) but I never liked them...you guys are much nicer :-)!

blondehairblueeyeditalianbaby

I did paper invites about a month in advance. We invited lots of friends who don't have kids.

megs1409

We did paper invites about 1 month prior to the event day. I've been invited to a number of first birthday parties via evite though, so I don't think paper invitations are required. We invited our close friends and family, many of which don't have kids.

Izzies

I went all out with DD first birthday party! It was super fun and we got some great pics ( which is the whole point IMO)
I don't think paper invites are necessary but the do make a great keepsake. We just had family and close friends so we invited everyone in person. I would invite my childless friends, they've been on this journey with you and are probably very found of your child. I think a month is plenty of notice for a birthday party.

mrskiss

Awesome! Thanks! 

I was thinking a month but I know that some of our friends have crazy busy schedules and one of our real close friends scheduled a trip on that same weekend. We worked out an alternative for her and her family (cause they are "Aunt" and "Uncle" and we felt it was important they got to celebrate with her too). Anyway, got off point...I was thinking a month but some people need two or more they are so busy but that seemed too far out for others. We have been telling people we REALLY want there to save the date but you never know...ya know?

ForeverEverAfter

We did a casual after supper party for #1 because only one other couple in our group of friends had a child (who was only 7mo) and no local family. It was mostly friends without kids, who were like family to us. Our parents all facetimed in, we had a lot of fun!

I did paper invites a week in advance, and texted our real family the time in case they wanted to FaceTime or call.

irenejean

I'm pregnant with my first, but have gone to several first birthday parties for friend's children. For me and my friends, these parties just end up being fun get togethers whether you have children or not. Everyone in my group does evites or facebook invites for these parties.

nikkidavis421

We did paper invites a few weeks in advance. We stuck to just inviting family and two close friends (DH's best friend because he is DD's godfather and my best friend just because she's like a sister so she pretty much falls in the "family" category).

kajordan09

With my first we had  BBQ to celebrate LO's birthday. I believe we did an Evite, but I know for #2 we did an actual paper invitation and sent it out maybe 2 -3 weeks in advance. With both, we invited friends and family, regardless of whether they had kids or not. The only thing we made sure of though was that we requested no gifts on the invite - for us, gifts wasn't what the party was about and we certainly didn't want our guests to focus on a small detail like that. We just wanted their company to celebrate LO and us surviving the first year and that was gift enough for us. We were so grateful that we had been gifted so much already from friends and family I felt like my sons certainly didn't need any more stuff.  Of course some people, particularly close family, still gifted them presents but at that age they had no idea either way. I have had several friends also request donations to a local charity or donated the toys to a hospital in lieu of a gift to their LO, which I thought were great ideas as well. But don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with not doing any of these and expecting gifts if that's what you'd like.

Enjoy the first birthday...I'm incredibly sentimental and I was super emotional about the day for each of my sons! It's a big milestone!

FinalyFound

We just celebrated LOs 1st bday in Feb. we sent paper invites to friends and family that LO would recognize. There was no kids at our party, only because she's the first grand baby and our friends don't have children.

slp213psu

I've often heard the first birthday party is for the parents, so invite away! Because it's June and summer I'd say the earlier the better for invites. Summer weekends get tight. I don't see why evite wouldn't be okay.

Mewkie

We are celebrating the big 1 for my ds this weekend! I did email invites (paperless post) about a month in advance. I gave a heads up to most family and friends a while back though. We did invite a few close friends who don't have children. I think it's entirely up to you if you want to invite friends without kids but I agree with pp, earlier the better for a summer event in terms of getting invites out.