First Birthday Planning Anyone?!?

angelinthepit23

Has anyone started thinking about LO's first birthday?! I have like 4 boards going on Pinterest, hubby thinks I'm crazy. 

kdoak2015

Lol a little crazy 

elbou

My BFF has 4 kids, and all of their first birthday parties have been Pinterest worthy. She tells me that planning it ridiculously early is key.

onebadmotha

I haven't started a Pinterest board...yet....although I will be now! Sounds like a fun new project for passing the time at work...haha. LO's first birthday falls on a Saturday, which I'm super excited about. 

chelseaepley

I started planning about a month ago. Like PP said, key to a good party is planning early. My daughters birthdays have been awesome if I do say so myself, and that's because I plan at least 6 months in advance!

MiMary80

Just making sure we are still on the November 2015 board...
I haven't even thought about it. I'm sure if I did I would change my mind 1000 times so there is no point until it gets closer.

doodleoodle

You go girl lol I'm still taking things day by day at this point

itstheblackwidowbaby

doodleoodle said:

You go girl lol I'm still taking things day by day at this point

Same! 

nmwheel1

Not even close to planning and I have DD1's 3rd birthday November 14th and DD2's 1st birthday November 15

MargaretC5

DS first birthday was planned in an afternoon.... there was nothing from Pinterest.   Planning the same effort for this LO first birthday.  We are not big party people.
And a picture of DS enjoying his 1st birthday cake, just because  It was a piece from a regular cake, not his own smash cake.

kmd91

I've started thinking about it. Not so much planning as thinking of logistics. He was born November 3, and we will be leaving here mid December and will be back home for a little bit. So I have been thinking about if we should do something there (even though it'll be over a month after his birthday) so that we can get our family and friends involved. I mean, either way we will at very least do a little celebration for his birthday when it's actually his birthday, but just trying to figure out what to do party wise. And if anyone has input or opinions I'd love to hear it. 

VexedMommy

My feelings are that small family parties are great when they're little.  Do big lavish parties when they're older and will actually appreciate them.  Since she was about 5 I've alternated big parties and small family parties for my older daughter.  I would put the money you would spend doing a big party every year into something memorable like a Disney vacation or a special trip. 

helsbels222

Good grief I'm still planning her christening.

Kristi4938

I'm still in shock that I have a baby!

chelseaepley

The main reason I plan so early is so I can buy things as I go and it doesn't put a financial strain on us having to buy everything in 1 month!

MargaretC5

helsbels222 said:

Good grief I'm still planning her christening.

Our 2 year old still is not christened.  Oops

gipfish

I had no idea this was a thing. What on earth is there to plan besides a cake? One year olds can't play party games.... ?

GoogleMD

chelseaepley said:

The main reason I plan so early is so I can buy things as I go and it doesn't put a financial strain on us having to buy everything in 1 month!

What is there to buy for a birthday party for a 1 year old. I figured it was just a cheap table cloth, cake, and some finger food for adults. We put more back each week in savings for Christmas/ and now birthday that is all the"planning" I do.

VexedMommy

GoogleMD said:

chelseaepley said:

The main reason I plan so early is so I can buy things as I go and it doesn't put a financial strain on us having to buy everything in 1 month!

What is there to buy for a birthday party for a 1 year old. I figured it was just a cheap table cloth, cake, and some finger food for adults. We put more back each week in savings for Christmas/ and now birthday that is all the"planning" I do.

Maybe the gifts/presents?  I know I often do practical presents for my kids.  My daughter's birthday is mid March so I usually give her her spring/summer wardrobe as a birthday present.  For the first birthday maybe a toddler bed (DD1 was a climber so the crib didn't last long.) an upgraded stroller, or a trip to see family that live far away could be birthday expenses. 

elbou

gipfish said:

I had no idea this was a thing. What on earth is there to plan besides a cake? One year olds can't play party games.... ?

I felt the same way before DD1's first birthday. I wasn't even going to have a birthday party for her because I didn't see the point. I mentioned this to my friend (same one as my pp) and she told me something that really stuck in my mind. It was that 1st birthday parties aren't really for the baby, because you're right...1 year olds can't play party games, and they won't know what's going on or remember it later. The party is really for the parents...to celebrate surviving the first year. Life changes a lot when you bring that little bundle home, and it can be really, really hard. I'm on my fourth kid, and I still think surviving all of that deserves celebrating!

How much effort you put into it is up to you, and some people like to go all out. I suspect OP is one of those people, but if a cake is all the celebration you need/want, then go with your gut and keep it simple. It will be special for your family either way. 

ETA: I'm totally with Vexed on the small family parties after age 1 though! We alternate big parties, and family parties after age 5 as well.

mrsgabus

Nope.  We will do a family get together with cake... and maybe some balloons . Boom just planned it lol 

You are awesome for planning so far ahead 

chelseaepley

I do big parties. Just for the big birthdays though. We have a huge family so even a jsut family party is usually around 50 people. Cake, decorations, and food usually run around $200. And we buy big kid car seats and toddler beds for 1st birthday. DD is Oct 6 and DS is Nov 6. So that doubles the money. But DD wont be having a big one since she'll be 3.

AmoLovesAud

I have planned only in the sense that I've told people that we're not doing anything big.  One is a milestone, but I'd rather use my energy to plan awesome parties for the ones she'll remember, LOL.  We'll probably just have our parents and sibs over, get a smash cake and take lots of pictures.  That's it.

rubirubi89

I don't really do birthdays but we'll see. 

angelinthepit23

chelseaepley said:

The main reason I plan so early is so I can buy things as I go and it doesn't put a financial strain on us having to buy everything in 1 month!

That is why I plan early too! Our LO is the first baby for a lot of family and friends. There are tons of ppl that love him and want to be a part of his life. We are also know as "that couple that throws amaz-balls" parties. So LO's birthdays will be huge events, at least until the guest count dies down.  

VexedMommy

angelinthepit23 said:

chelseaepley said:

The main reason I plan so early is so I can buy things as I go and it doesn't put a financial strain on us having to buy everything in 1 month!

That is why I plan early too! Our LO is the first baby for a lot of family and friends. There are tons of ppl that love him and want to be a part of his life. We are also know as "that couple that throws amaz-balls" parties. So LO's birthdays will be huge events, at least until the guest count dies down.  

I think the first part of your statement has much, much less to do with the party planning than the second. 

I think the vast majority of us here have many people that love our babies and want to be part of their lives.  Many of us don't require massive birthday parties for our 1yr old to allow those people the opportunity to show their love or share in our LO's lives.  The fact that you're known as a party couple is awesome and wanting to keep that reputation is cool, but please don't act like those of us who don't throw away tons of money on parties for children who will have no knowledge of what is going on don't have friends and family who love them and their children. 

Lolo427

100% with @VexedMommy, the number of people in attendance does not equate the support and love that our babies and families get. My family is international, so I NEVER see my siblings let alone Aunts and Uncles.

Coming to this thread party (shameless pun) a smidge late but I'm totally beside myself that this is a topic when the earliest of us (my girl was 10/29) are still only 5 months. Every year we do a Halloween party and we were considering for 2 seconds a quick 'here's her first cupcake, yay we kept her alive for a year and we're only semi banged up from the process! ' moment in the party more so for my friends who want to- but past that, I'm not planning anything. If my parents or my inlaws want to do something, that's on them. So many people supported me both financially (gifts) and emotionally throughout pregnancy and up until now, I won't ask of anything else, if they want to on their own accord- cool. I get being curious and making a board but past that I'm not sure how much active planning you can do 7 months out? Curious to see answers.

kdsmith43

Hey! Crazy party planner over here. We will be doing a Winter ONEderland theme. Pink and gold! 

VexedMommy

kdsmith43 said:

Hey! Crazy party planner over here. We will be doing a Winter ONEderland theme. Pink and gold! 

That's an adorable theme.  I love it.

Unica1302+

My family celebrates big for 1st birthday parties so I've been thinking about it from before she was born. No planning yet but I've been eyeing a park near my house and the theme will probably be jungle animals- just like the baby shower and the nursery. Now that I'm thinking about it I should probably look into renting the park picnic area since this is a Thanksgiving day baby... crap...

onebadmotha

To clarify- I created a Pinterest board, but am by no means doing any actual planning yet. I definitely had a board of baby things well before we conceived (or were even trying to conceive). We will have a party, but nothing huge. I know little guy won't remember, but we love any excuse to get together with friends- especially those with kids of their own, who we don't get together with as often these days.

chein1

We're doing a unicorn theme. I love themes, so right now when I get bored I've been looking up different snacks and ways to decorate within that theme. I went all out for DD1's birthday theme-wise, but we only had 15 people in attendance. Our immediate families are huge- I'm one of 3 and DH is one of 4. 

foozmeister9

We are doing Winnie the Pooh themed. He loves the movie and books so much that it is now apart of his daily routine XD. We were thinking of dressing him up and Pooh bear and making every open room in our house a different area of the Hundred Acre Wood map. And his smash cake would be yellow like honey and have the sign the Rabbit puts up when Gopher gives Pooh honey, "Don't Feed the Bear". But we have a long (short) time till Anthony's birthday. 

Edit: to include the books that we read to him every night