First Birthday!!!

Emilywooddesign

I know we are a little bit away but my original June twins were born in May so I'm wondering.... What are the birthday plans? Are you having a big party? Small party? No party? Any theme ideas?   

I was thinking of doing a farm theme (bc it's gender neutral) I'm lost at where to start with the guest list though. Just close friends and family? Or just friends with kids? 

Lets hear your plans and ideas! 

jesscmv

I feel like a jerk mom because I'm not really into throwing them a huge party with cute diy decorations. For my twin girls I did a lady bug theme invite and will probably get something for their high chair to decorate it. 
I am inviting close family and friends and we are doing it at our house. Will have cake and ice cream and probably easy food like pulled pork. Sweet and simple over here! Here's the invite I can't believe the girls will be ONE in less than a month!

jesscmv

house86

I just do a family and close friends party for the 1st birthday. I'm doing Rolie Polie Olie theme because she absolutely loves that show

mjschenk

We have decided on a zoo animal theme

bwow615

We are going to do a family BBQ, aunts, uncles, cousins and some friends.  We will grill out, and then also have the option to let people go swimming at our clubhouse pool.  I think we are going to do a mickey mouse theme, he gets so excited every time he see's Mickey!  Birthday is June 15th, so we are probably going to plan for the saturday or sunday before his actual birthday.

ahall0358

We are doing a princess theme and inviting friends and family. We are having it at my moms house because it is spacious. We will have the typical cookout foods (pulled pork, pasta salad, fruit and veggie tray, etc.) I found a lady who is making the cake and smash cake for $75 which I think is a steal! I have made a lot of the decorations myself. Can't wait to see the turnout of everything! 

delujm0

Our families live out of state and we can't accommodate all of them in our house at the same time.  So I'm not sure what we'll do.  If we do anything it will just be a back yard barbecue, nothing fancy.  I don't have the time or patience to decorate or do a theme.  I feel like I'll get to do that countless times when DD actually knows what is going on so I'm in no rush to start now.

I'll order a cake regardless...because I love excuses to buy cakes. :-)

lindsladle15

For DD1's first birthday last summer, we did a dog theme, because she was obsessed with our Doberman!  It ended up being pretty hilarious, and we invited family and close friends from church and had a backyard/garage bbq.  I like an excuse to get together and hang out, especially with good food.
I had gotten some decorations from Oriental Trading and then printed out pictures of DD with the dog to put on the tables.  My sister made a cupcake "Doberman" and then DD ate one as her cake.  As a party favor, we had made dog bone cookie sandwiches.

I'm not sure what to do this year.  DD1 turns 2 on July 2 and DD2 turns 1 on June 17.... to combine or not to combine, what to do?!  Suggestions welcome and appreciated!!

DolphinLover2002

lindsladle15 said:

For DD1's first birthday last summer, we did a dog theme, because she was obsessed with our Doberman!  It ended up being pretty hilarious, and we invited family and close friends from church and had a backyard/garage bbq.  I like an excuse to get together and hang out, especially with good food.
I had gotten some decorations from Oriental Trading and then printed out pictures of DD with the dog to put on the tables.  My sister made a cupcake "Doberman" and then DD ate one as her cake.  As a party favor, we had made dog bone cookie sandwiches.

I'm not sure what to do this year.  DD1 turns 2 on July 2 and DD2 turns 1 on June 17.... to combine or not to combine, what to do?!  Suggestions welcome and appreciated!!

I myself would do 2 separate parties. I know they're too young to really realize it, but that's my preference. To me, a 1st birthday is a big deal.
We have a ton of cousins. My brother's birthday is the 13th and 2 of our cousins were the 12th and 14th. They all combined cakes and parties a few years growing up, and the kids hated it! They felt they weren't special enough to get their own. 

beckyk9109

Just like many of you, we're doing a small family get together. Probably 50 or so people at our house. Ridiculous that my twins will be one in less than a month! We're doing Dr. Seuss thing1 and thing2. This is the invite template, and I ordered them super cute outfits for the day too! Thanks to Etsy for all the cute things! I got some inspiration so I'm making a lot of my own decorations like a high chair banner and whatnot. So excited!! 

virginiaunicorn11

Wow, good on you ladies! We will have maybe 10 family members. We will have it at a local family-friendly brewery that has a big play yard for kids, and will bring a cake and call it a day. 

We haven't had any professional photos taken yet, so I would like to arrange for that around his birthday (definitely not a cake smash thing). 

This is just our speed, so we are happy with it for now. We tried to plan something bigger, but it just got too stressful. We will save themes and invitations for when he's older, and then we will be excited to plan that stuff for him!

dmcoral

Our guest list is looking closer to 50 as well. It will be our friends and family at our house for dessert and snack food.

I am planning to go light on the theming. Leaning towards a watermelon theme with decorating her high chair and creating a banner with pictures from her first year. 

I am hoping to talk her god mother into making her a smash cake since she teaches cake decorating classes. My sister has also volunteered to make sugar cookies.  

mjschenk

@dmcoral we bought watermelon flavored cupcake mix(like the box mix) super easy and delicious just in case you wanted to know

Kbchavez23

We are going to Disneyland!!

venniep87

We are doing a rainbow theme because she's our rainbow baby:). Their is about 27 of us in my family(just my parents, parents in law, siblings, siblings in law, and one brothers children), so that will be the guest list. We will do a bbq and swimming, ice cream and a smash cake:). 

beemaya83

So his first birthday is turning to be HUGE!! We are talking about at least 100-150 guests (yes ladies, this is mostly CLOSE FAMILY). Luckily we can fit everyone in our back yard. My father in law will be cooking the food so we will be saving money there. We are doing a Mexican Fiesta Theme with pinatas and everyting! I figured we celebrate his first year of life in a huge way and tone it down for the next 17 years lol!!!!

ETA: I'm cutting costs anywhere I can so I plan on printing my own invites. ETSY has $5 dollar JPEG image which I can turn around and print myself.

MrsRucinski85

Can I just say I don't even wanna think about my bitty baby being one!! I'm in totally denial!

we actually have a wedding back in NY we are going to the end of June. We have to save money for the trip so we probably won't do anything crazy. Maybe just something small and then celebrate with family back in NY when we do our annual gathering. 

fridaysdance

We're looking at doing an "under the sea" theme. Little one loves pretty much all animals and it's going to be quite warm here by then so we decided to let her party outside in her new bathing suit.

moz3518

My LO bday falls on Memorial Day weekend so we are having a backyard party/BBQ. He lights up when Mickeys clubhouse comes on so it'll be a Mickey themed party. 40-50 ppl 
planning on Maybe announcing baby number 2 then- but I'm not sure I can wait that long lol

megpeg0621

I am also in denial about my lo turning a year! We are thinking of doing a baseball theme. It's the only thing he will actually sit and watch on tv. Likely 40-50 people and backyard bbq. 

HoosOnFirst

We also are having a low-key Memorial Day BBQ. No theme, just around 40 people and some food and probably cupcakes for smashing and eating!

MouseMama817

The idea of Baby Girl turning a year already makes me so sad!

That being said, I haven't given a ton of thought to what we'll do. We'll most likely have it at my parent's house since my mom broke her ankle a few months ago and we live in a third floor walk up. Definitely keeping it small! I'm talking maybe 7 people lol. DH's family is always rude and awkward towards my family so we don't plan on inviting them, especially since they're not big on birthdays anyway. I was starting to feel like a bad mama for not making plans to go all out but reading these posts makes me feel better!

HoosOnFirst

@MouseMama817 you have some more time than the rest of us, am I remembering that correctly? 

MouseMama817

@Hoosonfirst Yep, you are. I'm (usually) a planner though so 4 months doesn't feel like that far away at all for me. There's nothing to pull the trigger on this early since we'll be having it at home but I haven't even thought about a theme   
 ETA Truth be told, I've been thinking on and off about her first birthday since she was 6 months old. Not in a planning sort of way, but more in a "Omg only 6 more months until she's a year."

virginiaunicorn11

MouseMama817 said:

@Hoosonfirst Yep, you are. I'm (usually) a planner though so 4 months doesn't feel like that far away at all for me. There's nothing to pull the trigger on this early since we'll be having it at home but I haven't even thought about a theme   
 ETA Truth be told, I've been thinking on and off about her first birthday since she was 6 months old. Not in a planning sort of way, but more in a "Omg only 6 more months until she's a year."

Wow. We are so different. For me, that is planning when you still have a half or a third of a year left. That would make time go so fast for me, living for so long in the future. I do that with vacations but I would cry if I did that with LO!

MouseMama817

@virginiaunicorn11 I DO cry!! I'm getting better about it but I have a hard time "living in the moment" since I always think so far ahead. It's an extremely annoying habit of mine. 

wheresilenceismusic

July baby over here.  I'm planning her party early because we will move mid-June.  Party will be July 16th.

We invited family and close friends.  75 people!  That's after we really pared down the list.  I made an Eric Carle invite on Word and had it professionally printed.  I'm sewing decorations (gender neutral rainbow colors).  DH will make a "water blob" for the 7 babies in attendance.  (Check it out on Pinterest.)  Getting a HUGE cake -- catering with sub sandwiches from Hannaford's, plus fruit and cheese platters, veggies and hummus, cole slaw and potato salad.  Making a sick playlist of 1940s dance R&B - pop 60s (think Elvis).  I'm super psyched!

HoosOnFirst

^^ Wow, that sounds... totally exhausting.

virginiaunicorn11

wheresilenceismusic said:

July baby over here.  I'm planning her party early because we will move mid-June.  Party will be July 16th.

We invited family and close friends.  75 people!  That's after we really pared down the list.  I made an Eric Carle invite on Word and had it professionally printed.  I'm sewing decorations (gender neutral rainbow colors).  DH will make a "water blob" for the 7 babies in attendance.  (Check it out on Pinterest.)  Getting a HUGE cake -- catering with sub sandwiches from Hannaford's, plus fruit and cheese platters, veggies and hummus, cole slaw and potato salad.  Making a sick playlist of 1940s dance R&B - pop 60s (think Elvis).  I'm super psyched!

Congratulations

alcrimmins

I'm so glad I'm not the only one having an over the top birthday party! We have around 100 people invited with a local band playing! We're so excited! We're also doing a variety of desserts; ice cream sundae bar, cake, cupcakes, and pie. My DH is smoking meat and I'll be making a few different salads with chips. I'm not super crafty so I bought a ton of stuff on etsy and my sister is going to decorate while I cook. I can't wait!

aj1327

@alcrimmins that sounds similar to what we're doing. Has anyone looked into ponies? I found a place that didn't seem too expensive. I really think the babies would love it. 

caitlincunn

We are getting 2 mini ponies and some baby goats! I'm so excited! 

alcrimmins

We looked into a petting zoo, but it just didn't go with our theme.   Our theme is twinkle twinkle little star. Omg her party hat has little stars coming out of the top! 

We must be on the same wave length! 
@amac12999

eta: @caitlincunn Please be very careful with the goats! My cousin had goats at her baby's party and it but her son. He had to have surgery because of it. It was so scary!

Mommaswizz

Not for nothing, jay z is performing at my baby's party. She's Izzy with the good hair.

virginiaunicorn11

Mommaswizz said:

Not for nothing, jay z is performing at my baby's party. She's Izzy with the good hair.

That's so last year. Do you even Pinterest? 


@alcrimmins with a party like that, I bet it's not just meats your husband will need to be smoking!

ciennah99

Maybe I shouldn't have opened this thread! We are just having a party at my parents' house with mostly family & a few friends. They have a pool so I figure people can swim if they want. Other than that, cake & presents I might get some decorations & party favors for the kids at the dollar store but that's all I got planned!

virginiaunicorn11

ciennah99 said:

Maybe I shouldn't have opened this thread! We are just having a party at my parents' house with mostly family & a few friends. They have a pool so I figure people can swim if they want. Other than that, cake & presents I might get some decorations & party favors for the kids at the dollar store but that's all I got planned!

Haha we need sarcasm font!

I'm still doing 10 people, one gift and one cake at a brewery with a playground. No invitations, favors, decorations, food, etc. If the party is for us and not baby, then all I need is beer and my favorite people and a place for LO to play. Done and done!

ciennah99

Dont get me wrong, people should do whatever they want for their baby's first bday. I just started to feel bad reading some of these for a minute! So for those of you having low key parties thanks for reminding me that's totally alright too. Party planning stresses me out anyway. I prefer a go with the flow approach so I can just enjoy myself.

HoosOnFirst

@ciennah99 don't worry I think a few posters are just poking fun and suggesting some over the top things to be funny I think most of us are doing low key barbecues! I also just picked up bubbles from the dollar store for the kids coming. A one year old isn't going to remember this, we just want the guests to be relaxed and have fun!

KaLikeAWind

@ciennah99 girl, we aren't even doing a party. We're taking a weekend away (LO's birthday is on a friday) to a waterpark. Just mom, dad, and baby, and hopefully will meet up with a few friends and tip a few drinks back.  

ETA I'm unnecessarily jazzed about waterslides