First Birthdays

Dhampyr17

Has anyone here gone "all out" for the first birthday?

 

I personally think that sometimes it's ridiculous. My one friend bought a moon bounce with a ball pit for her son's first birthday--he couldn't even use it! (and they stored it incorrectly, so they threw it out since it got torn)

 

My brother's BIL and wife sent out invitations of their daughter dressed as a cupcake in a cupcake card saying "Our little cupcake is turning one" and then had everything decked out in cupcakes--they even bought water bottles with specially printed tags saying "Our little cupcake".

 

I mean, I know 1st birthdays are big, but I kinda feel like if you are going to go all out, wait for their 16th birthday or something when they can actually participate and remember it. (Honestly, I was raised in a family where birthdays were important, but not outrageous, so I don't really go for the huge 16th birthday bash either).

jcsntms06

For A's 1st Birthday we sent out invitations and had a good 30/35 at our house, decorated the house, had cake, favors, the works. I only spent about $200 on everything. But we were celebrating her first year! And I most likely will do it again for C's 1st birthday too.

Dhampyr17

I would say that's about what we spent--maybe a little less. I think we spent about $150--it was supposed to be around $100, but then four people couldn't come who were supposed to and I had to go out and get what they were supposed to bring.

 

My mother supplied the cake, but we didn't do favors or anything. But I supplied the food--which was chicken salad, buns, chili w/ the fixings, potato salad and other such things.

 

Honestly, we'll probably throw one party for this baby's 1st and DD's 4th since they are going to be 3.5 weeks apart.

BunintheOven311

I did but not to the point of buying a moon bounce.  I went all in out in that I worked really hard on it to make it special.  I know she won't remember but we had fun and she only turns one once!  But then again I tend to go all out on all holidays and events so it was nothing unusual for us.

Dhampyr17

BunintheOven311:

I did but not to the point of buying a moon bounce.  I went all in out in that I worked really hard on it to make it special.  I know she won't remember but we had fun and she only turns one once!  But then again I tend to go all out on all holidays and events so it was nothing unusual for us.

 

I guess for me, that's the part I don't get. I mean, they only ever turn ___ once.

 

I hope I didn't offend anyone with this, I mean, I don't care if you want to spend that on your kid, but I guess I just don't get doing it.

 

I'm glad you had fun doing it though!

scooterq

Is it bad that the cupcake theme doesn't sound over the top to me? 

jcsntms06

scooterq:

Is it bad that the cupcake theme doesn't sound over the top to me? 

To me it's not over the top either. 

Ragdolls

Yeah, you never turn any age more than once - but one is special.  We went all out in ways that mattered to us.  We have tons of close family and friends, so there were about 80 people there.  We fed them very, very well.  And I love themes, so I had a blast with Where the Wild Things Are.

I think I've described all of this before.

We skipped on stuff like a moon bounce etc. because DS was too little to enjoy it.  But we did the things that mattered to us or that would make for a good time for our guests.  

I've sworn up and down that we'll scale back this year; but I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out how.  All I can think is that the lower deck *would* be a pretty cool spot for a moon bounce.  Lol

ETA: And I think the cupcake theme sounds cute!  But I was raised in a family where birthdays are HUGE, so I think you're right that that affects things.  DH definitely wasn't; and he's still getting used to how my side of the family does things.

KathrynMD

Ours was pretty low key - just family.  It was nice for us.  I still spent like $300 though - on just food, drinks and Party City type invitations/decor.  Its all in what you're used to - I don't know ANYBODY IRL that had a big blow party for their kids 1st and I can't imagine attending one pre-kid, so it never occured to me to do that.  Also, my DD's birthday is 2 weeks before Christmas, so I doubt many people would come anyway. 

Dhampyr17

I wish I had a picture and it'd probably be more understood.

 

I think the cupcake theme itself isn't over the top, but they had a bunch of food catered to all look like small little cupcakes, dressed her up like a cupcake, had mini-cupcakes, regular cupcakes, big cupcake, had cupcake favors, cupcake drinks, cupcake cup holders and so on and so forth.

 

I don't know...I mean, birthdays are huge in my family as well and we always have a huge gathering, but I guess we just never went to that kid of extreme.

 

We'd do the matching plates, napkins and bowls, we'd get some decorations, but we never did favors or anything like that.

Dhampyr17

KathrynMD:

Ours was pretty low key - just family.  It was nice for us.  I still spent like $300 though - on just food, drinks and Party City type invitations/decor.  Its all in what you're used to - I don't know ANYBODY IRL that had a big blow party for their kids 1st and I can't imagine attending one pre-kid, so it never occured to me to do that.  Also, my DD's birthday is 2 weeks before Christmas, so I doubt many people would come anyway. 

 

My coming baby is also going to be 2 weeks before Christmas--due date is December 12th.

SarahKate31

I would say that I went all out for DS's party without going over the top, if that makes sense. We had about 35 people, lots of decorations, cake and cupcakes (that I made), favors (also that I made), but pretty basic food. I definitely spent over $200 though. I am fully aware that DS will not remember the party but *I* will.

Renting a moon bounce seems kind of silly since a 1 year old is too little for that, but if you were expecting a ton of kids at the party, then maybe. *Buying* one seems ridic, IMO.

In all honesty, I love party planning and baking so I am likely to go all out for DS's subsequent birthdays also - but with a guest list about half the size next year!

Kaybee44

We went all out in our way. Custom invitations that my husband made(he makes all of them), themed food, themed decorations. We managed to not spend a lot of money but we don't have the money to spend We didn't do favors for the 1st birthdays. We only had family and close friends and the only kids were my niece and nephew who we did buy little things for. 

  We had a similar party for B's second birthday again, no favors. Family and close friends. For his 3rd birthday and C's 2nd, we invited kids and did favors. I try really hard to stick close to the theme of the party but sometimes, people don't know. This year was hard because we had themes that are difficult to do (Imagination Movers and Blue's Clues). It'll be easier with B's 4th because we're doing superheroes as he is obsessed with anything superhero related We're doing another pool party since the one last year was such a success

anonsouthernbell

We had 3 first birthday parties for my son (one in TX, one here for family and one for here for friends) but it definitely wasn't over the top.  We probably spent about $100 for the two parties here on food.  I made the cupcakes, cake, smash cake and food (w/the exception being pizza for the friend party).  We had the friend party at a local park (free) and I am really not into decorating  - I appreciate when others do it, but it's not a big thing for me - so that was at a minimum. 

lauranne

I went all out for Claire's birthday.  It was a huge celebration of her first year, and it was important to me to make it a huge deal.  Plus, with having an older sibling and all his friends, they all wanted to celebrate.  I did most of the decorations myself and all of the food myself and probably spent $200.  We did rent a moon bounce ($150) and that was mainly for the big kids, and it was a HUGE hit.  She also bounced in it too and loved sitting on the side while the big kids bounce.

We love to entertain, and to us it was important to have a big bash to celebrate Claire's first year.  We waited a long time for her, struggled through so much to get her, and we were adamant about having a big party to celebrate the fact that she's one!

I grew up in a family where birthdays weren't a big deal and not much was done to make me feel special, and I refuse to repeat that cycle with my children. 

weezie825

Just inviting family had our guest list over 75 people!  In the end we invited 125 and had about 70 guests.  We did a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme.  My husband custom designed the cake and we had it made at a high-end bakery.

We plan to go all out for the milestone birthday's (1, 5, 10, 13, 16) and keep the rest low key.  For our daughter's 2nd birthday we just had us and her grandparents with a gracery store cake.

madladybride

DD was born in January, so we had to fit everyone into our tiny house.

Work makes me tired, if I had more time/money, or heck, even a cleaning lady, I would totally go all out with cutesy themes & decor, but, frankly, it stresses me out and I don't have it in me. We don't have family near-by so it falls on me to do all of this stuff while trying to watch DD.

That being said, we didn't really have a theme, unless you count tex-mex and monkeys. I bought green and purple paper plates and a generic happy birthday sign. Invites went out via phone and Facebook. We had chocolate cake and vanilla cupcakes, vanilla ice cream and M&M's. I made all of the food, except the M&M's, from scratch including the ice cream. I didn't use anything that came from a box/can because that was what was important to me

There were approximately 20 people  and only 2 children, including the birthday girl.

 

Sorry for the rant, I'm starting out this week really tired, so it's really affecting my mood.

BunintheOven311

Dhampyr17:

BunintheOven311:

I did but not to the point of buying a moon bounce.  I went all in out in that I worked really hard on it to make it special.  I know she won't remember but we had fun and she only turns one once!  But then again I tend to go all out on all holidays and events so it was nothing unusual for us.

 

I guess for me, that's the part I don't get. I mean, they only ever turn ___ once.

 

I hope I didn't offend anyone with this, I mean, I don't care if you want to spend that on your kid, but I guess I just don't get doing it.

 

I'm glad you had fun doing it though!

Gah!  You are right...I guess what I meant was that this is the VERY first of many birthdays and there is only 1 first birthday...