Baby’s 1st Birthday Party

Your baby’s first birthday is coming up fast. What’s a time-crunched parent to do? Not to worry: we’ll help you pull together a party that’s (almost) as wonderful as Baby herself!

Picture Perfect

Consider making your baby’s big day special by creating 1st birthday party photo invitations. These are easy to make yourself with your own computer and printer – or, photo kiosks generally offer birthday borders of your pictures. This option is generally very inexpensive and can be customized to your needs (in this case, party invitations).

Good Friends

One-year-olds love and can quickly identify their favorite characters. Find decorations and party supplies that have images of puppies or kittens, Elmo, Dora, Big Bird, Winnie the Pooh or other character favorites. In general, with this age group, the more colorful and fun, the better.

A Big Party or a Small One?

Unless Baby is in daycare and/or belongs to a playgroup, he may not have a group of same-age friends yet. It’s perfectly acceptable for a 1-year birthday party to have it center primarily on family members, including adults. And since this is such a milestone birthday, Grandma and your cousins and aunts will be thrilled to be invited.

If your child does have friends, feel free to invite them, but be mindful of the total number of people when you’re making out your guest list. With very young children, their parents will likely be included, and each will count as another guest.

Entertaining the Group

Safety is your first consideration with a 1-year birthday party. Tons of fun is your second! Bouncers (large inflatable areas that children can jump in) are probably too advanced (but are great for 3 year olds!). However, there’s a lot of other options, such as:

• blowing bubbles (with a little help from Mom),
• light water play (such as a water table filled with soft toys)
• children’s climb-through tunnels

Please view party themes and ideas for your baby’s 1st birthday party below: