We had it at home with 2 BBQ's going to provide lunch. It was combined family and friends and went for about 3 hours.
We got the cake made from a bakery, and it was awful. I was so disappointed in it and it cost me the bomb as well. Since that day anytime it is a birthday I get my cake from the Cheesecake shop.
The other boys were on a much smaller scale, and were after lunch so all we had to do was provide nibblies.
Where? DH's grandma's house (our house is a bit small and far away ish from where the rest of the family live).
Time/Duration? We made it for 12pm and ppl started leaving around the 3pm - 4pm time.
How many guests? About 20 - 25 ppl
Did you combine family with friends or do seperate things? We don't really have other friends with young kids so we kept it to family.
What worked? Everything - we ordered a cake (I'm no cake decorating genius although I've done a course on it lol), basic decorations, we had video and photo footage taken throughout the day (by my brother), it was hot so we had cold meats, salads, little pasties and sausage rolls, spinach and cheese triangles etc for food so no cooking had to be done, just heating.
Time/Duration - 12 til about 3-4 but we had some friends/family stay for the leftovers for dinner and DP's mates stayed til the next morn after partying all night..
How many guests - 120 invited about 80 showed
Did you combine family with friends or do separate things - family with friends, my parents are separated and re-married and DP's fam is big, being pregnant i didn't want the hassle of 4 different parties to clean up after and cater for etc.
What worked - having everyone together worked well, getting the cake MADE was the best idea ever, getting close relo's to make some salads etc so your not working your butt off all day oh and we got DP's aunts pie oven to do all the pies, sausage rolls etc.
What didn't work - allowing DP's friends to get drunk and party all night
TIP - have a presents table and if need be open a couple but don't spend all day opening pressies, thats what i did and thats ALL i have photos of, DD opening presents.
Get someone else to carry around the camera and take pics of everyone there for you, maybe even one of those little disposable cameras if it's in the budget?
Noah's 1st Birthday was on a friday so we had a family dinner at home with his favourite meal (roast lamb) and I had an awesome birthday cake that I made (the number with the blanket made out of icing and a little teddy) in the women's weekly birthday cake book)
His Birthday party was on Saturday and I don't remember exact time details but it was at a huge park near us we had around 50ppl. We did a bbq lunch and snacks as well as another birthday cake which I made (it was cupcakes that get made to look like a bunch of balloons and written over the balloons was happy birthday Noah) I then made a heap of extra cupcakes (they weren't in patty cake containers so they looked like balloons so I had to ice the whole things, if I was smart I would have made the actual cake ones like that and put the extras in the cases)
Asa kid we always got to pick a meal to have for dinner and mum always made us a cake out of the women's weekly birthday cake book so for me it was really special having roast which he still LOVES and I really loved making his cake what I still regret is that I was so busy on his birthday organising things for his party that I missed out doing anything fun with him on his birthday :-( i SO SO regre t that. On his birthday once it was all over we were up late me finishing the cupcakes and Phil organising other stuff. At Noah's party I was running around doing things and Phil was on the bbq
People said to me he's one he won't even remember the party etc etc but I wasn't even going to listen he HAD to have a party. Personally that is one of the biggest things I regret so far in his life..maybe sad but I wished we had of spent the time celebrating his birthday and doing fun things with him etc instead of stressing and organising. For his second birthday we had a bbq at home with family (we only have our immediate families around so it was small anyway) and I still did the cake which Noah picked (knew what he would go for out of about 50cakes I have in my few books) the guitar!!! He spoke about it for weeks beforehand and I loved it. The night before we decorated the whole house with banners and balloons and streamers for when he got up in the morn and the next day we did the same outside. That night whenthe boys went to bed Phil and I had a glass of wine and reflected and it was an awesome stress free day we played with Noah and got to actually spend the day with him!!
I'm not sure what we will do for Spence but not a big party and not sure what we will do for Noah this year, we might do a party with his friedns but I will definitely make it less stress if we do.
Not saying don't have a party just saying make sure you get to enjoy the day!!
The absolute favourite birthday tradition we have started is we have a little book and every year (2 so far lol) we write a message to Noah telling him what he is like and what he likes to do, tell him about his year, his favourite toys and foods etc etc When he is 21 we will have it at his party, I think that will be so special
Where? Our house
Time/Duration? 1-3pm
How many guests? about 30 I think
Did you combine family with friends or do seperate things? It was family and close friends. My family is pretty big.
What worked? We were going to have a BBQ but the weather predicted was pretty dire so we ended up getting some cooked chooks with Salads. If people offered to bring stuff I let them. Most of the salads ended up being made by family. Most of the other food was stuff that I could make the day before. I made DD cake the day before. So not much actually had to be done on the day of the party.
I liked the fact that the party itself wasn't on her actual birthday because that meant that we could spend the day with her. On her actual birthday we had dinner then invited the ILs over for cake so that was pretty relaxed
What didn't work? We didn't take a lot of pictures so I would suggest getting lots of pics. The weather wasn't really co-operating but we did have a back up plan that worked
On her actual birthday DD1 spent the morning at the zoo with us and her grandparents, then came home and had lunch and cake. It was lovely.
Her party was meant to be combined with her friend from playgroup and be in the park from 10-12 but her buddy got gastro and it was 40 degrees. So we had about 20 people at our place for morning tea and cake.
Where? Local Community Hall
Time/Duration? Mid-afternoon start (about 2:00pm from memory), went on until about 4:00pm
How many guests? About 15 kids plus their families
Did you combine family with friends or do seperate things? No family around,so it was friends only
What worked? Not having anything too strucutred. The kids could do what they wanted. At one stage some of the older boys (2-6 years old) got a bit rowdy so their dad took them out to the park for a while.
What didn't work? I made the cake. I wanted to use the natural food colouring, so kids wouldn't get too hyper, etc, but the colour turned out sooo drab. Other than that, it was great.
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