First Birthday Parties...

Has anyone not had a 1st birthday party?

I've been planning on having one for Alexzander for a while & have only just started sorting things out for it today. It looks as though we would have 40+ adults and about 17 children (all but 2 are 1yo or younger). I haven't even worked out the proper numbers I just got to 40 and gave up. We really can't afford to have a party for that many people because we can't fit them in the house so would have to go out somewhere. I know I know, we could do it in a park, but Zander hates grass and he is so fair skinned that I'd be stressing all day about sunscreen.

So I'm thinking I might just have a BBQ for family - his aunts, uncles, grandparents & godparents. Even then there are 12 adults including Aaron & I. The only problem is I feel bad, like he *should* have a big party cos he will only ever have 1 first birthday. Of course I'll still do cake & presents & there will be a cake at mums group that week. But do you think I'm just being slack & should work out how to pay for a proper party?

Sarah sweets. Others may shout me down for saying this, but to my mind, a baby's 1st birthday is just as much about YOU.....it is a celebration of the day you gave birth too, and a celebration to the fact that you have all made it to a year!

With this in mind, do whatever YOU feel comfy with, given Zander's and your preferences and what budget allows.

Can you not cull your list down?

And have a "morning tea" party that fits in with Zanders sleep? ie Cake, fairy bread for the little ones and a coffee for the grown ups?

(Just as an example, we had approx 24 Adults, about 10 babies (all aged 1), had fairy bread and sausage rolls and I made a cake. We held it from 11am till 1pm, and then all the babies and parents left. It didn't cost that much adn we had people moving inside and outside.)

But no, I do not think you are being slack at all.

I think having seperate ones could work! Like Lucy said, if you want some tips let me know ;)

A family bbq sounds great, and then maybe a mothers group morning tea with just some fairy bread, a birthday cake (or a cupcake cake in the shape of 1) and some biscuits & coffee etc.

I didn't have many babies at Paris' first birthday party, from memory it was only one of her friends. We had more older kids & adults.

Another suggestion is to meet up at a playcentre for morning tea with people with kids? Or ummm a tavern that has a play area?

There's lots of things you can do... but I totally agree its about YOU too :D

This will be your first Happy Birthing Day! (I know I know I've always said labour but I'm becoming more PC with age ROFL)

*hugs*
Cailin

I don't think you're being slack at all.
We didn't have a party for Yasin's first birthday - instead we went out to dinner with some friends who have a daughter almost the same age and then took them to the aquarium. Yasin and Hala had a great time - it was at nigt so there weren't many people and they could race around without getting under anybodies feet. We all had a great time without the stress of arranging a party.
I'm a bit funny about birthday parties - I would rather arrange a special something each year (trip to the zoo, go-carting, horse riding, mini-golf etc) than have parties. I think that it makes each birthday more special. My ILs have the same party every year for every family member (same location, same food, same cake) and it seems to me that every birthday is the same. I would rather that my kids remember each birthday seperatley because they did something differant each year. I guess one year we will have a party - just for a change and so that I can hire a bouncy castle.

We went the whole hog with Lindsay and Erin (around 30 adults and about 10 kids) but with Paige we didn't because DH had to work and for financial reasons at the time too. I don't feel guilty about it, but wished we could have done more IYKWIM?

Do whatever you will feel comfortable doing Sarah. You don't want to be stressing about sunscreen etc when you should be enjoying the day.

We had the immediate family (the people who are a part of Jacob's life) and one close friend and her daughter (same age as Jacob).

We arranged it around Jacob's sleep times and had lots of finger food and cake. Pretty well everything we had food-wise was suitable for children - it was Jacob's birthday after all! But we all had a good time and enjoyed the food!

I'll never be one to have huge parties as I like to keep things as close-knit as possible and for Jacob to be surrounded by the people he knows and loves and is comfortable with (and sees frequently), rather than inviting everybody just to be polite or for the sake of it. Otherwise, I think it not only becomes a financial burden, but I think it also becomes a bit overwhelming for adults and children alike. Even with around 20-odd people that we had for Jacob's birthday, he got a bit overwhelmed by it all and needed a bit of space and time to himself. For you as parents, if you had oodles of people it can be hard as you'll be stressing all the time hoping that your child is ok, that everybody is happy, has a drink and some food, that you've gone around and spoken/thanked everyone etc etc!!!

So with all of that in mind, we'll do a similar thing this year too, but we will be inviting another friend and her daughter also as they have become very close. So that will mean the same guests as last year, plus a couple more, so Jacob will have a couple of friends plus immediate family.

We had a fairly large gathering, 40+ adults 20+ kids and I was planning to have it at home, but we moved to the park, I know you said park isnt really suitable but..

We threw a large throw rug down on the ground and all the parents with little bubbas sat on there (it was like the size of 2 x queen bed doonas) and we had a large shaded area (any parks nearby got shade?) Its easier because you arent stressing about your house.

Then maybe you could ask everyone to bring a bottle of drink and a plate of something? Then all you have to worry about is the cake?

We have 3 birthdays in March with mum's group, so I might try to organise a mum's group thing for the three birthdays somewhere in the middle - they are the 10th, 15th and 20th. That way he can have a party with his friends & we can have a small family BBQ as well.

That's why I love you guys - full of fantastic suggestions you are :D

LOL at it being about me as well Cai & Lucy. I never thought about it that way!! I was just totally looking at it as Zander's big day.

Dach, I like your idea of having something different for each birthday. When we were growing up we didn't have parties every year, but we got to pick a special dinner. It was never going out for dinner, just something that we liked & wanted mum to cook.

I never had parties as a kid (I know boo hoo me LOL) so I like to do them every so often! We tend to always have a gathering of some description mostly because I love to make a character cake! Which I've done every year this far. Her first was a ladybird, her 2nd was treelo, her 3rd was a castle, and last year was a belle (disney) ice cream cake. Its funny I haven't even started to think about this year LOL normally I'm a year ahead of myself...

But this year as parties go we are going to go to a playcentre with all her friends from Kinder because it will be her last kinder year, so there will be ALOT of kids!

Next year I'll probably let her do something small but I'm not sure what. But the older she gets I'll probably start suggesting asking a few friends out to dinner and a movie instead of a big party and then maybe having lunch or dinner with family.

There are sooooooo many things you can do these days with kids. We went to a gourmet kids party recently where all the kids got to cook something. There's disco parties, make over parties, gym parties, reptile parties (where you invite the reptile guy and he brings out animals etc). Its just no way near as simple as it used to be LOL! But no matter what happens and who we do stuff will I want to make sure I always make her a cake :) As that was something I didn't often get when I was a kid ;)

*hugs*
Cailin

This thread has actually reminded me.........little Miss Olivia has her 2nd Birthday coming up and we are sharing it between 3...(her cousin is just a week older and her little mums group friend is a few days younger.)

We are holding a morning tea at our house on Sunday 19th Feb (for the babes and the Mums and Dads) and the other Mums are making the food and I am supposed to be doing the cake!

Just off to Google "Elmo Cake" and to see what I get!! Argghhh!

I have a really easy one Lucy, I'll scan and send to you :)

*hugs*
Cailin

I know we never really go b the suggested rules (heck I never have!) But they say that you should only invite as many people as the child's age... So 1 for 1st b'day etc, etc...
We had a big 1st b'day for Maddy & have done something different each birthday since, last year we did not do anything tho, coz Indah was so young... We had a family dinner, Maddy & I baked a cake & she chose what she wanted for dinner etc...

I wouldnt stress. Although it's a long way off we are only going to have basically immediate family and maybe a couple of friends for Louis' first b'day.

I think it's crazy to go over the top with a first b'day as their not even going to remember it. That doesn't mean you don't make it special but why stress yourself out about it! I know I'd like to be able to relax and enjoy the day as well without running around after anyone but my little boy....

Yeah we did the combined birthday/dedication because I didn't want to have to go through more than neccesary. Basically we were going to have a BBQ in a covered park but it was raining so we moved to the basement of the church and I made some simple finger foods & invited 3 mums from play group & the BB mums near me that I knew at that time and a few family friends. We still had around 6 children & everyone just sat around chatting, relaxed....ahhhh....

Hey Sarah,
Don't forget - you had a big Christening for Zander too. So I don't think you are being selfish at all by scaling Zander's party down.
We've had quite a mixture of 1st birthdays with MG. One had just a family and close friends party so they had MG at their place the day before and we had a separate little celebration for her 1st birthday. A couple of us are doing big parties at home. One had her daughter's birthday combined with their wedding and naming day. There's no hard and fast rules so I wouldn't worry about it at all!
One of my other friends had her daughter's 1st birthday in a park. She provided all the food but it was BYO drinks and chairs. She was 7 months pregnant at the time so she wasn't about to have a huge party at her house.

We wrote our list for Gabby's party. We have 81 adults and 38 kids (22 children and 16 babies). It sounds like a lot but we had to do a bit of a cull to get down to that number. I only culled people that we don't see more than a couple of times a year. It was hard because SO many people have sent us cards or bought Gabby presents that I really would have liked to have invited to the party. I even had to cut off some people from my old work because, as much as I would love them there, I really don't have much to do with them anymore.

We are keeping it pretty simple tho. We'll have a naming ceremony for Gab once everyone arrives then a small BBQ with just sausages and hamburgers - nothing fancy. I'll have sausage rolls, party pies and ****tail franks cooking inside during the day too. I'm going to get a few close friends and family to help with salads and nibbles to help me cut costs down. I'm going to attempt to make the cake myself and we are going to state that it's BYO drinks. I'm sure I will be able to borrow some stuff for all the kids to play with to put in the back yard too. We do have a tiny house but we have a huge back yard, car port and garage so I guess we are lucky in that respect.

When all is said and done, I am really throwing the party for us more than for Gabby - even though it's her birthday. We love throwing parties and we haven't really had one since I got pregnant. It's only just now that I feel I could handle having stacks of people over at our house once again. I doubt Gabby will even appreciate all the fuss made over her - she much prefers it when she is home alone with just Mummy and Daddy - that's a big enough party for her, LOL.

We all have our own reasons for celebrating things the way we want to celebrate them. I wouldn't think you were slack at all for keeping things toned down, Sarah. I certainly won't be throwing such a big party every year and the likelyhood of us having the same sized party for the next bubs is pretty remote. You do what you want to do at the time. I'm sure Zander will still have a good day where he'll be thoroughly spoilt and overwhelmed with attention regardless of whether you have 10 or 50 people there.