we didn't have games, we had some helium balloons and had some toys out for kids that were there- but most of the time they were happy to just run around on the grass.
does you little boy sleep during the day? does he have set sleep times? if yes, plan around these for how long the party goes for. we had ours for lunch and i think was about 3 hours, with some people hanging around later.
we did a spit roast lunch with salads and vegie hot options. a few different desserts and lots of cut fruit for the kids.
we didn't have lollybags, but some of the kids took home balloons
our friends and family just talked among themselves, no real entertainment.
the 1st birthday party is a 'we survived the first year' party, so do something that you are comfortable with. go with food that can be prepared earlier, or doesn't need much on the day.
depends on who you are inviting, for Jacks 1st we did a BBQ at the park, we had mainly adults but also a few kids most between 1-4 so I did a few small loot bags for those kids nothing over the top ....
for Lukes well I had a bunch of friends by this stage again we did a BBQ this time at home, we had a jumping caslte for the older kids 1-6 did loot bags etc...and we had games because again we had older kids
I wanted to keep it really simple to organise so I could spend the time with DS and our guests. We made it just a couple of hours in the afternoon, working around naps. We had an Old MacDonald's Farm theme with simple, healthy nibbles (dips, cheese and bikkies, sandwiches, fruit platter etc) and a mini cupcake tower -choc with green icing. I bought a couple of packs of $2 farm animals and put one on top of each cupcake. I bought 1 packet of lollies and 1 small packet of chips for the children and put that in the 'kids corner' because not everyone's kids eat the healthy stuff DS does!!! I dressed up one of his toys as a farmer and made my own bunting out of a $2 sticker/colouring book. I bought a few farm animal/1 yo balloons too. I set up a 'kids corner' with a small table, stickers, crayons, books and farm-related toys (ALL our guests under 3 ended up being unable to make it so it hardly got used as the older ones were happy to run around in the back yard ). I didn't do loot bags as there's not much I could put in that would be 1 yo friendly and I didn't want to be handing out food that I didn't want DS to eat. The adults just talked amongst themselves, like at any other party. Oh, and we didn't even have alcohol!!
Our mum's group also organised a joint party for everyone where we hired a community centre thingy and each bought a plate of kid-friendly food. It had heaps of space inside and out, a playground and toys. It worked really well and was only something like $60 for 3 hours.
I also like the idea of a park/playground party as there's plenty of room to run around and no mess at home, lol!!
Go for it, but keep it simple! You'll have heaps more opportunity to decorate elaborate cakes and think up oodles of party games...
You have given me some great ideas Aidan is easily entertained and eats what ever you give him so I was a bit worried about the more "fussier" children.
I think as you have all said - simple is the key - not too OTT. I think maybe the local park is a good idea. That way there is no mess for me to clean
A bubble machine sounds awesome! Aidan LOVES bubbles! I might have to look into that!
For DD's 1st Birthday - we had a BBQ in the park. Nothing overly exciting. No games as the children ranged in age from 2 weeks to 2.5 years and were just happy playing at the park. We did do loot bags though - although I may have been a bit anal... All the adults got a "traditional" loot bag (lollies, balloons etc... and I may have thrown in a condom for a couple of close friends with newborns as a joke ). The kids bags were all targeted to their age bracket. For example, the twins (who were only a few weeks old) got the brand of dummy their parents were using, some bibs, a rubber duck each, and a face washer each. O (who was around 6 months) got a deflated balloon, bib, rusks, rubber duck. A (2.5yrs) got a freddo frog, deflated balloon, crayons, bracelet, hair ties. Everyone got to take home a helium balloon. And left over food!
To be honest, next time I plan to just have something even quieter! Maybe Grandparents over, a nice picnic in the park...
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). I didn't do loot bags as there's not much I could put in that would be 1 yo friendly and I didn't want to be handing out food that I didn't want DS to eat. The adults just talked amongst themselves, like at any other party. Oh, and we didn't even have alcohol!!
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