1St Birthday Ideas - Athens,TN

My question is why? I had 9 children and had few parties. To me it is asking for presents and especially a 1 or 2 year old certainly will not remember it. You might think I'm terrible, but a birthday party for a child that age is for the mommy and not the child.

As for ideas I don't really have any! We weren't very lavish with our celebration of 1 year of fun, we had close friends/family only. We made it a point to take a picture of our son w/ everyone who came to wish him a happy birthday (holding him or something) and then for thank you cards for attending or bringing a book we did homemade cards and for each thank you we put on the front of the card the picture of that person w/ our son.... we did a book only theme for gifts, asking if anyone brought gifts to bring books, and we went on amazon.com and registered for books there (toddler type) who can't have enough books? We wanted gifts to be an option only, our son's birthday is right after Christmas, so we told everyone we were interested only in having fun, but if they did opt to buy a gift to bring a book! We also asked each person who came in the weeks prior to coming (close friends/family who know him) to write a special letter to our son for his time capsule (it could be to him personally, or just in general about the year he was born) and to bring one special item that marked that year in rememberance. Some brought news articles, some brought pictures of gas prices they took themselves... it's all in his time capsule where we also added his first paci, and his first socks and a few other goodies from year one, we will add each birthday to it so he will have a history of his life to open when he's 18.

I must say, it discourages me to see negative feedback on this forum. Each person has a different approach. If we were all the same, wouldn't the world be a boring place?? So then isn't it ok to do a birthday party if you want, and opt out if you want? Each person should do what works for them - I hope that you get alot of game ideas and keepsake item ideas like you asked and not alot of discouragement. Some replies read as if you posted 'should I or should I not have a 1st party?'.

Good luck and have fun with whatever you do!!

Party City has a lot of kids party favors! It might help if you pick a theme for the party first, and then go from there! I made little goodie bags for the little kids for their take home gift. It had bubbles, stickers, coloring book and crayons, candy, etc. The dollar store is good for things like that! Hope that helps! :)

Hi there! How about a lego-themed bracelets or lego themed favor bags with popcorn? You can find it here:http://www.pixelpartydesigns.com/collections/birthday-par...

Hi L., We just celebrated my grandsons first birthday and it was a success. One of the memmorable things we did was get a favorite shirt from his dad (make sure its one that the dad has pictures of himself in it too) and took several pictures of the baby in it we also took pictures of him in his daddys work boots. We plan on doing this each birthday until my grandson fits into his fathers shirt/boots. If you have a daughter she can do hers in something of yours like a favorite dress and heels (of course you will have to hold her up in the heels) *S* Make sure its something that you have pictures of yourself in also so that she will be able to see that she fits in her mothers clothes when she sees the pictures one day. Have fun....

R.

For my daughter's first birthday we put treats like suger free candy and bracelets and trinkets inside some ballons and blew them up......Each child got a balloon to pop and had a different suprise inside...this works best with colored balloons like pink and blue if you do toys to keep the girl and boy toys separate. Hope this helps!!!!!

First, I would make sure anything you do isn't a choking hazard for the children. We also usually would send home a little activity book that goes with the theme of the party. Really, I would need to know the theme of the party to know what to suggest. You can e mail me at ____@____.com for more information

Being your child first birthday in life of so many adventures. Read to him. Show him your love and caring ways. A child don't need all that materialism. Give your child your time and maybe a toy that would show him many colors of the world. That you can talk to them about.

We only did a small casual family party allowing my older children to invite one of their friends with a NO GIFT tag on the invite. If you have lots of friends or want to throw a bigger bash-try looking through the oriental trading company's catalogue. They have tons of party supplies in ALL TYPES of themes so you're sure to get an idea or two! The web site is www.orientaltrading.com. TIP: Many bakeries offer a free individual cake when you order the sheet cake for the child's first birthday but you have to ask for it to get it at many places.

I got this matted picture frame type thing from one of the craft stores when my daughter turned one. Everyone can sign it and write a message. It has her 1 yr picture in it and hangs on her bedroom wall. It is specifically made for autographs.

photo frames, with pictures of the kids that attended is a fairly good idea..

Do the (cup)cake before the presents! We didn't, and in every picture of my son with his cake, he is upset cause he wanted his toys.

For my daughters first birthday we just invited a few close friends who had children of similar ages for a casual dinner (bbq outside or simple buffet with lots of food kids like to eat) and cake. I didn't plan any games for the kids because at one they don't really play games. My daughters both have summer birthdays so we just put out the kiddie pools and they played on the swingset. At caketime, there was a separate cake for the birthday girl that she could go to town with. Great pictures, though very messy. I literally had to wrap my one daughter in a plastic garbage bag (head out of course) to carry her upstairs to the bathroom for a bath. We don't open presents with the other little kids around because they usually are either bored watching someone else open presents or they are crying because they want to open presents too and don't understand why they aren't getting something. As for keepsakes, each year I do a two-page spread in a scrapbook. I started out trying to scrapbook every single moment but my oldest is almost 5 years old and I've made it through her 4th month of life. So I recently started doing just two pages for each year with several photos that capture the year up to their birthday (and leave a space for a picture from the birthday party) and a section where I write about the major moments of the year. My daughters love to look at their scrapbooks. Enjoy your little one because it won't be long before you're thinking about the 2nd birthday!

check out martha stewart. She has a section with kids birthdays. We did her monkey party for my son's first birthday! It was a big hit!

Also, don't listen to the mom with 9 kids. Whoever would have 9 kids would not have anytime to have any parties. I hardly think it had anything to do with not wanting to ask for gifts. Plus, just because you have a 1st birthday doesn't mean you want anything from anyone. And yes, it is a special day for mom and the rest of the family. There's nothing wrong with wanting to celebrate it and have people celebrate it with you. And when they're 2 they do get it. We had a swim party and all his little friends talked about it for atleast 2 wks. with their parents so...