1St Birthday Party - Lewisville,TX

At my younger daughters second birthday last year we did an ice cream shop theme. The kids varied in age from 1 to 12, so we only had a few activities (some for even the adults) such as "Pin the cherry on the sundae" and "guess how many items are in the jar", I put some candy in a jar and whomever was closest won the jar of candy. For a favor, I found ice cream cone shaped plates at CVS and put them in a bag with popsicles. Then we had a sundae bar with ice cream and all sorts of toppings so everyone could make his or her own sundae. It was very easy and fun.

No entertainment is needed. The activity itself, together with balloons, cake, smiles, and presents is the activity. I might consider opening the presents at the party, though. The outfits and toys are so cute at that age and everyone enjoys oohing and aahing at the other gifts and getting that same reaction to their own. -- Someone planned a baby shower for me years ago and wanted me to wait and open the gifts at home. Many people came up to me and asked, and were so disappointed. They wanted to share in the joy of the opening. I felt so torn between satisfying the hostess and satisfying the guests.

bubbles is all you need!

I never plan entertainment for my kids' birthday parties. Isn't the party enough entertainment, with all of the people around and music, balloons, friends, sprinkler outside etc...? I don't want my little ones getting over-stimulated. If you do want an entertainment, consider something where they can sit down and be quiet for a little while, like a puppet show or something, just for a change of pace and to keep things from getting out of hand.

One thing I always do for my little ones' b-days when they're still small is I always bake them their own separate, small, special cake. I use 2 tuna fish cans that have been thoroughly cleaned and run through the dishwasher. I peel the label off and then I fill them each about 1/3 full of cake batter (which still leaves plenty to bake a regular sized cake in the big pans). I simply bake them with the big cake, but I check them much earlier since they are so much smaller. Layer and frost like a regular cake. Decorate and, voila! Your child has their own special cake that's just for them.

It makes for a better "first birthday cake" picture sequence too! :)

Congrats!!! Happy Birthday to your baby girl! I will say that it is very important to work the party around her napping schedule and make sure to eat when she would normally eat. I have to plan my daughter's first party soon as well and I was thinking of making a banana cake, not too sugary and its her favorite fruit :) I recently went to my cousin's first birthday and she had a blast seeing her family and friends and trying to put everything in her mouth. My daughter is 9 months old and Im thinking I am not going to do too much as far as entertainment goes... the family is always pretty entertained by her. If anything maybe have some sprinklers going outside or a slip'n'slide... it would be great for kids of all ages and perfect for cooling people down after the festivities inside. My family has always opened presents right before cake, its really fun to see your little girl's reactions to all the colors, wrapping paper and different gifts she gets. First birthday parties are always loads of fun!!

Have a great time & take lots of pictures!

I think you're on the right track not to over-plan it. Of course, the guest of honor will have no idea what is going on, so it's more of a celebration of Mommy and Daddy having lived through the first year of parenthood!

For our girls' first birthdays, we actually planned cocktail parties (with a "signature" pink cocktail). We have a hysterical picture taken at my younger daughter's first birthday, of my older daughter blowing out the candle on the cake because her little sister had fallen asleep before we made it to the cake portion of the evening! Anyhow, my advice is to plan something fun for you, dress up your little birthday girl as cute as can be, give her a little cupcake with a candle in it, take a bunch of pictures, and then put her down for her afternoon nap so you can celebrate the most joyous, difficult, awe-inspiring, and sleep-deprived year of your life along with your friends and family. =)

You've gotten some great ideas!! You don't really need to plan any activities. Maybe have a pin the tail on the donkey game in case the little ones get too bored. But I do suggest you open gifts while your guests are there. I don't like it when I go to a party and they don't open our gifts. Try to relax and have a great time!! Ask someone to take pictures for you so that you will be in some of them. I don't have one picture with me in it from my sons 1st.

Yay for first birthdays!! I would think that no entertainment is just fine. As long as the kids have access to her toys they should be fine. It may depend on exactly how many kids you're having and their exact ages, if you have a lot between 3-5 you may consider doing a craft, but you're probably just fine without one...especially if most of the kids are family and hang out together usually anyway!

I would suggest opening presents at the party. People are really excited about what they bought and they want to show it off and make sure you see it. Have your kid near you, if possible, while opening and see if you can get her to play with the wrap, bows, tissue, etc. If she crawls away...oh well, just keep opening! ;)

Also, I would suggest doing a low key lunch that you don't have to do much for. Costco and Jimmy Johns both have really yummy and reasonably priced sandwich platters and then do some side dishes, etc.

I always do a little party favor for the kids, but that can be optional, especially if they are mostly family (I'm not sure, but sometimes 1st bdays are). I usually do a theme and make the food and favors go along with it, but I have a tendency to be a bit over the top (you should have seen my daughter's 1st birthday...a doosey...but I love it!)

Most of all just have fun and celebrate that the first year is behind you! It only gets better!

At a one year old party with mostly family and adults, I wouldn't plan anything.
Greet guests for awhile and then sit down with her and help her open her presents. Start teaching her to say thank you for each one and put them aside. Take lots of pictures. Then serve refreshments or serve first then open. By that time it will be time to go home and she will be ready for a nap.
We have 5 grandchildren and the 1-2 year is only for 1 1/2 hours and just family. By age 3 you begin having her friends but not too many and for 1 1/2 as it gets long a tiring for that age. Good Luck!

I just wanted to suggest that you make sure that you get lots of pictures of mom and dad with the birthday girl! Let someone else be in charge of the camera for awhile! When I look back over pictures of long past parties, one parent is usually missing--they were taking all the pictures!

My son will turn one in 2 weeks. We're having a low key event, with just a few friends. We'll have some munchies, cake and ice cream. It will be outdoors if weather permits, in mid afternoon, we'll set up some kiddie pool and sprinklers. If it rains, we'll be inside with not much other than some toys for the kids (they're all under one year old)
I just went to a friend's twins' first bday party. They had an "ice cream social" at the park, had some music and ice cream and cake. That was pretty much it. They had about 30 guests i would say. No entertainment or anything

Congratulations on you little girl turning one.
I think that it is more than okay not to plan anything, for my sons first birthday we had people over and food( to be honest it was a pool party) but everyone was more interested in paying full attention to the baby. We planned it around nap time and kept it short and sweet.
I didnt open presents in front of everyone that came but there were a few people like grandparents that stayed a little longer when the party was over and we all opened the presents together.
The main thing to remember is not to stress about anything too much. Everyone wants to make a big deal about the first birthday but they have no clue and it will pass you buy to fast.

Congrats! First parties are a bit overwhelming, we did ours inside in Dec and it was fun. We booked the church hall bc it was not $ and had a large space. I set up the tables w/ white paper as a table cloth and put out crayons and play dough to keep them busy. I also had a mini slide climber thing set up and that was a huge hit. I also did a pinata, just for fun. If you jsut put out a few toys they will more than likely just play and keep busy. You dont have to go crazy bc then it will be too long. We had her open the gifts and I wish we did not bc it took forever and all the other kids were taking her toys to play w/ LOL. I just thought plp might think it was rude if we did not open them. Idk. 12-2 is not her nap time? I would do it at the time of day where she is happiest bc parties can be long and overwhelming

For me, the only entertainment associated with a 1st birthday party should be watching the birthday child eating his/her cake and getting it all over the place. I have found those parties to be more about the parents getting together. Since you are having your party during the lunch hour, you may want to serve more than cake and ice cream.

A bounce house could help entertain the older kids....have fun!

I agree with everyone's thoughts. My only suggestion is to decide if you'd like the birthday girl awake for her party - depending on her nap schedule noon to 2 might not be work. I agree with another poster to gear this party more towards the adults. Of course get the cute photo ops with the birthday girl wit her cake, presents and guests, but otherwise I would serve adult foods and beverages. You've got plenty of kiddie parties in your future, this is one is about celebrating the parents and much as the birthday girl.

Congratulations on your baby's first year milestone! I think it's a good idea to have some sort of games or toys for the kids. Bored kids can cause chaos! :) also you might want to consider changing the time of the party to after 3:00. Once kids drop that second nap they usually go down around noon. So a 12:00 party might be a problem for some of your guests.

You could hire a event planner, which i am. I have my own business and one of our specialties is birthday parties. If you check my website at www.divinedesign2010.weebly.com, or you can email me for more information at ____@____.com

When my dd turned one she did open presents with the help of the other little ones there. Then we passed the open presents to the person who brought it to take it out of the package and undo all the twisty things. We all had a good time with that. "Here you brought this, please help me get it out of the box!"

I wanted to add that we attended a birthday party recently and the mom took a picture of her child with each guest and the gift right after it was opened. I thought that was a good idea because then you can remember who gave what gift to your child. It gets crazy opening presents! You could even send a copy of the picture with a thank you card to the guest.