Birthday for a 1 Year Old

One year old parties are tricky because you are usually working around a nap schedule and the guests may not be on the same schedule. That said, I don't remember trying to throw one for any except our first child. We invited grandparents and godparents and a few neighbor kids. Then she got pink eye and we cancelled...so we threw a "half" birthday six months later and it was very fun.

We had lots of balloons and let the little ones hit them around, and plenty of food for adults and kiddos. Bubbles are always a hit at this age.

Another caution: I was going to be strict about no sugar until age two (my children though a donut was a bagel :) I used a cake recipe that had only apple juice concentrate to sweeten it and it turned out to be a brick. We bought a real cake for the 1/2 birthday :)

Another party idea for 1 yr. olds. Scarfs they can toss as they listen to music, and music making instruments like jingle bells and egg shakers are fun.

Update: We didn't let the kids try to blow the balloons up, and if one broke we collected all pieces and threw them out right away...my one year old is now 14 and somehow the other six children managed to survive balloons, too. It is always good to be cautious and attentive whatever the activity. That said, my neighbor's son is very allergic to latex so one must watch for that.
Another idea: perhaps the adults could join the children in a game of pin (using tape not pins) the tail on the donkey (or some variation depending on your theme...if you have one...I've seen stick the dots on the lady bug and so on) I remember my dad playing this on his 40th the adults had a lot of fun with it. A few years back Martha Stewart had some lovely ideas for one year old parties, maybe they are archived with Martha Stewart Living Magazine's website. Also a great source is www.familyfun.com

Although your MIL would like it bigger, little children get VERY stimulated by all the people and the action.
What you end up with is a melt down in the making. It can be too much for a one year old.

We all tell you to keep it simple b/c we've all been there and seen the same mistakes. I had the grandparents over and that's it for the first 3 years.

Make sure your baby gets a good nights sleep and try to plan AFTER nap time or....good luck.

There are sooo many activities but you should maybe state the ages of the kids attending to get more specific answers.

Keep is simple. For my son we had friends over with kids of all ages. Lucky for us it is still warm outside so the older kids ran outside.

We grilled brauts and hot dogs. The parents sat and talked. The kids played with my sons toys. We had cake and then everyone went home. It was about 2 hours.

Balloons - my son loved all the balloons we had. I bought a pack and blew them up. All the little ones loved grabbing and playing with them.

I also put up a few streamers...more for me.

Cake - I made a sheet cake and decorated it myself. My son got a farm set for his birthday. I put the farm animals on top and had green icing for grass.

I did cut off the end of the cake and iced it just for my son to play in.

You can always play the usual, but being November you can pin the tail-feather on the turkey.
For the adults, when my son turned one, I made a "who knows you best" quiz, I put things on there like when did ___ start eating solid food, for the answer you can be technical and put the date, or just how old your child was.
I put as much on there as possible, like sleep thru the night, first tooth, ...pretty much anything in the baby book under the "first year" happenings.
I made sure the prize reflected how happy I was that anyone was listening to me brag about my son all year!
The adults thought it was great.
Good Luck and congrats on one year. Be close with your baby, and spend as much time as you can with them, they grow up way to fast. I never thought I would say that...but they really do. It seems like yesterday I was bringing my daughter home from the hospital and now I am buying bras!!! where did the time go....

Like the other mom said, keep it simple.

For our daughter, we planned a family reunion after her nap, so she was fully rested. She is the only child and has no cousin on my husband's side (my family lives abroad) so it was mainly just adults = my in-laws, aunts and uncles and some friends of ours.

Our daughter was acting like a social butterfly... We didn't really planned activities = just talked about anything and happy to get together

As far as food is concerned, home made appetizers and home made yogurt cake... and of course, presents :) We decorated the house with some balloons and Princess theme plates, napkins, cups & tableclothes

It was simple but fun for everybody.

How many people do you plan to invite? how many children?

Good luck

for our sons first we did the regular, hotdogs,cake, presents and a pinata. the adults seemed to enjoy watching the kids attack the pinata and cake. the couple of hours flew by! we did a cowboy themed party...i made mustaches on a stick (felt so they could hold them up to there faces) party bags (cheap toys). i love the classic party stuff from the 50's ish. like pin the tail on the donkey, bag races (weather might be nice) party hats and let ppl just hang out and have fun. you might ask your mil what she had in mind...it might be great! happy birthday to your little one. * am shocked others recomended balloons! they are a choaking hazzard and were forbidden at our party!

Hi Cassia,

My daughter's b-day is Dec. 21st. Her 1st was simple because it's so close to Christmas. We had snack foods and cake. I made a Pablo and Uniqua cake. Decorations were real simple.Had a pull string Pinanta (Pablo). Pin the bow tie on Pablo. A great website to check out is www.birthdayideas.com. We are about to celebrate her 3rd and are going to have a superhero party.

J. M
http://www.Best4MyKids.com