I'm Needing Some First Birthday Party Ideas...

With my granddaughters first birthday her mother got material and cut it up in quilting squares. She got fabric paint and permanent markers in primary colors. She had the everyone at the party dip there hands in the paint and put it on a quilt square, then used the markers to write their name. She made the square into a quilt for a permanet reminder of all who were at the party.

on my daughter's 1st birthday (she is 7 now) i had our close friends and family fill out a 'questionaire' that i designed an printed on the computer. i asked things like 'how did you feel the day i was born?' 'who do you think i look like?' 'what is your wish for me when i grow up?' then we put them in a little box and put them up for her for 'someday', i think it's neat and something she will really enjoy opening. have fun!

I did a Winnie the Pooh theme for a baby shower once. We downloaded drawings from the website of characters from the "100 Acre Woods" and posted them in our overgrown yard. A perfect way to hide the fact that my hubby didn't get the lawn mowed on time. Here's the twist on the theme for Andee's B'day party. Download the drawings for each of your guests to color and mount in a looseleaf binder for Andee to have in a few years. Include drawings for each adult to color along with their child. Add a page for comments,blessings, best wishes from each adult. Remember to allow Andee to color a page, too along with one from you and her daddy. Enjoy this time...It goes much too fast.

About me: I'm a 64-yr-old mother of 5 and grandma of 11 with 2 more on the way. I remember being at home with mine and loving every minute of it. I will soon have the privilege of retiring and seeing more of the grandkids and loving every minute of it.

Hey K.. i see you've received lots of replies to your request. I shall add my two cents, so to speak! lol...

I agree with the moms that say to keep the expense of decorations down to a minimum because the one yr old doesn't really know what's going on anyway. A few simple decorations will suffice. A nice cake with Winni on top is excellent and Wal Mart makes yummy cakes!

As for the adults, now that's my favorite part of your request for help! I gave a nudge to the adults attending my party. They are usually hesitant to participate in the games but once you get them started, it's all fun from there. They love the mild competition! I went to the dollar store for some simple inexpensive gifts for the game winners. A painted coffee mug filled with things like nail polish neutral colors, and girly items for the women. Perhaps something similar for the men. Once you look around you will come up with prize ideas quickly and inexpensively. The games were along the lines of blowing up a balloon the fastest using that old-fashioned tiny straw with that gooey stuff attached to the tip. Do you remember that stuff as a kid? You can make a three-legged race across the yard using couples as the teams. Bubble gum blowing contest for the biggest bubble that does not pop on ones face! Make it silly, fun, child-like for the grown-ups to relax a bit from being parents for just a few minutes. Trust me, everyone will have a blast and will remember your baby's 1st birthday for yrs to come!
Good Luck with the party. Have fun with it. Yeah and grilling outside helps to lighten your load since the men do the grilling!

God Bless you and your family,

d.maria

When my 1st daughter turned 1 we did very minimal decorations-we did Elmo and got decorations from a friend of mine who's daughter turned 1 a couple weeks earlier so that was nice. But she didn't really know it was her 1st birthday so less set up meant less clean up. So I used paper plates and cups and plastic forks. I invited just family which totalled 16 in our little house. We grilled hot dogs and brats (in early October)and we have a fire pit where her cousins cooked their hot dogs, my daughter had her 1st hot dog that day. I made the cake and homemade ice cream-which was delicious! And that plus gift time made a crazy day!! So my advice is don't overdo it-you and she will be exhausted, save your energy for when she turns 4 or 5 and can tell you what she wants and can enjoy it with her friends. My soon to be 4 yr old daughter wants a CandyLand party-we found a cake that looks like a Candyland game board in Taste of Home Magazine and she decided that's what she wanted.

I'm actually getting ready to throw my daughter a Winnie the Pooh party for her 1st birthday. I had a lot of luck on Oriental Trading's website. I was trying to find "My Friends Tigger and Pooh", but it's nowhere to be found. I did, however, find that The Disney Channel website has a Celebration Center where you can download invitations, ideas, etc. It was a big help to me.

In kepting with your Winniw the Pooh theme I would found some large Winniw the Pooh cut outs that you could hang on the walls and maybe from the celling. I might get some yellow and red balloons also to maake a balloon flower arragment for the table. I would use yellow and red paper plates , cups and tablecloth for the table also. How about if you put a mane of other famous bears on the back of your guest and allow them to ask question to found out you they are.

Hi K.,
My sweetie was 2 in March-I did a Dora Theme, I took a "Happy Birthday" banner from the dollar store and cut out some shapes from construction paper (the invites had stars on them so I went with that) and cut out some characters from left over invitations to glue stick to the front of the shapes (you could do Balloons or honey pots).
Also check at a Dollar Tree or dollar store in your area-I got Dora Balloons (Mylar with helium) to put up inside the house (you could also get one to put on the mailbox at those prices-a dollar each). If you have a book with winnie the pooh in it-scan in pictures and print them for decoration.
If you are having older kids there you can go online and print out Pooh coloring pages (email me if you want some links :-) and let the older kids color them. You could also let the Adults color a picture (if you are just having family) and write a little note on it to keep for your daughter.

Also-Have the guests pose for a picture with the birthday girl so you and your party guests will have momentos of the day.
Best thing I can tell you is keep it simple-I've gone overboard-making lots of food, the cake and other baking, and just generally getting myself completely exhausted before the party starts.
Remember-when they are REALLY young (under 4 I'd say) the party is more for YOU. Keep it simple and make wonderful memories for Yourself, your sweet girl won't remember her first birthday-YOU will. You can share the pictures/momentos later when she's older and having you relaxed and happy in the pictures and when re-telling stories makes all the difference.
Good Luck :-)
C.

balloons and tape them to crape paper and hang them. as for the adults, plan something that they can interact with thier own kids. such as; three-leg-races, horse shoes, frisbee, guessing games, etc. get the baby her own little cake besides the one you are getting her. and let her tear into her own cake. and have sandwiches and chips and mac salad and potatoe salad and soda. have other;s bring some food and soda to the party so you dont have to flip for everything and be short on things. cause who knows who will and who wont show up. good luck and hope your baby has a great party. happy birthday to her. C.

My daughter's first birthday was also Winnie the Pooh. I put her stuffed Pooh characters on the table and bought Pooh balloons and tied them to her high chair. I also bought some regular balloons and left them on the floor for her to play with. I also had a small cake (a little larger than a cup cake made with Pooh's face on it) for her to destroy and blow out her Pooh candle. I wrapped all her gifts in Pooh paper and bags and bought the cups, plates and table cloth with Pooh on them. Hope this helps.
G.

You could make paper trees to put on the walls and a wooden sign (real wood or paper to look like wood) on the front door saying "Hundred Acre Woods". Butterflies, bees, and birds would add a touch as well. You can get some fake vines with leaves from Hobby Lobby to hang around. On your invitations you caouold have something about joining us for a picnic in the woods. You could have a red and white checkered tablecloth, picnic basket...and so on.

www.birthdayexpress.com has alot of neat items and themes for 1 year old etc. They have fast delivery too.
HAVE FUN!

there's a wonderful site just for you .....
http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/pooh.html
don't get too excited!! ;)

and more:
http://www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com/winnie-the-po...
http://www.partymerchant.com/pooh_party.htm
http://www.partymerchant.com/winnie_pooh.htm#GAMES
http://www.boardmanweb.com/party/pooh.htm
http://www.sanjosefamilies.com/winnie-the-pooh.html
http://www.kids-birthday-party-guide.com/winnie-the-pooh-...
http://www.allpartyideas.com/winniethepoohparty.shtml
http://www.pepperspollywogs.com/blog/index.php/classic-po...

We are doing Winnie the Pooh for my daughters first birthday in September. You can find some cute 1st winnie the pooh birthday stuff on-line that has the 1 in pink to make it more girly, I got some of my stuff on ebay.