tips for planning a first birthday

Your babies’ first birthday party is a monumental moment to share with loved ones.  An event that only comes around once a year so you try your hardest to make sure everything goes smoothly. With planning my son’s birthday, I learned a lot along the way that may help other moms to create a list of things to do for their littles future birthday plans. Especially with COVID still on the horizon, there were a few things I did to provide safety not only for our guests but for my son too.

Initially, we didn’t even plan on having a birthday for Kai because of COVID and the fact that he won’t remember. But my mother continued to press the matter further to have a birthday for Kai. And it is one of the best decisions I made in 2020. There were some hiccups along the way, due to poor planning, lack of time, and scheduling that I hope to help future mamas get through.  So let’s get into it!

1. pick a theme

I have never been a big fan of themes, but for a 1st birthday party I feel like its necessary. When picking colors, activities, food, and overall feel , the theme plays a big role in how cohesive the party will appear. Here are a few themes that are  popular for 1st birthdays.

1. The Big One (the theme we went with)
2. Sesame Street
3. Bee themed 
4. Mustache
5. Wild One
6. Donut Grow Up
7. Safari
8. Prince or Princess Themed
9. Lumberjack Theme
10. Winnie the Pooh
11. Space/Astronaut
12. Mermaid Themed
13. Unicorn Themed
14. Rainbow Themed

2. pick easy to manage activities for guests

When you are picking your theme, you also want to think about what activities make sense with the overall idea of the party in general. For example, It wouldn’t make sense to have a slip and slide at a lumberjack themed party, but an activity where guests can make smores would seem more appropriate. If you do not want this to be a problem, going with a theme that is less specific will make things easier. Its super simple to plan a blue or pink themed party so that the activities can literally be whatever you please.

I planned my activities based on the age of the kids attending the birthday party, and what my son naturally enjoys. Since he loves water, we bought the Banzai Obstacle Course Activity Pool. This pool has 5 built-in activities for kids of all ages. And since we had children up to age 7 at his party, we wanted something that provided versatility. The obstacle course was a huge hit! We also had a small inflatable for kids to use as well. Even though Kai is only one, we thought it would help to stop overcrowding in the obstacle course so that nobody got hurt. I would also not pick more than 3 activities because it will be more difficult to micromanage. My mother managed the obstacle course, while I oversaw the kids in the inflatable. We also bought a bubble machine as well to simultaneously build in another activity for kids to do. This set up worked out perfectly because it kept kids entertained and in one location so that there was less stress on parents who were attending and looking for a release as well.

3. pick easy to distribute food

With COVID still being a big topic of discussion in terms of safety we decided to make it as easy as possible when it came to food being served. We did hot dogs and hamburgers because it is a food people can eat individually and personalize the way they like it. And to lessen the likely ness of sanitation issues, people were able to get their food off of the grill on their own as well, so there were fewer people taking things out of the same pan. We bought multiple variety packs of individual chips so that we didn’t have to worry about multiple hands going within the same bag and also served capri suns and labeled each one with the name of the person who it belonged too. This made keeping up with multiple kids drinks so much easier. And even though we bought 2 liters for the adults, many of them partook in drinking the Capri suns as well for sanitation reasons. Also buying individual of cups of icecream saved us from having to distribute icecream to all of our guests as well. From the feedback, this is something many people appreciated.

4. create fun and simple party favors

Since Kai is a huge bubble fan, we bought each child their own individual bubble wand with their name labeled on it. The kids loved them. I bought a pack of 12 of Amazon that I will link here. Since his party theme was the big one (like the big fish), we also sent each kid home with a bag of gummy worms, as labeled with their name on it. Parents loved the gummy worms and were often taking sneaks of the candy the whole time they were at the party. Other party favors you could send with the guests are cookies, sunglasses, a goodie bag of snacks, glow sticks, and whistles to annoy their parents with.

5. BUY CUPCAKES FOR THE KIDDOS TO SAVE ON THE COST OF CAKE

For the two cakes that we bought for Kai’s birthday, we spent a total of 140 and they were well worth their price. I will be inserting photos of his cakes below. However, If I was to buy a cake for the children in addition to the adults if could have easily been upwards of 200 dollars or more. Also to keep everything cleaner, we decided to buy cupcakes so that it would keep the kids out of the cake, which meant fewer germs being spread around as well. This also made clean up easier because we didn’t have to worry about throwing away additional plates, and plastic ware. If you are looking for a baker with amazing quality, I would recommend Divalicious Delights. Her professionalism and attention to detail were unmatched. 

These simple tips allowed me to be able to have some peace of mind about throwing Kai’s Birthday Party. I was also able to enjoy the party and take in the moment. At the end of the day, your child won’t remember anything that happens so enjoy every second and make memories that will last a lifetime! If there are any tips that helped you to plan your littles birthday please, drop them in the comments below and stay awhile to enjoy my other various blog posts on motherhood, womanhood, relationships, self-improvement, or recipes.

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