I think it’s fair to say that, in our household, our son’s first birthday was a bigger deal for mum and dad than it was for him!
But although he won’t remember a thing, it’s going to be great to show him the photos when he is a little older.
This post summarises the lessons learnt from hosting our own party, and to going to a number of other first birthdays.
Hopefully it will be useful if:
- You are about to hold your own first birthday party for your son or daughter
- Or you’ve been invited to one yourself and are wondering what you need to do
I’m hosting a party, who should I invite? The big dilemma for us was whether to do something with friends, something with family or perhaps both! I think the friends option is good if you all have young kids, probably not going to be a lot of fun otherwise!
We actually opted for a family gathering, which I think our son appreciated as he loved being the centre of attention for the afternoon. We also had a little family party for just the three of us where we did presents and cake.
Where can I hold a first Birthday party? This will of course depend on the answer to number one! But here are some of the things we did at some of our friend’s parties:
- Picnic in the park – this was a great success, but very dependent on the weather! It’s a good cheap option as your guests can bring their own picnic and of course the park is free to use.
- Soft play centre – you’ll have to Google around for a suitable place near to where you live but for example, in South West London, you can find the Jelly Bugs cafe.
- School hall – one of our friends hired out their local primary school hall for a large party with friends, family and lots of babies and toddlers! I have to say having all that space for them to run around in was fantastic, we also had use of some of the equipment.
Do I Buy or Make a Cake? Supermarkets have a great range of kids birthday cakes these days, you’ll find everything from Bob the Builder to Postman Pat! If you need something more specialist then you can order a whole range of custom made cakes – but watch out these can be very expensive!
My wife decided to have a go at making a Chuggington themed cake! It’s worth a go, I think you might be surprised by the results! I really did feel that the home made cake was that little bit more special than anything that could be bought.
I’ve been invited to a first Birthday, what present can I give? Well, as it happens I know a good website that might be able to suggest some ideas!
So have you held a party, have you been to one, please share your own experiences below, we’d love to hear from you.
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