Birthday party for 1 year old baby boy :)

[MySunshine]

Hi all,
Just wanted to get some ideas of what to do for my baby's birthday party, he is going to turn 1 in late june. I know I still have some time, but here in NY its better to book the location early. Any suggestions are welcome, and maybe you can also share what you did for 1 yr old birthday.

thanks Eve

[kizudo]

What I did was selfish.  I planned "his" party (read as "my" party) to have both sets of grandparents, all the aunties and uncles (and cousins) from each family (9 adults) and two of his little buddies and their parents.  The house was full of noise and excitement.  Everyone had a great time except the birthday boy.  He was so overwhelmed.  Even though he knew everyone he clung to us like a lifeboat the entire time!  The only thing I did right was to do it before his naptime.

I would suggest that you keep it low key...or celebrate with each family on a different day.  There will be plenty of time to hire clowns and go to a bouncy castle - when he knows why there's a fuss being made.  I'm not saying that you shouldn't celebrate him - he's worth getting excited about - but maybe not in an over the top way.  Calm and peaceful will be more appreciated by a 12 month old.  At least it was for my little one.

[hypatia]

I did a simple outing at the park, with a some family members. The few presents were opened on the grass and it was a nice afternoon, in between lunch and afternoon nap.

[patreiche]

I agree with it should be simple. Cake and some fun activity. If there are two many people involved split the celebration in two.

[nhockaday]

Keep it simple and low-key.
Invite a few close family and friends. Don't have so many people that your son feels uncomfortable.
You can serve some light food while everyone is coming in and getting settled.
Plan on a party under 2 hours. Any more, and a 1 year old tends to get cranky. Plan it after nap and feeding times.
There is no need to plan any activities. The party should be focused around your child, and he is too young to understand activities.
Make him his own little cake and let him dig in all by himself. That was the highlight of my son's day. He was covered in cake by the end of it, but he loved it! Chocolate cake shows up better in pictures.
Get a few decorations that your baby will like. Balloons, streamers and signs with bright colors are normally a hit.
Take a lot of pictures.
Let your son "help" open presents. He may or may not like ripping paper, but at least have him on your lap so you can show him all the presents while you open them. After he's done opening presents, everyone can play with the toys with your son.
Have someone write down who gave what for presents if you want to send thank you's.
Just try not to go overboard. It's easy to get excited and spend a lot and plan a lot, but you have many more years to do that.

[waterdreamer]

I over did it for my son's first birthday. We were able to do it outside so luckily he wasn't too overwhelmed with noise. But i went to the effort of putting together expensive goodie bags for his friends who were the same age, waste of money they were happier playing with the ripped wrapping paper.
Just keep it simple, take lost of pictures and try and enjoy.
Oh PS make sure the cake is super soft and spongy for easy destroying with little hands

[sunshinebaby]

Haha - it's NOT easy to keep it simple when you are so excited about it!

For us, however, it was kind of the first time introducing our son to friends and relatives, as he was 3 months premature and we were very careful about crowds during the first year (fragile immune system, etc).

So, we had a BIG 1st birthday party! We did ours at a restaurant, had a balloon blowing clown and loads of balloons, and party packs. Our friends' bigger kids had a good time and we were happy about that. We even put up a photo collage of his first year including his stay in the hospital and snapshots of his milestones.

Oh, our baby has always been great with strangers and didn't mind being carried around. We brought along a pack and play to the restaurant and he slept in it halfway, while we were free to entertain our guests. We opened presents at home.

[MySunshine]

THanks for all your replies,
And yes, it isnt easy to go simple when we are so excited.
But I wll take all the advices and keep it low key.

We had my mother in law's 60th birthday just 2 weeks ago, and my son can barely be in the party room most of the time, because it was just too loud with the Dj and the music, and I felt really bad for him, so I plan not to repeat that again.

I will keep you guys updated the final plan.
Thanks all!

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