I need help planning a first birthday!!

[Desnik]

Hi everyone!
I am starting to plan my sons' 1st B-day. I have no idea what to do!! He has had such a tough year and we really want to celebrate his life and the fact that he has overcome so much. For my DD we had a big party at my moms(we lived in a small apartment)and had the food catered. She had gotten the chicken pox and we had to postpone the party 2 weeks but, everything turned out great.
We just moved into our house in Dec. and money is alittle tight. Our house really isn't big and if I were to have a party here it would be about 60 people including the kids. I would have to fit them in 2 rooms His B-day is March 16th so I have to have it indoors. Any ideas? Suggestions?
Thanks!
Nikki

 

[Cruisin]

Wow you are right that is a lot of people to fit into a little house.
Could you maybe make it an open house kind of party. Set hours of say between 1 and 4 and tell people to just drop in and have some cake and celebrate and then hopefully they will move on? Nah, that probably wouldn't work, cause if they are like my family they would just get comfortable and stay the whole time
To cut costs you could just have a cake and icecream party instead of planning a whole meal. Or make it a real simple, hot dog, hamburger, pizza, spaghetti or chili, something inexpensive to make?
I am sure that you will come up with some ideas on how to properly celebrate your baby's birthday.

 

[Princess_Aurora]

Maybe what you could do is just wait until the weather gets warmer to have the party. My DD's birthday is in December and we usually wait until June to have a party for her. We do just immediate family on her actual birthday, take her to Chuck E. Cheese and stuff, and then in the summer we have an outdoor party with all her friends. It sounds like with over 60 people it might be easier to just have it outside. Your only other choice would probably be to rent a place to have the party. 60 people is a lot! I only had about 25 at DS's first b-day and the house was really packed.

I'm sure, having already been through a first b-day, you know that when it comes time for the birthday cake to strip the birthday boy and have a floor covering around his high chair or wherever he'll be sitting. Babies get messy with cake. My cousin just had her DD's first b-day and she waited a little too long to get to the cake and the poor baby was so exhausted she fell asleep in the cake It made a cute picture though

 

[vald1977]

Hi Desnik,
We also have a smaller house and a lot of people for ds's birthdays. This year I finally decided to break it into two more managble sized parties on two different weekends. One weekend we did a friend's party at a local indoor playground and the next we did a family party at our house. It was about 20/25 people for each so it was much easier to fit that many in our house. Good luck and Happy Birthday to your son .

 

[Pop Daddy]

just get him wraping paper they like it best anyway

 

[Desnik]

Pop Daddy, you are so right!!!

Thanks for the replies. I think what will work best is having 2 parties on 2 different weekends. His B-day is in the middle of the week so I'll have one before, then after. I'm actually going to just have one party with my family and then one with DH's. My family has alot of kids, DH's family has alot of wackos!!!LOL I'm going to try and keep it simple for DH's family and have it early in the day and order a hero. My family I have to do it alittle nicer . I'll have it catered and have it at night. We like to party!
Thanks!

 

[huey duey & luey]

We have the same problem my kids' bday is also March. Last year we did a big party in a hall and it was so much work> this year we are actually doing a few seperate parties. One for family on their actual bday. 2 seperate kids parties. I ened up with almost 30 kids (way too many 2 year olds to handle). I am actually waiting for April and hoping it is warm enough to do outside. I looked into a party gym but it was over $400 for an 1 1/2. Good lluck and enjoy
Tara

 

[Samandmom]

Originally posted by Desnik

DH's family has alot of wackos!!!LOL

Are we related?

My DD just turned one yesterday. We had a party for her on Saturday. We had it at a restaurant and just had pizza. I am like you we have a big family and invited 55 people but we only had 30 people attend. It cost us about $300.00 with tax and tip. This included the pizzas, soda and a few alcholol drinks. I thought of having the open house and seperate parties but I thought this would be easier.
My 3yr old DS is alot easier his birthday is in July. So we have his party outside and if it rains we have one of those huge outdoor party tents.

 

[Kimberle]

Congratulations!! What an exciting time, when your "baby" turns 1!!!

Could you rent a room some place? Our library has a large room they rent out for $100. You can do whatever you want, you just have to clean it up.

I agree, I'd do a simple kind of afternoon open house. Have a cake, desserts, chips, fruit, various finger foods. If you need to add something more, add trys of pasta.

I had my dd's 1st bday at my IL's house as we didn't have room either. Could have saved myself the trouble as only IL's & one aunt/uncle bothered to show up......... I purchased try's of food from a local Italian resturant. Wasn't too expensive, less that $100 for 4 full trays. I added bread, salad & cake.

 

[browneyes]

March birthdays are so hard to plan. My dd's bday is in March and we never know what kind of weather we're going to have. For her first bday, we planned her party at McDonald's. She loved it.