OT: First Birthday

[disynut]

DD will be one in September. ..I'm trying to decide some things to do for her first birthday, and the ideas for other things I've seen here are amazing, so I thought I'd ask you guys! What special things have you done for your children's first birthday? What toys do your one year old's really like? Do you do anything for your older child(we have a 5 year old, too) along with your little one's birthday?

Thanks in advance!

Jennifer

 

[lissawynn]

Our first just celebrated his half-birthday, so I don't really have any experience planning children's parties as of yet. One thing that my nonnie always did for my sisters and me on each other's b-days was get the ones who weren't celebrating a b-day what she called an un-birthday present. It was nice so we didn't feel left out or feel the need to tear into one another's gifts.

 

[pyrxtc]

Well, one tip I can give you is to put away half of the toys that you DD receives for her birthday away for X-mas. A great gift is gift cards. DD can tear the envelope and you can buy her clothes as she needs them. At 1 yr, DD's favorite present will be the boxes and the paper they come wrapped in. Tub toys work, it took til about 18 months before my kids really started to play with toys.

 

[disneymom225]

We ordered M&M's that were personalized with "Zoe is 1" and "Zoe Rocks". THey were great--a little expensive but a huge hit and a splurge for the little princess-well, mom & dad since DD couldn't eat the M & M's yet... You can order them online. Also-we did lots of cupcakes instead of a cake. Made it easier to serve and also I made chocolate and vanilla so people could have choices. I bought a tiered cake stand and arranged the cupcakes on that so it made a great centerpiece. Have fun!

 

[justhat]

The gift my daughter liked best (and still loves it 5 months later) is this little purse set I got at disneydirect.com. It's a pink plastic purse with the princesses on it and comes with a cell phone, plastic and paper money (the coins are all stuck together on the ends so not really a choking hazard), an eyeshadow kit (plastic, not real makeup, but I did have to take away the applicator stick as it's too tiny), a driver's license, credit card, and keys with an alarm pad. She absolutely loved this toy from the minute I gave it to her to today. She plays with it everyday, stuff all her toys and other things in the purse and carries it around the house. Best investment I made.

She also got some Little People sets from us, her grandmother, and a friend and she likes them too, and has since she 1st got them. And of couse she also likes boxes and paper like all babies.

For her party, we got her a little pink crown from Babies R Us, and a matching bib. They also had a matching dress but not in size 12 months (weird) and that's what she wore then so I couldn't get it.

 

[Jessd]

My daughter turned a year old last month.

I made placemats with the Disney Princesses on the front and had activities on the back. I laminated the fronts of the placemats so if someone spilled something it wasn't ruined. The back was left alone so they can do the activities. I printed them out and I think a 50 pack of the self sticking laminating sheets was 20.00. Then I cut the edges with the scrapbooking scissors that make the decorative edges.

For party favors, I had little cinderella carriages and put candy and nuts in them. They are about 5 inches long, they were adorable. I got them from Ebay. They were the hit of the party. I got a feather boa and cut it and put a little puff of feathers on the top with a plastic jewel in the center. I also put ribbon around the horses connecting them to the carriage. Here is a picture of them plain from Ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5599324464&category=33159&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1

I also got little tins, from Ebay and put a sticker on them that said Happy Birthday with a Disney character. I ordered personalized ribbon, again from Ebay (see a pattern? I think I am an addict). The ribbon said Jade's 1st Birthday and had the date on them. I tied them in a bow and glued them to the tins. I bought M&M's from Easter since they were pastel colored and put them in the tins.

I made party bags, I ordered a bunch of stuff from Oriental Trading Company, personalized pencils with her name, little toys, erasers, things like that.

I got her a little crown and white satin bib. She has a rhinestone tiara, I made a centerpiece for the cake with the tiara in the middle. We got a tiered wedding style cake and it was really cute with her tiara cake topper.

Our centerpieces were pinatas from the party store that were in the shape of a big "1". We tied balloons to them.

We gave her a Power Wheels Tot Rod. It is like a regular one, but it has a handle that lets you control the car, it has buttons for stop and go and you can steer it around. When they are big enough to control it on their own, the handle comes off. It also has a seat belt to keep her strapped in. She got a little doll stroller that she just loves, she pushes her Pooh in it all the time. She also loves the Mega Blocks, they are big enough for her to play with and come in really cute sets.

I setup my laptop near the cake with a slide show of pictures of her from her first year. That was cute, it got a lot of attention.

I think it was more fun planning the party for my little princess than it was for her. How fast the first year goes....

Jess

 

[PatricenPete]

I love the M&Ms idea!!!! I am going to have some made for DS's 1st birthday!

 

[laurietg]

My DD loved (and still does) the little kitchen and play food we bought her. We had tons of family which many people suggest not to do, but she had a blast!

 

[iheartdisney]

We took DD to Build-a-Bear for her first birthday, and let her "pick" which animal she wanted to make. We showed her all of the different animals, and eventually, she clung onto the one she wanted. (Believe me, it was the one she wanted, me and DH tried to change her mind with other ones, but we ended up with a bubble-gum pink fluffy poodle! )
The new friend come with a birth certifiacate, with DD's birthday on it.

We kept up the tradition on her second birthday as well, and a year and a half later, she still loves her "puppy!"

 

[disynut]

These are all such great ideas!!!! I'm going to put them all in a word document to save on my computer so I can print them all out!!!

Thanks!!

Jen

 

[Rapunsel]

Our DS 3.5 Was given a ride on race car which is collecting dust and a rocking horse. I have had the carpet worn away in his bedroom from the rocking horse. It was only a $30 horse from Sam's club but he adores it. You can hear him riding it at night before he climbs into bed..

Now our Dd (7mos) will be getting a Bitty Baby from American Girl. As I was given a doll on my first birthday. So I wanted to continue the tradition.


For DS we had a 'bug' theme party and made him a huge ladybug cake with little lady bugs next to it.. He loved that. The kids all got the cupcake sized lady bugs and the adults got a piece of the big one.

Now for my DD she will be haing 2 parties. One in NY with the friends and family here and a cake to be decided on and then another party on her real birthday with the family and friends in CA. What can I say. that is waht happens when you are born in December and your birthday comes on vacation.

Then we will spend the eveing watching fireworks at DL.


HTH!

 

[LisaNJ25]

My daughter will be 1 August 26th. My other daughter will be 6 August 19th ( The new baby is coming Sept 1!!!)

We are having a picnic with about 60 people. Since her name is Belle we will be doing the Belle theme.

The picnic will be for both girls but I am also having a seperate party for my 6yo at build a bear.


I am not going crazy with toys. I got her the disney princess mega blocks.

We are making wands and halos to put in the goody bags.

The cake is going to be a Disney princess ice cream cake.

 

[rt2dz]

We had a big blow out when DS#1 turned one. It was mainly adults, some kids of close friends & child cousins. We offered a variety of entertainment to go through an age span (moonwalk rental, pinata, and free play). We had a variety of appetizers & drinks & then served fajitas. The kids at the party received age appropriate party favors. Those under 2 got board book sets; those older got sandbuckets filled with different things depending on age--ex. my 5 yo neices received playdough, card games, stickers, & coloring book; while my 9 yo nephew received madlibs. We just put a tag with each child's name on it so it wouldn't be confusing when the guests left. We didn't focus on him (too overwhelming for a 1yo), it was just in his honor.

He did play with toys pretty intensly at that age, but the best things were things that would last or he would grow into. The Little People by Fisher Price were fantastic gifts that people gave him. At 4.5 he still plays with them, as does DS#2 at 18 months. Clothes were also a fantastic gift he received--especially the bigger sizes that he would grow into. Takes a lot off of us to purchase later. He then also received a lot of cash gifts that went into his college fund.

DS#2 has been quite sick on and off (more on) and isn't really fond of large crowds. To him, his grandparents (who he sees every couple of weeks) are strangers. So we did a very small celebration (much to my regret, I want to celebrate the wonderful day that they came into this world). Also, since we have so much from DS#1, we put on the invite "gifts unnecessary". We DID NOT buy DS#1 anything for his brothers birthday. I just think that sets a bad tradition. Often in life they have to see others get gifts (every birthday party they attend) while getting nothing. The sooner they learn that every time a sibling or friend gets something they won't necessarily, the better, imo. We did include him in a lot of the planning (he helped bake the cake, pick out wrapping paper for gifts from us, picked out presents for the baby, etc) and got a party favor at the end.