1st birthday party

can those of you who planned your LO's first birthday (or are in the midst of planning it) share what you did? did you have a theme? at your house? did you provide entertainment for the kids? thanks for the ideas!

 

We had a BBQ at our house and invited probably 30 people. My MIL and my Mom brought a few things as well. We did a Prince/Princess theme. No big entertainment. None of our friends or family have real young kids. The youngest is a year older then my older DD. It was pretty laid back.

 

Our kids birthday is in the winter time, so we did a small indoor party. I think we had 12 people there, all family. For the first birthday we did a Winnie the Pooh theme and we did not have entertainment for the kids. The party was at our house and it's small, so we had to keep the guest list low.

 

Still in the planning stages over here...

We're doing a cupcake "theme" with decorations from Oriental Trading company: http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/largeImage.jsp?image=70_6395.jpg
and these invites: http://www.tinyprints.com/product/8592/studio_basics_birthday_party_invitations_cupcake_candle.html

We're planning to just have close friends and family over and BBQing if the weather is nice.

 

Our first birthday isn't until July 31st, however I already know where we will have it. It's going to be a "big" thing I guess you could say.

6 months before I found out I was pregnant, my now husband had proposed so we had already begun planning and booking parts of our wedding. Included in that was our wedding venue that we already paid the $750 deposit. When we found out I was pregnant with twins and due a month before our original wedding date (09/09/09) we decided we were going to change our wedding date to much earlier. So we instead of doing our wedding at home in Colorado on 09/09/09, we got married on the beach here in Hawaii on 02/15/09. We tried explaining the situation to the place we had put a deposit on, but they were not understanding. They were going to send us to collections for the remaining $2000 (the package we were buying) we owed. So we paid it and they gave us "credit" to use it another time. It's annoying as hell to think we'd lose $2000, so I called them and explained that instead of doing a "make up" wedding (none of our family attended our beach wedding because of a really short notice cause my hubby was deploying) we wanted to use it for a birthday party.

So now we are using the wedding venue place for our boys birthday party. They have a reception/holiday party package for $750 for 5 hours. We will do that then add on their food package which is like a simple sandwich tray type deal, includes unlimited soda, drinks, etc for $13/person. Even 50 people is only $650 in food. So that's still only $1400 of our $2000 credit. I'm going to see if they'll throw in a cake package, but if not, that's completely fine cause one of my sisters is a cake decorator. I'll have her make a cake for everyone, then two tiny cakes for the boys. Our reception package includes some decorations and a choice of 16 different colored table clothes. I chose to use blue, then we will pick up some kiddy decorations.

Even if we only use $1400 of our $2000 credit, it's better than never using that credit! We have already decided we don't want to do a make up wedding. It wouldn't mean the same to me, plus all of the additional costs to "complete" it. On top of all of that, we will get our $750 deposit back!

I know it sounds crazy and overly big, but it's money we are just going to waste if we don't do it this way. We plan to invite tons of friends & family in hopes to use up as much as possible.

It's gonna be party time ! :rotflmbo:

Anyone live in the Denver area? Hahaha we might have to invite you!

 

Hey, ShortStackJo:

We're in Denver, & your proposed wedding date was my C-Section date! Too funny. Too bad the boys couldn't wait until that date (had them 9/7/09).

So I was looking at the website for Chateaux Fox & I quote "Our company is based on the belief that our customers' needs are of the utmost importance. Our entire team is committed to meeting those needs." This sounds like a bunch of crap, given the hassle they gave you!

 

That's crazy! 09/09/09 would of been a heck of a birth date! And easy to remember

Yeah, that company has irritated me beyond belief, but oh well. All I have to say is their birthday party better be one heck of a party!! Heck, you should bring your little ones and join us!

 

I'm in Denver and I want an invite to the biggest bang of a 1st birthday party ever!!!! heh heh....just kidding...LOL. I think that is fantastic that you are using that credit for your LOs big day!

 

Count me in!

 

I did prince/princess party with my two. I got most of their stuff from www.1stwishes.com and it was fast delivery and great products. I made scrolls for their invites and mailed them out in tubes. We ended up with about 40 people including kids. I did a somewhat big party, more so for the kids. I had about 8 kids 2-8 yrs. I got tiaras and wands for the girls and knight helmets,shields and swords for the boys (all from the dollar store). I did one game, i had a two baby pools (one for the boys and one for the girls), I filled them with sand and hid a bunch of "treasures". Whoever found the duck won the prize. I did pizza and cake and we did it from 3-6.

I got a lot of stuff from the dollar store, so keep that in mind....goodie bags, candy, prizes etc.

Good Luck! It was alot of fun planning. 1wishes had a cowboy theme that was SOOOOO cute!

Heres pics of our party

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015827&id=1550190164&l=b4e0d360a0