pip your child's first birthday

[changedname]

gravytrain225 and I are on a roll, planning our DD's birthday parties.
I know there are a bunch of us with babies about to turn 1.

Please pip and tell me what you did.

Theme? Cake smash? How many people? Did you make the cake or buy?

We are hiring a church hall with about 30 people.

I like to see real ideas instead of pinteresty unattainables.

[Deleted]

I can't PIP right now because I am on my phone but I'll tell you what we did.

For J we had the party at our house in the afternoon. The theme was Trains with turquoise and red. I found the invitations on Etsy and everything else spun off from there.

We had the food catered (chicken parm, ziti, salad, bread, sausage and peppers) and I made fruit salad, and spinach dip with sliced baguette, and had chips and dip. I ordered a cake and also made him his own smaller cake that was allergen free.

For decorations I made a "train" where each train car was one of his month pictures and hung that up. We decorated with turquoise and red balloons and I had the train picture from his invitation scanned as an image on his ordered cake. I also baked train shaped sugar cookies that we decorated turqoise and red. I loved his party!

For the girls the theme is "tea for two" It will also be at our house and we will be serving:
tea and the usual accompaniments like sugar, honey, milk
punch
scones with jam, clotted cream and lemon curd
three types of tea sandwhiches - cucumber and butter, tomato basil and mozz, and Nutella and seedless raspberry jam
cookies
One tray each of grilled chicken and rice and steak tips and rice (for those not keen on the "tea" since the party is at noon)
salad

We will order a cake and I will also make each girl their own small cake. I just ordered the invitations last week and they had paper products and cutlery etc that all coordinated so I ordered all of that too. The colors are mostly a bright candy pink and pale blue.


Eta: we will also have fruit salad and maybe chips and dip at the girls party. We are still finalizing the menu.

[ssmjlm]

Here's the thread, but let me know if the pics don't work: pandce.proboards.com/thread/321351/1st-birthday-decor-recap

[MNH2013]

Planning with you but our theme is (shifty eyes) "All That Glitters is Gold, M is turning 1 year old"

GLITTER Everywhere! <) Will be at our house in early afternoon. Someone posted the other day about hawaiian roll sliders and H liked that idea over my brunch idea. I have started making some decorations but will be purchasing a glitter tablecloth on Etsy. I can't find the fabric in stores anywhere. My sister is really good at making tutu's so she is making a glitter one. I want to make a long sleeve "ONE" shirt/onesie in glitter lettering. Still deciding if I want to make my own glitter invites or just pay someone on Etsy.

[kategm]

Stay tuned until Sunday. M's Winter Onederland party will be the definition of "attainable". But it's only 10 people (all family) and at at my house so it's maybe not what you're going for. This was my DIY invitation since I lost track of time during Christmas and didn't have enough time to go the Etsy/custom route. I printed the words online and glued them onto blank snowflake notecards I found.

ETA: all decorations were purchased at after Christmas 50% off sales. Including not-for sale snowflakes at Target that I begged them to let me buy.

[kategm]

Jan 6, 2015 8:13:18 GMT -5 MNH2013 said:

Planning with you but our theme is (shifty eyes) "All That Glitters is Gold, M is turning 1 year old"

GLITTER Everywhere! <) Will be at our house in early afternoon. Someone posted the other day about hawaiian roll sliders and H liked that idea over my brunch idea. I have started making some decorations but will be purchasing a glitter tablecloth on Etsy. I can't find the fabric in stores anywhere. My sister is really good at making tutu's so she is making a glitter one. I want to make a long sleeve "ONE" shirt/onesie in glitter lettering. Still deciding if I want to make my own glitter invites or just pay someone on Etsy.

I like the theme! I bet it will be so pretty.

[matildasun]

To me the most important part of a birthday is the cake. I have made their birthday cakes each year, and then just have simple paper goods that match the colors.

M's first birthday was at home. We had brunch, which included salad, quiche, fruit, and muffins. He had a farm cake and cup cakes. He ate an entire cupcake by himself.


Barn cake directions

A's first birthday was at the upstairs of a bar. They provided heavy apps. I had a few decorations and a cake. Target had cute Very Hungry Caterpillar plates at the time, so I ran with that theme.

It was my first cake, and I freaked myself out, so a friend came over and helped. She made the smash cake.

[changedname]

ok @awinter - wow! love the train with the monthly photo ideas.

MNH2013 - amazing theme! love it!

kategm - can't wait to see your photos!

I'm kind of doing the same in that I'm doing a loose pink heart theme so will jump on the Valentine's day sales.

[Deleted]

Lol changedname don't be too impressed. I would call myself a pinterest failure. I try, but I'm just generally not super crafty lol. I am relying heavily on the coordinating paper products for the girls party. Napkins, hot beverage cups, dessert plates, and table cloth with the tea cup theme, and then other plates,cups, and cutlery in coordinating solid colors. I also ordered a "happy birthday" banner that matches the invitations.

I would like to display the girls' month pictures in some way like I did J's. Anyone have any ideas how to do this in coordination with their "tea for two" theme? Maybe I could put the pictures on card stock cut to look like a tea bag?

[cobber06]

We didn't really have a theme- it was pink and gold. We served ham and cheese sliders, caprese pops, crudité en baguette, mini cheesecake, pretzel rods, fruit salad with lime mint sauce, red velvet cupcakes, and a few more things that I am forgetting.

I made their smash cakes and frosted them with rosettes- it was actually really easy.





Their golden birthday is coming up, so I am in the midst of planning that. I think I am going to recycle as much decor as possible from last time.

I pulled out my pink and gold vintage china for their first bday- debating if I should do that again or just use paper plates.

[changedname]

@awinter

I love the tea party theme. I did something similar for my MIL's birthday last year.

I would try and cut out cardstock in the shape of teapots or cups for the photos? Also, I got teacup/pot shaped cookie cutters at Michaels.

I found these cupcake molds at the dollar store - huge hit and they made the theme for me on a budget.

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[ilikedonuts]

DD2's 1st was a joint party with DD1 who was turning 3 (their birthdays are a day apart). We actually did two parties. One at the Little Gym with playgroup and then one at a local community center with family and other friends.

It was Frozen/winter Themed. We had 25 kids (and like 40 adults) at Little Gym and then like 60 (adults and kids) at the family party. That's why we split it up!

I got a grocery store cake (and free smash cake) for the LG party and then a fancy cake from a local bakery along with a smash cake for the family party.

[changedname]

cobber06 - I think that is the look I'm going to go for.

I'm just going to make those tissue paper puff things in pink for décor, pink table cloths and gold accents. Thanks for the inspiration!

[ilikedonuts]

One more

[MNH2013]

cobber06 I LOVE your stuff! Can you tell me where you got it? Also, I think I will borrow some of your menu ideas!

[ilikedonuts]

Every year I ask my bff to take pictures and then every year I ask myself why because she takes horrible pictures lol So my advice is to give the camera to someone who you know takes good pictures!

[cobber06]

@awinter the tea for two idea is genius! I think I need to incorporate some I those ideas into my girls' 2nd birthday.

[mrsfarmer]

No theme, it was combined w/DD2's 2nd birthday since the days are 4 days apart.  I ordered cakes for each girl, presented to them on their actual days.  DD2's was on a Saturday, so we had people over.Attachment Deleted

[Deleted]

Jan 6, 2015 10:07:02 GMT -5 cobber06 said:

@awinter the tea for two idea is genius! I think I need to incorporate some I those ideas into my girls' 2nd birthday.

I thought of it late one night while I was trying to come up with a not overused theme for a twin birthday party. It appears to be a common theme for 2yo parties so you should be able to find some cute stuff. I think I'm going to steal your rosette frosting for their little cakes lol.

Eta: di you just use a frosting piper with the tip and swirl it?

[Deleted]

We only had 9 people but I still went with a Winnie the Pooh theme.  Ordered a Winnie the Pooh cake from the grocery store.  Got a bib, plates, party hats, etc from Amazon.  Ta-da!

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[rugbywife]

I have no real pips yet but here is my inspiration board...My goal isn't to spend a whole lot of money…I just looked at Party City and this is what I came up with:



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+ since it will be Easter…I am going to ask our wedding cake baker to make a big one of these for her 'cake smash' and then a small one for our meal...

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[cobber06]

Jan 6, 2015 10:01:58 GMT -5 MNH2013 said:

cobber06 I LOVE your stuff! Can you tell me where you got it? Also, I think I will borrow some of your menu ideas!

I got the sparkly gold paper from Joanns fabric. I cut out the banner and the one cake topper using that. The paper straws were from etsy, but you can find them pretty much anywhere now.

Oh, and other things that I'm glad I did were have a time capsule where people wrote notes to the girls that they can open on their 18th birthday and had their coming home from the hospital outfits on display.

[redheadbaker]

It was a sock monkey theme. www.theredheadbaker.com/sock-monkey-birthday-party/ We mostly decorated in red, brown and cream polka dots. I made the birthday cake and the smash cake. We held it at my parents' house (our apartment was too small).

[cobber06]

Jan 6, 2015 10:10:12 GMT -5 @awinter said:

Jan 6, 2015 10:07:02 GMT -5 cobber06 said:

@awinter the tea for two idea is genius! I think I need to incorporate some I those ideas into my girls' 2nd birthday.

I thought of it late one night while I was trying to come up with a not overused theme for a twin birthday party. It appears to be a common theme for 2yo parties so you should be able to find some cute stuff. I think I'm going to steal your rosette frosting for their little cakes lol.

Eta: di you just use a frosting piper with the tip and swirl it?

Yup- I used a star tipped one. Also it works best with buttercream or other "crusty" frosting. I did a crumb coat first and then just winged it with rosettes.

[ladygrey]

We had a small party at home with 20 family members. It was at the end of June so we did a backyard picnic with pulled pork sandwiches, salads, fruit, chips, and lemonade. No real theme - just pops of pink/turquoise/yellow, lots of balloons, a "ONE" banner on her high chair and a "Happy Birthday Lucy" banner in the family room where we opened gifts. I bought a sheet cake from the grocery store, and made a small cake for the cake smash.

**poof**

[jinxy]

We had an airplane theme for DS' first birthday. I found invitations on etsy I liked that were teal and red so I went with that color scheme.

We had about 40 guests. We made all the food and I made the desserts. I made a smash cake for DS as well as an airplane cake and cupcakes for everyone else.

We did decorate but it wasn't pinterest-worthy. We made the tablecloths look like runways and we had cloud balloons. Everything else was more general birthday decorations. We did put out framed photos of DS from the past year and those were a huge hit as well as his monthly onesie photos.

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[ryry]

DD2 had a ladybug birthday (we call her Lena Bug a lot). We had lots of red pom poms with black dots on them. The tablecloths were red with black dots. 

[shell24]

No real theme. We had a bunch of older kids so I put up our bounce house and hired a face painter and a balloon artist.

I had a smash cake for all 3 of my kids firsts. DD1 had purple, DS had blue and DD2 had pink. They were all exactly the same:




The cake:


For food, I made steak kabobs that we put on the grill, and had other BBQ foods/sides. Her bday is in August so that worked out well. There were about 40/45 people at each party.

When my oldest turned 1 we were still in our condo so we had her party at a restaurant.

Oh! Good tip-I've hired a photographer for their first bdays so that I don't have to worry about taking pictures. It's been well worth it!

[shell24]

Here's my DS with his:


And his cake:


For his food I catered from a local chain called Portillos. I did Italian Beef sandwiches and chopped salad and pasta.
Plus I had out appetizers in the beginning.

[ryry]

DD1 didn't really have a theme, just 'lots of colors'. I don't have many good pictures from her birthday, sadly.