Are first birthdays really this serious?

[hungrycaterpillar]

I need a theme? He's only 9 months now and while I know he has certain likes I don't feel that by 1 he'll be obsessed with dinosaurs or dogs or llamas or whatever. What am I realistically supposed to do?

[themysteriouswife]

No. I do it more for myself. I find party planning soothing.

[zitiqueen]

"Birthday party" is a perfectly good theme.

[cville]

Whatever the hell you want. The kids don't remember.

[flex]

Coming up with a theme for the first birthday party is wasted effort.

[sewf]

I just went to Dollar Tree and got pirate stuff. It was more for me. A "yay, we kept him alive!" party, if you will.

[isabel]

No. DS's first party was family only. No theme. I didn't even really decorate. He had a tshirt with a big one on it and I made him a mini funfetti cake with white icing. I put a "1" in the middle of the top of the cake and poured sprinkles all around so it was colorful. That was it. He "opened" presents (threw tissue paper and ripped wrapping paper) and went crazy with his cake, then had a bath. Lol

[Deleted]

Seeing as my kid's birthday is new years day and smack dab in flu season, I'm planning on making his birthday theme forever be "Congratulations. You're alive another year. Because we vaccinated you. You're welcome."

[ECB]

1st birthdays are for the parents. Not the kid. So do what YOU want

[Leeham Rimes]

I had a "theme" in so much as oh hey, those safari animals are cute, let's buy it off Etsy. We had cake and just the grandparents over bc I hate being a hostess.

Kids don't give a shit bc they're still babies. This is all for parents. Do what you want as much or as little.

[sunshineandpinot]

Mar 4, 2017 17:47:03 GMT -5 ECB said:

1st birthdays are for the parents. Not the kid. So do what YOU want

yup

[ginger]

Only if you want it to be.

It truly is all about you. lol

[lilac05]

Themes certainly aren't necessary. I did them because it was fun & I had to decide what was on the (Sam's Club) cake anyway. DS1's was "little man" during that craze, and DS2's was music. I think the only "themed" thing was probably the cake, definitely no cutesy themed food and I don't even think I did decorations. I stick to things that use only basic colors of the rainbow so I can buy a bunch of different colored plates/cups/napkins and just mix and match them...and then save the leftovers for the next year. So, I used the same stack of stuff for a Finding Dory party and a Lego party.

[noodleskooze]

We did a first birthday party and haven't done one since. Too much work, and he's too young to care or remember.

[JayhawkGirl]

Ds's theme was pink. As in, I found pink glitter paper plates at target and served cake to us and our parents/siblings on them. I did get a bakery sheet cake at the grocery. It was pink.


Ds - we were a month out from closing on our house. I made a cake. It was dry. But I made blue frosting and put candy fish decorations which kind of matched his bedding.

[fatamy]

Our "theme" was cupcakes for DD's 1st bday. But really it was just multi-colored cupcakes on the invite, a cupcake shirt with a 1, and colorful decorations. We did Moe's catering and had an ice cream cake. The real theme was good food, beer and cake for the adults who didn't necessarily want to be there, lol.

[cjcouple]

I just did soemthing fun for guests.

DS1 was Braydens deep fried 1st birthday. Made is County Fair themed and fried a bunch of foods. Tempura, oreos twinkies, fries etc.

DS2 I did Lukes ice cream sundaes craze. Made cupcakes that were ice cream cone shaped and had a sundae bar with bananas, sauces, candies, whipped cream etc. Both were cute.

[wannabe]

i always made a bigger deal out of it than i needed to, because i thought party planning was fun as hell.

last week i went to a bridal shower and breathed a giant sigh of relief because i don't do that shit anymore. LOL.

[cabbagecabbage]

Like others said, this is your year. Pick the colors/book/song you love best if you want a theme or skip it if you don't want a theme. This is your "I survived a baby" party.

We had a barbecue. The theme was rainbows. I made a whole grain muffin smash cake my daughter never touched. I drank beer. It was fun.

[eb777888]

We had one, not for him but for me, lol. I LOVE throwing parties and wanted to entertain. We had family and friends over since he didn't really have friends of his own yet. He was totally oblivious to EVERYTHING, obviously. It was completely unnecessary. I say do whatever you want.

[eb777888]

Oh, our theme was the reallllly original "first birthday" theme, lol. It was lame!

[speckledfrog]

It can be as big of a deal as you want to make it. The theme for my first was Wheels on the Bus and for my second it was balloons.

[eastcoasttexan]

Our theme for the twins first birthday was animals- I found animal plates that were cute, the end. It was more "We (ME) kept two newborns alive and only had one mental breakdown"

[lilafowler]

You only need a theme if you really love your baby.

[momin2013]

No. DS's first birthday was him, me, DH, party hats, and a homemade Elmo cake. I'm pretty sure he wasn't traumatized by the lack of other details (or people for that matter).

[sporklemotion]

We did a brunch, so our theme was "stuff yourself with delicious pancakes and omelettes."" But our family is small and I work two jobs, so I didn't bother. We didn't even have cake. We didn't start real parties until 3, when DD1 actually started to get the concept of a birthday.
But I know cultures and families differ, and themes aren't really what the kid likes, but what the parents think they like.
If we were to do a theme based on what my kids liked at one, it would be breast milk and late night wake ups themed.

[hymen]

I like my kids first birthday parties because I actually get to pick the theme. We have been repeating the same theme of Mickey/Thomas for the past few years now and I'm over it.

[shamrockshake]

Every party I throw has a theme. I'm one of those people. I live for party planning

[pinkdutchtulips]

our 'theme' was turning 1 lol with some tinkerbell balloons and ladybug decorated cake .... i was just happy we survived year 1 lol

bdays since have included a theme - mickey & minnie, hello kitty, tinkerbell, minions, barbie and mermaids

[mariafromnj]

1 year old kids don't know the difference so don't stress.
If you want a theme, pick something that works for you and if you skip the theme that is fine too.

My son had a very mild interest in Mickey Clubhouse so that became our theme. The party was all things Mickey and his friends. Mickey is everywhere and a popular theme so I didn't have to worry too much about finding ideas and supplies.