Of course you know I love a party but I think lots of people are a little celebrationed out by the time Dec 26 rolls around. So I debated about whether we should have a party at all. She is only 1 and obviously doesn't really understand. Ultimately I felt like that didn't feel quite right either.
So fast forward to looking at lots of options outside of the house, we are going to have something at home with the loose Baby, Its Cold Outside theme - hot chocolate bar, waffles, snowy decorations, lots of white. Most of the guests are adults or older kids so I'm trying to make it fun for all ages.
Of course collecting lots of ideas on pinterest but would love to hear suggestions. Any great snowy ideas for the tiny set? Any general advice for throwing a great 1st birthday bash? Lay it on me!
Oh I love this. Can't wait to see!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you saw this, but Greg and Ashly at Seventh House on the Left had a similar party last year. Lot's of great ideas, there.
ReplyDeleteNo I didn't realize but Im off to go see what ideas I can steal :)
DeleteOh it doesn't seem silly at all! Its actually one of the reasons I didn't want to have the party at home. I found the perfect place to throw a totally different themed party but it turns out they wanted way, way, way more than what I thought was reasonable so we switched it to a home party. Knowing I can only do so much in the 2 days between Christmas and her party, I switched the theme to something more wintery but I'm definitely avoiding red and green and references of Christmas in general.
ReplyDeleteI think its great that you're giving Agatha her own party - every child deserves (and remembers) those parties.
ReplyDeleteWe have a Pancakes & Pajamas party two weeks before Christmas to celebrate my brother & sister's December birthdays. While the adults are busy cooking breakfast for dinner (waffles, crepes, bacon - yum!), the kids are busy doing crafts like making gingerbread houses, paper snowflakes, mason jar vignettes. Its always great to have something for the kids to do and keep them preoccupied until the food is on the table.
Ohhhh can't wait to see the party details after!! I'm expecting for the first week of January, so will probably be looking for inspiration for same time next year!! hehe!
ReplyDeleteMy advice for the first b-day party is to keep it simple so you don't spend the entire party time running around etc... For our first child, we only invited adults to her 1st party (gotta say she was the first grand child in both our families, so there were no cousins to invite!)... we kept it small... grand-parents, aunts and uncles, a few very close friends, god parents.. This way, the focus was ALL on our beautiful little girl! She had a great time!!! So did we... We kept pretty much the same formula for her 2nd birthday.. This year for her third, we added 3 little friends (2 made it!) and it was just perfect! The kids are older, you can entertain them with activities... the parents are free to mingle...
I gave that advice to a friend last summer... but she didn't listen.. She invited her entire group of new moms with their babies for a pool party... so there were many young families there.. but no one knew each other.. so everyone ended up in their little corner.. We didn't get to see the parents and the birthday girl most of the time cause they were busy getting food ready inside, or BBQing outside.. It really only felt like a usual pool party... nothing special about it.. My friend told me a few weeks later how she regretted not doing something smaller so she could actually enjoy herself and be with her birthday girl the whole time instead of running around!!
I also think something at home is great... it will create wonderful memories for Agatha and as she grows older she will be able to recognize the environment on photos...
You had me at hot chocolate bar.
ReplyDeleteOh something else... respect your kid's sleep schedule!! Nothing is worse than having a party for a kid that only wants to go nap!!!! We tried lunch and brunch... Brunch was ideal for ours... she wasn't much of a napper... but would usually get fussy around 2pm... so by having people over between 10am and 1pm.. everyone got to enjoy a fun happy little girl!!
ReplyDeleteNow that is a charming idea. Can't wait to see photos.
ReplyDeleteCheck out Hostess With The Mostess blog for some great ideas too! Many times the details make the party's theme more personal and special. Oriental trading has inexpensive decorations. My son looooove to eat so I chose an Italian food theme for his party. I feel like so many themes for baby parties are too generic and overdone. I had Max's first birthday party at home a few weeks ago. Here's the link if you care to see & steal some ideas.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.findingsilverlinings.net/2013/10/30/maxs-italian-themed-birthday-party/
Can't wait to check out your pinboard. I'm sure you will come up with something amazing.
I LOVE this idea! I'm due in early January with baby #2 so you can bet I'm book marking this idea for next year!
ReplyDeleteYou have great ideas and your parties are fabulous. For the younger ones you might include a diy snowglobe project. They are simple and there are lots of options for the materials when you google snowglobes. I'm looking forward to seeing/reading about the big day.
ReplyDeleteMy friend many years ago did an "Austin's #1" party when he turned one. Everyone came in sports attire and his momma was a cheerleader. Everything was sports related. Good for boys.
ReplyDeleteThis is the cutest theme for a winter birthday party
ReplyDeletehttp://www.blog.birdsparty.com/2012/12/winter-birthdays-penguin-cool-igloo.html#.UoRFlyiEzww
Great idea! My husband's birthday is December 27th and he always got Merry Birthmas gifts (1 gift for both) so when our first son was born in December I made sure to always make a big deal out of it:) 1st birthdays are so special (mostly for the parents) but she should be celebrated!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! My husband's birthday is December 27th and he always got Merry Birthmas gifts (1 gift for both) so when our first son was born in December I made sure to always make a big deal out of it:) 1st birthdays are so special (mostly for the parents) but she should be celebrated!
ReplyDeleteI love the "melted snowman" idea - grownups will laugh, and Agatha is to small to cry!! Also loved the cocoa as party favours. Over here we can get chocolate spoons (yes, really chocolate!) so that you can add extra chocolate to a drink and have no spoons to deal with. Whatever you choose from your Pinterest board or similar, you'll have a great day, and so, I'm sure, will Agatha! x
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like SO much fun! As a December 29th baby, it's greatly appreciated to see Christmas & birthday separated.
ReplyDeleteA bit of advice for the future, have her birthday parties AFTER the kids go back to school and don't send the party invitations with her to hand out the last day of school before winter break. On more than one occasion, I had only close family and friends at my birthday parties because my school friends' parents didn't look through their backpacks until right before going back to school and then my mom got a lot of phone calls apologizing for my friends not being there. :0)
This hits home for me since my oldest and youngest daughters are Dec. 29 and Dec. 31. Yeah, talk about being broke, tired and worn out but I still always kept their birthday's separate from Christmas. I've never combined presents as it isn't fair to them. A winter themed party sounds like a good solution.
ReplyDeleteWinter white is a fun theme-you can do all white food, too ( white grapes, white cheeses, white frosted oreos, etc)
ReplyDeleteOur twins are Dec 26th, too ( yea Capricorns!)-and I will echo what other December babies have said here-keep it separate, don't combine gifts,and when she's older, have the party before or after x-mas break at school.
Our first b-day we had a grown up affair at a local restaurant; years two and three were at home-but as cousins were added I shelled out for a puppeteer and some faux Sesame street muppets entertainers! They kept the kids entertained and happy ( nothing too long-half an hour/45 minutes is enough for the younger set). School years saw themes like Where in the World is Carmen San Diego, Hanson ( it was the 80s)Favorite Book Character, a Rodeo, and even an Olympic Games.
When they turned 21 they took themselves to Vegas!!!!
I still make their cakes for our family celebrations.( they will be 28 this year)
It's so much FUN to celebrate a child's b-day! No matter what you do, enjoy :)
My little sister has a late December birthday. To avoid the whole Merry Birthmas situation, she always had a small celebration on her actual day and celebrated a half birthday during the summer. Her friends were usually in town, the weather was more pleasant, and it solved a situation in which those with winter birthdays often get short shrift.
ReplyDeleteHi love the whole white theme for Aggie..found this on pinterest.. Love it..
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pinterest.com/nlappa/olivia-christmas-birthday/