I can't believe it has already come to this, time really has flown by. My favorite part about planning the party myself is the ability to work around nap schedules. Whenever we receive party invitations I hate seeing the times. Time such as 'noon-2pm'. My children nap from noon until typically 2 or 3pm. So that is where the big questions lie, to take the kids and have them be grumpy? Try to squeeze a nap in before? Try to get them to nap in the car, wake them up when we get there and deal with the changes in temper? Or, what unfortunately usually happens, not to go at all. These are the struggles of such a young family. Not only are they more work to travel with, but their moods are very unpredictable.
This is why my very favorite thing about throwing a party is that I get to do the planning myself. What time it will be held, what will be on the menu, and my kids are in their home if any 'emergencies' should happen we have everything we need here. Here are some tips and tricks I have found of planning a 1st birthday party:
1.) When? Always plan the time around the child's nap. A well rested child on such a big day for them is very important. They will already be a little out of their element having so many people around and all the attention on them, that a good nap prior to is absolutely necessary. You can plan a party earlier in the morning, or in our case since we are a bit of a distance away from family we will typically hold our parties in the late afternoon as an early supper to provide wiggle room for driving.
2.) Where? Like I previously mentioned I greatly enjoy having the party in my own home. We are fortunate in our new home that we have the room to hold a large group of people, not everyone has that luxury. If you at all can, I would highly recommend the party in your own home. We have done both the parties at home and parties at another location, and at such a young age it is very difficult to always be prepared. For example, if you have the party at a park and your child desperately needs a nap, where will they go? Or a diaper change, where would you set up the 'changing station'? Where as in your own home people feel more comfortable and so will you to have everything you need if any of your children should need something particular.
3.) What? What will the theme of your party be? I was once told that you should plan the first few parties and plan what you would like, because once the child is 3 years or older they know what they want and the theme will be their choice. If you have always had your heart set on a Pooh themed birthday, you had better plan it now. As for me, I have chosen a basic #1 theme from Party City. I believe that the real celebration at this time is that they're 1, and I also believe it is so much fun to see what they come up with for their own birthdays for their on out. I have never dreamed of a party for my children, so I'm not to picky about this one.
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| www.partycity.com |
Party City is a great place to find invitations, balloons, favors, plates, cups, silverware and anything else you might be looking for. My favorite thing is that their website is all designed by theme so you can pick the theme you are looking for and shop for all the matching pieces.
www.partycity.com
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| bounce house rentals |
4.) Who? Who will be attending the party? Our young children invited only, or kids of all ages? Personally, we typically have the 1st birthday be more for extended family and birthdays 2+ are more smaller immediate family. Therefore we will be expecting children of all ages for this birthday party. You will need to keep this in mind when you are thinking of activities during the party. We are going all out this time and have decided to rent a bounce house. We are planning on seeing 15+ children under the age of 12 and want to be prepared. We have decided to rent this inflatable through a local bounce house rental (usainflatables.com). They are located in Champlain, so for us this was the best location. They are rather affordable for all they will be doing at the party. Keeping the kids outside is a very big goal of ours.
5.) Invitations? Like I mentioned earlier you will typically want to get the invitations out in the mail a month prior to the event. Especially in the summer, people are busy with vacations and the better of a heads up you give the better idea you will have for number of people attending. I am now going to learn from my past, and not hand write all the invitations. For our daughters first birthday I sat down and wrote each invitation individually. Hours and hours later, I told myself 'never again'. This year I have come across an idea when I was ordering our Christmas cards. They also have birthday invitations that you can order on photo paper from any photo distributer. We have used Sam's Club Photo (http://samsclubus.pnimedia.com/home.aspx) or Target Photo (http://www.target.com/c/target-photo/-/N-5a1wg) or even Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com) for invitations such as this. Super cute right? And they save you the awful task of writing them all out yourself! And the family that are unable to attend can still have a nice picture of your child to celebrate the big 1st year!
I am so fortunate to be home now as party planning is so much fun! Also, it is the perfect reason to get all those little indoor and outdoor projects done around the house that you want to get done this summer. I cannot wait for the celebration as I cannot believe my smiley, giggly, goofy, handsome baby boy will already be 1 year old!
I hope this party planning tips and tricks have helped you. Is there anything I forgot? Any tips and tricks that you have learned? I would love to hear them!
Until next time, Best wishes in your next party planning!
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