Just recently you picked up your baby from the maternity hospital, and soon your baby will turn 1 year old. This will be the first bright event in his life. Many parents think about how to celebrate their child’s first birthday, how to organize a bright holiday that everyone will remember.
From this article you will learn the most interesting options for organizing a party in honor of your child’s birthday. Remember, the first birthday is a family holiday.
As on any birthday, the celebration program should include congratulations to the birthday boy and parents, competitions, and of course a sweet table. On this day, parents and relatives can congratulate their one-year-old baby, arrange his first real holiday, give him many gifts, and, of course, relax and have fun with him.
The first birthday is the most important. Photo: pxhere.com What to give a boy for his 1st birthday
Where to celebrate a child's first birthday?
Remember that the first birthday is a holiday not for the baby himself, but for the parents. All the worries about holding and organizing the holiday fall on the shoulders of the parents. The baby himself will not be able to remember it completely.
Where to celebrate your first birthday:
In the cafe
If you plan to invite many guests, it would be better to book a banquet hall in a good cafe. There you can invite animators who will amuse the children, and a presenter who will entertain the adults. If the company is not too big, then you can book a table in a cafe. You can take on the role of presenter and animator, or you can invite a professional. Make sure in advance that the cafe has a place where children can play. There should also be a place where adults can dance. If you want to arrange a purely children's party, then there are special children's cafes where you can invite all your baby's friends and celebrate the holiday in a special atmosphere.
The main disadvantage of celebrating in a cafe is the cost of such pleasure. Another disadvantage is that this is a new environment; you don’t know how the baby will react to it and whether he will be able to relax there.
You can celebrate your birthday in a cafe. Photo: pxhere.com
Outdoors
Celebrating your child's first birthday in nature is a great idea if the holiday falls on warm days. While in nature, both adults and children will definitely find something to do. If you have a dacha, then you can invite all your relatives and friends there. You can just find a good place in the forest, near a river or pond.
In nature, children usually eat and sleep well, so you should plan for this and take everything you need. Don't forget to also bring mosquito repellents, sunscreen, hats, etc.
Celebrating in nature would be a great idea. Photo: maxpixel.net
At home
By celebrating a birthday at home, you can be sure that your baby will eat healthy food, will be able to rest when he wants, and will generally feel comfortable, since he is in a familiar environment.
Who to invite to the holiday? During the celebration, the baby will feel as comfortable as possible. Since noise and turmoil can tire the baby, we recommend planning everything so that the birthday boy is little involved in the process. It is advisable that your child can stick to his usual daily routine. Therefore, it will be better if the first birthday is held at home.
People usually invite either close relatives or little friends of the baby and their parents to visit on the first birthday. The second option is more difficult for you, since you do not know what other children will eat, what their daily routine is, because not everyone will be able to come at the appointed time. Such a holiday will not last longer than 4 hours, but the children will have fun together.
If you invite relatives, you will make your task much easier. After all, firstly, all your loved ones will happily play with the baby. Secondly, you can ask for help with cooking or cleaning. Thirdly, you won’t have to monitor everything every second, and you can relax yourself. You will have a great holiday!
Selecting a location
It is better for the baby to celebrate his first birthday in a familiar place - at home. If you often go to a cafe with your child, then you can celebrate his first anniversary there. In the cafe, you can hire organizers of children's celebrations so that they prepare the scenario for the future holiday and entertain the guests. The script is usually selected from a variety of options. You can make your own individual scenario if none of the ones proposed are suitable for celebrating your child’s first birthday.
The festive program should be designed for guests and their older children. A one-year-old baby is still too young to participate in recreational activities.
What is the best time to celebrate?
Think carefully and choose the start time of the holiday. It is best to set a time after 1 pm, when all the children have already slept and are in a good mood. You can talk to other parents in advance and ask what time would be most convenient for them to come.
Each child has his own daily routine. Photo: pixabay.com
How to make birthday invitations?
It is always a pleasure to receive invitations to a holiday. So, firstly, your guests will definitely remember the appointed time and place. And secondly, they will happily keep this invitation as a keepsake, especially if it is made with their own hands.
The invitation should include:
- date and time;
- place;
- the name of the person to whom the invitation is intended.
Send the invitation in advance, at least a week before the holiday, so that both you and your guests can plan this day in advance.
Birthday ideas
Decorate your holiday in a certain style, it looks very impressive both in photographs and in life. Your little one will be delighted to see his favorite characters on his first birthday.
Design ideas for boys :
- Football theme . You can decorate the rooms by covering them with posters of different football teams or individual players. We dress the birthday boy himself in a football uniform. You can also make sweet treats in the form of balls and decorate the table with football paraphernalia.
Cakes for future football players
Football theme for a boy. Photo: dhgate.com
- Gentlemen's Club . Dress your baby in an elegant shirt and pants, or you can also attach a bowtie to it. You can complement the outfit with a black top hat and tuxedo. Decorations can be made in the form of black mustaches, ties and butterflies.
Cakes for 1 year old boys
Kid in a tuxedo. Photo: dhgate.com
Pirate scenarios and competitions for children
- Pirate ship . Pirates are associated with treasure, maps, skulls and crossbones, ships with black banners and other mysterious symbols. Use all this for your holiday. Party invitations can be made in the same style, with specific pirate jargon.
Cakes for little pirates
Little pirate. Photo: pxhere.com
Design ideas for girls :
- Princess . This is the most popular theme, since most girls dream of becoming princesses in childhood. Dress up your baby in a lush pink dress, put a crown on her, and she will delight all guests with her appearance. Photos from the holiday will turn out very bright and beautiful. In the decor, use lush pompoms in pastel shades, balls, bows, flowers, and sparkles.
Cakes for young princesses
Princess holiday. Photo: pixabay.com
- Cartoon characters . The most popular characters are Masha and the Bear, Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty, Peppa Pig. They can also be fairies or sorceresses. Add pictures of your favorite cartoon characters to posters and invitations and your girl will be delighted.
Cakes for beginner sorceresses
Fairy style decoration. Photo: letthemeatpops.wordpress.com
- Animals . You can place toys of different animals (bunnies, bear cubs, etc.) around the house. You can prepare special bunny ears for guests.
Cakes for little bunnies
Girl in a bunny costume. Photo: pxhere.com
Don't forget to capture this bright holiday. After all, a photo is the best memory. And years later, your baby will grow up, and you will be able to joyfully watch these wonderful moments of his life together.
Festive table
The menu for adult guests can be anything. How can you please the kids and the birthday boy himself, so that after the anniversary you don’t have to suffer from allergies or overeating? It’s customary to bake a cake for a birthday – but is it possible to treat a baby to such a product?
A birthday cake for a tiny person can be baked without any problems if you are familiar with sponge dough. To prevent the sponge cake from being too dry, you can soak it in baby fruit juice. You can use children's fruit curd as a cream.
Important! Don't forget to put one candle on the cake!
Setting up a children's table is easy: all dishes can be arranged in a convenient order. The menu for one-year-old children is not very diverse:
- juices in bags;
- baby cookies;
- fruit pieces;
- fruit curds with different fillings.
The kids will not come to eat at the holiday: their mothers will feed them at home. However, creating a festive atmosphere and decorating the table is necessary! The menu may be modest, but the kids will have fun this birthday. The main thing is that the food is not hypoallergenic: this is the main condition.
You can't think of a better buffet table idea for this day. Please note that guests are unlikely to sit in one place on the little one’s birthday: everyone will be on the move. Therefore, the table needs to be set so that any dish can be taken with your hands on the go.
It is strictly forbidden to place dishes that children can choke on!
How to decorate an apartment?
To create a festive atmosphere, buy a lot of colorful balls, garlands, and hats. Decorate everything so that everything around you seems bright and cheerful. You can also buy soap bubbles, because children love to watch soap bubbles inflate and burst. And the adults who will let them in can themselves plunge into the atmosphere of childhood, remember those feelings when they were children. You can also buy pipes, but keep in mind that loud sounds may scare your baby.
Decorate the room with colorful balloons. Photo: pexels.com
Decorate your rooms with wall newspapers. You can make them yourself, or you can order them from a designer who will beautifully arrange and design everything. You can make banners for your guests, where bright photographs of the birthday person will be inserted, starting from the first days of his life.
Post a photo of the baby. Photo: maxpixel.net
If you decide to celebrate your first birthday at home, then think about the decoration in advance. The space should be divided into at least 2 zones: a table with treats and a play area.
Cover the floor in advance so that it is soft and warm for children to play. Lay out toys in advance, prepare sketchbooks, paints, markers, etc. All rooms can be decorated with balloons; they will create an atmosphere of joy and lift the spirits of both children and other guests. In addition, at the end of the holiday, you can give these balls to each child. For adults, you can buy or make your own caps that will create the atmosphere of a real holiday.
Photozone
Make a beautiful photo zone in the style of your theme. You will be able to take unforgettable photos with all your guests. You will get great pictures as a keepsake! How to make one for a year old with your own hands?
Set up a photo zone. Photo: pixabay.com
Make one out of paper
To make one for the holiday, you will need:
- Cardboard box;
- Glue and tape;
- Scissors;
- Napkins or other
How to make a birthday card with your own hands
We take a large cardboard box, cut out two flat units from it and fasten them together. To make a more voluminous figure, we attach disposable cups between the cut out units, and cover the side of the figure with napkins. Coat the corners of the figure well with glue and give it time to dry. We decorate the finished unit to your liking. It can be covered with flowers from napkins.
Room decoration
Well, we’ve chosen a place – now we need to decorate it festively. You can buy a lot of multi-colored balls and hang them around the room, following traditions, but you need to be 100 percent sure of their quality and another 1 percent. If they turn out to be defective, they may begin to burst right in the middle of the birthday party and scare the child and guests (which may also include children). It is better to choose a design with bright shiny garlands; you can hang posters with large photographs of the baby in different months of life, or you can draw a wall newspaper with your own hands or make a family tree (this entertainment will be more for parents and guests than for the child himself, but by the age of 4 he will be actively interested in him).
The walls can be decorated with multi-colored prints of the arms and legs of a toddler at 1 year old and immediately after birth, and a colorful inscription “How I have grown (grew up)” can be attached to the top. You might like the idea of decorating your first birthday according to a specific color scheme (for each subsequent birthday, you can choose one of the colors of the rainbow and purchase all the decor within that color). The 1st birthday decoration should be bright and colorful so that the baby can look at the decor for a long time.
If you want to surprise your invited guests, you can take a huge photo of the child in the form of a panel and decorate one of the walls with it. You can arrange a dry pool (fill an inflatable pool with soft toys or balls), this will entertain both the child and little guests on their birthday.
Anniversary outfit
Of course, on the first birthday, parents want to dress their baby in all the most beautiful things, they buy new clothes and shoes for them. But don't be upset if your child wants to wear something familiar. Let him be in what he wants and what he is comfortable on this day.
Outfit for a girl. Photo: pxhere.com
If you have a girl, then prepare a beautiful dress and bright shoes for her. And for your son you can prepare a fashionable suit or jeans. For boys, new clothes can cause feelings of rejection. You shouldn’t react sharply to this, try talking to your baby, tell him that today he has a special holiday, at which he should look beautiful.
Outfit for a boy. Photo: maxpixel.net
Who to call
This issue must be approached carefully. A child’s social circle is still very small and it is unlikely that by the time of his first birthday there will be about ten people whom he knows well and is not afraid of. It is better to invite only close relatives: grandparents, aunts and uncles, godparents. You can call a neighbor who often sees the baby, a couple of people from the playground (also acquaintances). You shouldn’t get carried away and invite a crowd of girlfriends, friends and distant relatives unknown to the baby for the first name day.
If your soul still asks for noisy fun for your birthday, then, of course, you can invite all your relatives, girlfriends, friends, children from the sandbox, young mothers and fathers whom you met in the antenatal clinic during pregnancy with their already born children and many more whom. However, in this situation, the first anniversary may be ruined before it has even begun - the baby will be afraid of strangers and throw a tantrum, and you will not know whether to continue the planned activities or calm the child down. And the guests will feel uncomfortable.
In this case, we recommend holding two celebrations. A quiet holiday at home for the baby, close relatives and parents with small children, and separately organize a full-scale party for a cheerful group of friends. However, it is worth considering that one year is not yet the age when a child can be left with a grandmother or neighbor for a long time. Therefore, the young mother’s direct participation in the party will not last long. However, a few hours is enough to have a lot of fun!
Making a menu
Regarding dishes for adults, you should not have any special worries. You have the right to submit what you consider necessary. But the children's menu needs to be carefully considered, since children cannot always eat what you serve for adults. For children, you can prepare fruit salads, make beautiful cupcakes and gingerbread cookies. You can bake a sponge cake or a banana muffin. For the children's table, you can prepare dishes with cottage cheese, as they will be beneficial for the child's body. And don’t forget about drinks; the kids can be treated to compote or juice.
Cakes for 1 year old girl
But since at one year of age the diet is not as wide as we would like, focus on design. Depending on the style of the celebration, choose appropriate napkins and tablecloth. Think in advance about how you will decorate the dishes. To emphasize that the holiday is really for children, you can supply jars of baby food for everyone.
Pay attention to the tablecloth, because it primarily attracts the attention of guests. Pink and blue tablecloths look nice. You can also choose a tablecloth with themed patterns.
Decoration of the festive table. Photo: goodfreephotos.com
Kids just love cupcakes. Photo: maxpixel.net
A selection of fun competitions
Organize fun competitions.
Photo: pxhere.com Competition “What does the child look like”
Have all your guests write their version on a piece of paper, and one of the parents will read it out at the end. Your baby may look like some actor or sports star, be that as it may, your loved ones will come up with many interesting options.
Competition “Who knows the baby better”
Make up a series of questions, for example, about his weight and height at birth, about the meaning of his name, about his zodiac sign, when he sat down, when he started walking, what word he said first, what he likes to eat, when his first tooth came out, etc.
Competition "Who's the gourmet"
For the competition you will need jars of baby food. Cover the labels with paper and write the number. Let everyone try the contents, and then ask what the puree is made from. The one who guesses the largest number wins.
Competition "The most accurate"
If the birthday boy doesn’t mind, it will turn out to be a pretty fun and interesting competition. Each of the invited guests must approach the hero of the occasion, lift him and evaluate his weight. The prize is given to the one who was closest to the truth.
Competition “Letter to the Future”
All guests of your holiday can leave their congratulations and wishes in a letter that will be given to the birthday person after 17 years, that is, on his coming of age. Each guest is given:
- Sheet;
- Pen;
- Envelope.
On the envelope, ask for the name, the date it was written, and the date the envelope can be opened. This is a very touching competition.
Hold interesting competitions for your baby’s birthday and don’t forget about the prizes. The winner of each competition should receive, albeit insignificant, but pleasant gifts that will remain as a memory of this holiday. You can also make comic awards and titles like in beauty contests, such as “Best Storyteller”, “Best Nanny”, “Best Animator”, etc. Let this day be remembered by all guests!
A tribute to traditions - fortune telling and the first curl
Perhaps they will seem old-fashioned to some, but still traditions are traditions, and whether to observe them or not is everyone’s right and choice.
For fortune telling, you will need several items that could characterize the baby’s future. The items are laid out in front of the birthday person and he chooses one of them. For example, a book means that the baby will be interested in science in the future, and a phone indicates that the birthday boy will open his own business. Approximately 5-10 such items are selected.
Cutting the first lock of hair is a very ancient tradition that can be interpreted in different ways: both as dedication and as taking under guardianship. The first curl is a kind of amulet that was kept until adulthood, and sometimes until the end of life.
There is also a superstition associated with the first haircut, which says that it is necessary to cut the first fluff in order for thick and beautiful hair to grow. In fact, it is impossible to change the hair structure with a haircut, since it is genetically determined. But the tradition has been preserved, so you can observe it when celebrating your child’s first birthday.
Traditions
In addition to competitions, there are several traditions for the first birthday. One of the most common is the rite of tonsure by the godparents of the child. The godparents take turns cutting four strands of the birthday boy's hair in the shape of a cross and folding them into a scarf.
These hairs are kept only in one’s own home, behind the images of saints. In this way, you give God and the Saints the opportunity to protect and help your child. Therefore, the child will always be under the protection of God's power and grace.
Invitations
Any holiday, regardless of whether it is the first or twentieth birthday, begins with inviting guests. You can call all your friends and relatives (some, by the way, will call themselves and ask when the child’s first celebration will take place), or you can send a postcard by mail or hand over beautifully decorated invitation cards in person. You can include a small chocolate bar or several sweets with your children's birthday invitation.
Invitations for the birthday of a one-year-old baby.
Be sure to indicate in the invitation what format the holiday will take place, what time and where you need to arrive, and all other organizational aspects that a delighted guest may accidentally forget.
Briefly about the main thing
- It is better to celebrate your first birthday at home with close friends and relatives;
- It is best to set a time after 1 pm, when all the children have already slept and are in a good mood;
- Decide in advance on the theme of the holiday;
- Send invitations at least a week before the event;
- Make a beautiful photo zone in the style of your theme. You will be able to take unforgettable photos with all your guests;
- Hold interesting competitions and don’t forget about prizes;
- If your child doesn't want to wear a new outfit, let him wear what he feels comfortable on that day.
Tips for organizing a holiday:
- Coordinate the time of the celebration with the child’s daily routine. There is no need to schedule an event for the evening; it is best if it occurs after a nap, when the baby is full of energy, strength and ready to play and have fun;
- Such a small child will not be able to hold a long holiday, so you will have to limit yourself to 2-3 hours. When you prepare the holiday script, remember this. It will be a shame if, in the midst of fun, the baby gets tired and begins to be capricious and whine from fatigue;
- Start some family tradition on this day. For example, take a group holiday photo with your child in the same place. Over the years, you will collect them into an album, where you will clearly see how the baby grew, matured, and went through all the stages of development. You never know how many interesting traditions you can come up with! The more, the more interesting, and the more fun the holiday will be.
- Of course, it’s up to you to decide whether or not to invite a large group. But still, you should not impose adult ceremonies on a one-year-old child: receiving guests, inviting other children with whom he is unlikely to be able to play, long “get-togethers” at the table. Think carefully, does your little one need guests on this day? Maybe, really, you can get by with your closest people and relatives who love your baby, know you well and, to some extent, take part in his upbringing?
