If your baby’s first birthday is approaching, you might be planning on hosting a first birthday party. If this is the case, then you could be wondering how you can plan a party that everyone will enjoy without doing more than you should. These are a few tips that can help you plan the perfect celebration.
Don’t Go Overboard
First of all, you shouldn’t go overboard. Some parents go crazy when planning their child’s first birthday party. However, there is really no reason to spend a ton of money or get too wild with the party. The focus should be on your child and on gathering together with loved ones – so keeping things simple will be best.
Choose the Right Time for the Party
When planning the time for your party, there are a few things to think about. First of all, you should think about your baby’s naptime, and make sure that you work the party’s time around this. Otherwise, you might have a very sleepy and cranky guest of honor at the party.
Additionally, remember that your baby’s attention span is probably still pretty short, so keeping the party time short will help ensure that your little one is in a good mood during his or her party, and can help prevent your guests from getting bored.
Choose a Simple Theme
You may want to choose a theme for the party, but you don’t have to be too over the top with it because, at the end of the day, your one year old won’t remember the theme. You can even just choose a color scheme to use as the theme if you would like to. This will give you a starting point for choosing decorations for the party.
Prepare for a Mess
There is a good chance that there will be a big mess made during the party, especially during cake time. Doing what you can to prepare for this can make things go a lot more smoothly. For one thing, you’ll probably want to host the party in an area that is easy to clean up, such as your kitchen or your back deck. Consider using disposable tablecloths, plates, cups, and flatware to make clean-up a breeze.
Also, when your baby smashes his or her first birthday cake, make sure that you have a fresh change of clothes and some wet cloths nearby so that you can get your little one cleaned up in no time.
Make Sure It’s Entertaining for Everyone
You may have friends and family members of all ages coming to the party, and some of your loved ones might be bringing their little ones along as well. If you are hosting a mixed party, you’ll probably want to make sure that there are plenty of things for everyone to do so that they don’t get bored.
Having a few party games in mind for the little ones to play, and offering music or a game like Cornhole for the adults, can help you ensure that everyone has a good time on the day that you celebrate your child’s birthday.
Take Plenty of Pictures
Perhaps one of the most important things to remember on this important day is to take lots of pictures. After all, you only get to celebrate your child’s first birthday once, so you will definitely want to remember the special day well into the future.
Don’t Stress Yourself Out
It can be easy to get stressed out while you’re trying to plan the perfect party for your child’s first birthday. However, if you stress yourself out too much, you might find that you won’t even have a good time at what should be a wonderful celebration. Therefore, do what you can to prepare ahead of time, and then try to relax.
As you can see, planning your child’s first birthday party does not have to be as complicated as you might think. If you follow these simple tips, you can help ensure that the party goes well and that everyone has a great time.
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Drew Bishop is a contributing writer and media specialist for Just Artifacts. He regularly produces content for event planning blogs.
