Inexpensive ideas for first birthday party

Please share your ideas... we want to make DD's 1st birthday special, but I'm afraid of it costing us an arm and a leg! We have a lot of people to invite... any suggestions on how to do it nicely but not breaking the bank? I think we are going to have to have it in the house although we are not thrilled with that idea.

Re: Inexpensive ideas for first birthday party

I've been to more parties than I can count & could probably come up with some suggestions.

What time of year?
What is the age range of guests?
About how many?

Re: Inexpensive ideas for first birthday party

We are struggling with this as well - we are having a hard time figuring out what to do that won't cost an arm and a leg - unfortunately our backyard won't work for the party and with family members who are very allergic to cats we can't have it in our house either.

Re: Inexpensive ideas for first birthday party

We had it at our home in May. I wanted the weather to be nice, b/c we have a small house. Well, it rained. Everyone was in the house...all 50 people and kids. Ya know what, it was GREAT! No at all as bad as I expected it to be.

We saved a TON of $$ doing it this way. I had it catered b/c I did the math and if I cooked + my time cooking = not worth saving the $50 it would have saved us.

HTH

Re: Inexpensive ideas for first birthday party

definately doing it at your house woulkd save you a lot of $$$. also, if you can cook some of the foods yourself or have family help you, you dont have to pay a caterer.

Re: Inexpensive ideas for first birthday party

Re: Inexpensive ideas for first birthday party

We had DS's party at my in-laws and got sandwich platters from Costco -- they were delicious and it saved us a ton of $$.

Re: Inexpensive ideas for first birthday party

we had dd's birthday in the back yard and it cost us less than $500.

we did a dora theme and bought all of the decorations that party city had.

for food we did
Pizza (regular/sicilian)
garlic knots
penne ala vodka (made myself)
"1" Hero
Salads (came free with hero)
Beer/Soda

There wasn't too many little kids but we had the pool open and water guns to keep the older ones occupied.

The cake was made by my DH's grandmother.

We had about 50 people.

Message edited 2/19/2008 8:42:59 AM.

Re: Inexpensive ideas for first birthday party

If you do the food yourself, you could order a hero or a meat platter for make your own sandwhiches. Also, if you wanted hot food, I know BJs sells big trays of lasagna and mac-n-cheese. You could put out Chicken fingers (get those big bags at BJs) and fries and it'll be kiddie food but also stuff adults eat.
You can get party supplies at the dollar store.

Message edited 2/19/2008 9:01:26 AM.

Re: Inexpensive ideas for first birthday party

For Taylor's 1st birthday, we are just going to have a small party at home, pizza and cake.

I would rather go bigger when she will remember it and since I am just back to work, we don't want to spend a ton of money (not that she isn't worth it )

Re: Inexpensive ideas for first birthday party

If you can't do it at home, what about renting a hall or party room and just having a pizza party. You can also do a couple of hot foods like pasta, a chicken dish and chicken fingers (get those at Costco). Ask any of your friends who live in coops or developments, they often rent rooms very cheaply, you just have to do all the set up/clean up on your own.