Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

I will preface this by saying that I'm not passing judgment on anyone here who may have done a large 1st birthday party! Just want to get opinions.....

DD turns 1 in May and I'm not really into a huge, over the top birthday party. My brother and SIL did it for my nephews and spent a lot of $$$ renting out a party space, hiring magicians, balloon artists, face painters, etc. They had custom cakes made to fit the theme, centerpieces, professionally made favors, etc. They had close to 60 adults and 20 kids at the parties. Many of DH's close friends did the same for their children.

I'm thinking immediate family at our house on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, ordering a hero, some salads, and a sheet cake from BJ's or Stop 'n Shop. SIL and a few other people seemed upset/confused/curious why I wouldn't be making a bigger deal of it. I don't really have the money for something extravagant, I don't think she'll actually remember it, and she doesn't really have actual "friends" yet. Anyone else go the low key route?

Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

I kept it very low key for my kids and we all still had a great time!!

Message edited 2/11/2016 1:26:53 PM.

Re: Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

That sounds fine, do what works for you. I had my DS' 1st birthday at a restaurant but for DD we will most likely just doing cake with immediate family since we will be going away the week of her 1st birthday.

Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

Your kid, your decision. Who cares what others expect or want.

And yes, I did a big 1st bday for dd1 and will be doing a restaurant party for dd2.

Re: Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

For DD1, we didn't. I became a SAHM and money was tight. We had some family over and I ordered subs from Uncle Guissepes. We ate cake. Done and done.

DD2 is younger by exactly two years. We planned a kiddie party for both girls at a local gymnastics place, then subs and cake at my house. But DD1 came down with bronchitis the day before. We took DD2 to the kiddie party and cut the house party very short.

Do what works for you.

Message edited 2/11/2016 1:26:30 PM.

Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

My DS just turned 4 and this was the first year we did a party. We just have grandparents over for cake.

After spending the $$$ on his 4th I realized that will be the last party he has for a while.

Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

We just had immediate family and a few close friends. We did it at our house. I cooked all the food.

Message edited 2/11/2016 1:43:11 PM.

Re: Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

Re: Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

Like other posters said, its your child and you decide how you want to best celebrate.

We will be going to our local pizzeria that has a seating area with our immediate family. We'll be getting balloons and a cake from our local bakery.

We did a huge party for DS' baptism and we want to keep his 1st birthday low key.

Re: Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

Re: Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

DDs birthday is in May. For the first 3 years we just did a backyard bbq with family and friends. Last year when she turned 4 was the first time we did a party for her.

DS is also born in May and I dont see us doing a party for him until he turns at least 3.

Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

My DD is a summer baby, so her 1st and 2nd bday parties were in our backyard. Immediate family and a few friends. We catered from Famous Dave's the 1st year and then last year I ordered a hero and chicken marsala and then cooked baked ziti and sausage and peppers.

Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

My older dd we had close family and friends at my parents house. About 25 people. Dd2 we did a brunch at my house with just immediate family. I had no need (or budget) for a big party.

Re: Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

I don't believe in big parties for several reasons

1- i have no patience to plan that shit

2- i'd rather put the money in her college fund

3- the 1 year old wont' remember the party, it's all for the adults

4- I am not a fan of big parties ever


We had pizza and cake with my sister, brother in law and parents.

There is no rule that says you have to do a big party or ANY party for that matter.

Do what YOU want

Re: Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

nope don't believe in huge 1st birthday I find them to be a waste of money esp. since they wont even remember it or really enjoy it.

I did a "big" christening and even that was low key.

for every bday after that I did have it out of the house but that's because I have gotten deals on kids parties we have. her 5th bday was the only one that really cost me a lot of money $$$ mainly because of how many kids were there.

Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

i didnt read the comments but here is what we figured:

we have a winter baby = no bbqs which would have been my first preference

we have a big family with tons of kids so 60-70 is just family, which is what we did for christening.

at that point you may as well have a few kids....

also, we are going on the cheap- free hall, cheap food, no crazy entertainment.

plus i dont want my house to get that dirty!!! we dont have a lot of OPEN space either.

Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

OH 2 more things:

when researching i read that it's better NOT to throw a big party-- some kids get spooked. almost every site said that.

we are also doing dinner for grandparents on the actual day. this is DWs family tradition or we wouldnt be...shhh

Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

I wish I could keep it small! Our families are huge! Our house is small.

We are just doing it nunley's though. It's honestly not very fancy. 90 minutes of carousel, pizza/sandwiches, and cake.

Done and done. We'll have about 60-70 people.

Re: Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

We did not. We did a fun party at home with friends and family, Curious George theme.

We did a big at-home Christening only a few months before, so I knew I wanted to keep the birthday more low-key.

Re: Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

always do whats best for you, I have come to realize you really cant worry about what other people think or their expectations of what you should do

I had a party for my dds 1st party about 50 people in a restaurant private room with entertainment but I had a very small christening party maybe 20 people and I know my 1st bday party is small compared to some peoples parties

your child will never remember this party it is really for the adults, so do what you want get some nice pics from the day and that's it

Re: Anyone else not do a huge 1st birthday party?

I say do what you want.

However, that still sounds like a big first birthday to me or could be- if it was just talked up like so. I mean maybe others don't think so because of your attitude about it. Not saying it is bad, but I didn't go crazy on DD's 1st birthday but we still had a big thing in most of our family and friends eyes. We still ended up spending a few hundred dollars (mostly because we went crazy on food and didn't know how many to expect because no one rsvped and it our 1 bedroom apartment was too small to host). I just feel like the party you mentioned isn't necessary but maybe the way you are talking about what you are doing just makes it sound like to others that you really don't care and it isn't important to you.

I think magicians, balloon artists, face painting is excessive unless you have older kids at the party. If I had a house I def. would have held it in my house and/or backyard over paying for a space. I had it in a local park (still had to pay a fortune to reserve space under the gazebo but whatever) but it was a nice space. We made a big deal about it by creating a theme and hanging balloons, banners, posters that matched. I did a lot of the decorations myself. That just creates a nice experience for the party and your guests. We got a huge cake at a local bakery that was as cheap, if not cheaper than a bjs/sams club. It was just a regular round cake with regular frosting but it was delicious and all it said was happy 1st birthday. We made big party favors for the kids and a homemade dessert spread for the adults. We catered the heroes but made most of the other food ourselves. We brought our bubbles, balls for the kids to play with at the park.

I feel like it was in between the over fancy parties with hired entertainment, and the expense of a restaurant, while not just being a get together inside a house with absolutely nothing being focused on my daughter. We made everything about her and her turning 1, so no one could and would say it wasn't a big deal!