https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 07 Aug 2026 07:22:17 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-249489 Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:11:55 +0000 kokobee 249489@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Pipers Mommy: thank you :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-249474 Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:07:17 +0000 heffalump 249474@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Pipers Mommy: Love your party! I think I've seen it on a blog, pinterest, etc. I'm a big pig lover so I did a lot of piggy research, but decided to go with another theme. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-249469 Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:05:01 +0000 Mrs. Pen 249469@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@stargal: yeah that/s what I've come across too. I''m thinking of doing a yellow and turquoise or green chevron party<br /> <a href="http://pinterest.com/csroddin/chevron-birthday-party/" rel="nofollow">http://pinterest.com/csroddin/chevron-birthday-party/</a><br /> We used chevron in his room and now I'm obsessed with it. As for activities I'm thinking of doing a bean bag toss and definitely a DIY photobooth (had one at my wedding and loved it!).<br /> I'm still throwing around ideas but I think it will be a fun gender-neutral party </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-249433 Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:48:21 +0000 regberadaisy 249433@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Pipers Mommy: ohmygosh! Love it! so cute!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-249428 Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:46:34 +0000 Pipers Mommy 249428@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@kokobee: Thank you! your party looked amazing . I really like the cheerfulness of the aqua. Love the favors that you chose- such a good idea! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-249421 Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:41:52 +0000 kokobee 249421@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Coco Bee: thank you :)! i think i started planning about 2 months before. once the venue and theme were down ,it was easy to go forth with the actual planning :).</p> <p>@stargal: thank you :)! i hard a HARD time thinking of a good theme esp because it was for a boy and because i wanted something a little different than the norm. yes, there is hope :D!</p> <p>@Pipers Mommy: great theme! love the barnyard! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-249373 Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:10:18 +0000 Pipers Mommy 249373@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had about 50 people (12 children) it was a Barnyard theme. We held it at my parents' home. we had a petting zoo (hug hit!!), DIY (and etsy) decorations, balloons, Pizza, Salads, a 6 foot italian sub, cakes and cake pops for favors. we did a birthday cake smash the day before so no photographer. It cost about $1000 in total. </p> [attach=1668/12/m8ca57.600x398.cake-2.jpg] [attach=1668/12/m8ca58.600x398.cake-pops.jpg] [attach=1668/12/m8ca5a.600x398.decorations.jpg] [attach=1668/12/m8ca5b.600x398.Zoo.jpg] https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-249344 Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:45:06 +0000 Mrs. Pen 249344@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: we don't have any community centers... but I'm looking at park buildings like regbera daisy suggested, there are some cute ones within an half hour drive. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-249164 Mon, 06 Aug 2012 04:07:05 +0000 loveisstrange 249164@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>C is 4 months and I'm already planning too! lol. </p> <p>We're probably going to do it at our house. DIY the food and decor and hire someone to take pictures. Living on a military base has it's perks because there are tons of spouses who are photographers and will do it for cheap. :) We're planning a rainbow/April showers theme, since she was born April 3rd.</p> <p>@Coco Bee: Do you have a community center nearby? They usually have open rooms that aren't very expensive to rent. You could also probably fit an inflatable in them, if they'll let you. The base CC does birthday parties and has a package that includes a bouncy house. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-249148 Mon, 06 Aug 2012 01:59:12 +0000 looch 249148@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had about 30 people over to my parent's home. They have a smallish house, and we fit in there just fine, because we didn't do a sit down meal. We set up heavy appetizers and desserts in the kitchen and people just milled around the downstairs. It was December so we had to do it indoors.</p> <p>We did it at around 3 pm, which is perfect because people don't expect a meal but will eat if you have food out. We did a mix of premade stuff and homemade. I totally splurged on a two tier bakery cake, because I didn't have the time or energy to bother making one. Everyone loved it. </p> <p>As for presents, we didn't open at the party, largely because my son was having a meltdown and we actually had to remove him from the party to calm down. You just never know, lol. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-249086 Sun, 05 Aug 2012 22:11:25 +0000 Mrs. Pen 249086@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@regberadaisy: I so wish we had a house :( That is our biggest stumbling block right now and I have no idea where we could have it. I feel like a restaurant would not only be expensive, but not so fun for a one year old. Unless we could rent an inflatable... this is a HUGE bummer of having a winter baby.</p> <p>The YMCA in my area doesn't have a party area that I know of, at least not one that is big enough. As for a pool party - we'll be having mostly adults rather than kids. </p> <p>That is a good idea bout parks! I'll look into that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248912 Sun, 05 Aug 2012 18:16:06 +0000 regberadaisy 248912@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>M doesn't turn 1 for another 9 months! But I'm already planning. Heh</p> <p>Ours will definitely be at home because our new house is big enough. I plan on DIYing decorations and the cake/smash cake. I thought about asking a friend's wife who has a cake business. But I decided I wanted to bake our kid's cakes every year. We will likely DIY food as well.</p> <p>Not sure how big yet but I think we will invite all in town relatives plus out of town immediate family and close friends.</p> <p>I've already asked a close friend of ours to be official photographer! He took pics at the baby shower and they came out great!</p> <p>@Coco Bee: what about like a indoor community pool or at the Y? Might be fun to have a pool party in the winter!<br /> Or you know how some bigger local parks have like a "lodge house" you can rent for events? That could be fun for a winter theme!</p> <p>Def open presents in front of guests. At one they can do a little paper tearing :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248866 Sun, 05 Aug 2012 16:36:45 +0000 Mrs. Pen 248866@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@artbee: aww so cute!<br /> I love the roses. gorgeous. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248827 Sun, 05 Aug 2012 15:44:58 +0000 heffalump 248827@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We opened presents in front of everyone. There were 3 little girls there, they had fun helping. My LO would play with the wrapping paper and toys while the girls opened her gifts for her. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248825 Sun, 05 Aug 2012 15:42:42 +0000 heffalump 248825@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Here's some pictures of the favors, candy table, decorations, etc. </p> [attach=1561/12/m8auv7.600x283.IMG_2037.JPG] [attach=1561/12/m8auv9.400x600.IMG_2043.JPG] [attach=1561/12/m8auvb.600x400.IMG_2042.JPG] [attach=1561/12/m8auvd.600x394.IMG_2046.JPG] https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248823 Sun, 05 Aug 2012 15:31:41 +0000 Mrs. Pen 248823@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Question for all of you: Do 1 year olds open presents? Did you do a formal present-opening? Or did you open them at home? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248822 Sun, 05 Aug 2012 15:28:32 +0000 stargal 248822@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@kokobee: LOVE everything about your party, it looks amazing. i love to that its for a boy, seems like parties for boy that look modern and crafty are hard to come by, and yours looks amazing. gives me hope for my lo's first birthday<br /> and how cute is your little guy, i lvoe the suspenders :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248811 Sun, 05 Aug 2012 15:02:05 +0000 Mrs. Pen 248811@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@kokobee: love that!! it's all soooo cute.<br /> How long did you take to plan it all? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248244 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 21:21:01 +0000 Mrs. Superhero 248244@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did a small family party, no games or anything because there were only a couple other kids. I did a rainbow theme and made a rainbow cake and rainbow fruit skewers. I asked for books as presents. </p> <p>My girls are only three weeks apart, so Wonder Baby will probably get to share her first birthday party with her sister :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248215 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 20:30:57 +0000 kokobee 248215@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>we hosted a pretty big party for LO. i have a big family and big family = a lot of invites.</p> <p>we had lunch at a affordable Italian restaurant for 79 people (50 adults and 29 kids) and ran for about 2 hours.</p> <p>the theme was "little man" and i'd say about 50% was DIY. we hired a photographer ($300 for 3hrs) and so glad we did. she was awesome! i totally recommend you hiring one! in the end we paid around 3k but got it all back in gifts. </p> <p>overall it was an extravagant party for a 1yr old but in the end it was worth the hard work!</p> <p>here are a couple of pics from the party :) </p> <p>this was LO's main table:<br /> [attach=1846/12/m89dmf.600x398.DSC_9666_resize.jpg]</p> <p>sweets table:<br /> [attach=1846/12/m89dol.600x398.URF_7382-Cropped_resize.jpg]</p> <p>homemade chocolate mustache pops:<br /> [attach=1846/12/m89dso.600x398.URF_6774_resize.jpg]</p> <p>handmade bowties and hairpins for the LOs:<br /> [attach=1846/12/m89duc.600x398.URF_7103_resize.jpg]</p> <p>our makeshift photobooth:<br /> [attach=1846/12/m89dvg.399x600.URF_7687_resize.jpg]</p> <p>for entertainment we hired a balloonist:<br /> [attach=1846/12/m89dwg.600x398.URF_7485_resize.jpg]</p> <p>our little man :)!</p> <p>[attach=1846/12/m89dy7.399x600.URF_7254-Cropped_resize.jpg] </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248194 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 19:27:19 +0000 heffalump 248194@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had it at our place which is pretty tiny. There were 30 people, mostly adults, just 3 kids other than lo. It was garden theme because her name is rose. I made tons of tissue paper flowers, did bunting, hung doilies and pink and white steamers from the dollar store, decorations didn't cost more than a few bucks. I used floral hankies as napkins that we had from our wedding and got paper plates, etc at the dollar store. The only thing that cost money was food, which I made. It was bagels and lox with a meat and chease tray and pasta salad, a spring salad, two quiches, a yogurt bar with fruit and granola.... and I think that's it. We decided last minute to buy a cake, I'm glad we did because I had so much else to do. Favors were sugar cookies for adults, I stamped flowers into them. Kids got a little garden themed goodie bag. I'm on the kindle so I cant post pictures but I will when I get to a computer. We didn't get a photographer.... I thought it was silly for a first birthday but now I understand why people do. You're way too busy to take pictures! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248174 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:38:42 +0000 Mrs. Pen 248174@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chopsuey119: yeah I saw that. It was cute. I wouldn't have a problem if my son had a summer birthday and we could do it in a park. But it's the end of February! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248163 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:29:41 +0000 chopsuey 248163@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Coco Bee: yeah, we paid for everything. I would have loved to DIY the food, but man. I didn't have it in me. Didn't wanna deal with the clean up either. </p> <p>Mrs Sunglasses threw an amazing DIY party for her son. It'd be nice to DIY baby 2's birthday, but I already have his birthday venue picked out. haha. :D </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248161 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:26:39 +0000 Mrs. Pen 248161@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chopsuey119: I take it you paid for everyone's dinner? yeah that is expensive... I would definitely prefer to DIY food if possible :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248159 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:23:29 +0000 chopsuey 248159@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Coco Bee: you should check it out sometime! their lunch is just as good as dinner! :D<br /> and I would definitely get a photographer. you won't have the time to take pics!<br /> yeah, we spent a bit more than I hoped. it's because dinner included alcohol and i special ordered a cake :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248152 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:14:47 +0000 Mrs. Pen 248152@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chopsuey119: oh we have one of those about 45 min from us! I have been wanting to go there for awhile!</p> <p>Oh gosh!! I definitely don't want to spend that much :):) but I am considering a photographer... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248150 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:11:56 +0000 chopsuey 248150@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had LO's party (for 22 people) at a restaurant called Fogo de Chao (brazilian bbq). There were only 4 LOs there (including the birthday girl) so it was an adult party. </p> <p>Spring theme, 4:30-6:30pm, just had dinner and took pics, didn't have a photographer (big regret! but we got some good pictures). </p> <p>I never did a formal $$ count, but I think everything (food, diy decorations, diy projects, cake and favors) totaled about $1800. No more than 2k. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-did-you-do-for-los-first-birthday#post-248146 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:06:51 +0000 Mrs. Pen 248146@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It's still over 6 months away for us (thank goodness!!) but I love planning parties/get togethers and want to do a lot of it in advance or at least have some ideas.</p> <p>Our biggest concern is WHERE we'll have it since we rent a small place. Our parents/siblings don't have houses big enough for even a small party. </p> <p>I'd love to know the theme of your party, where you had it, time, length, what you did, did you have a photographer, how many people, and if you don't mind disclosing- how much you paid for the party.</p> <p>I'd love to see pics too :):) </p>