I'm a planner, I like to get things started early so I'm not stressing last minute. DD2 is turning 1 in March and I've started to think about her party. We are keeping it low key at our home, and I really don't want to go overboard. How do you keep it simple. It will be grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins invited and we will serve lunch or dinner (not sure on time/day yet.) Help me not go overboard (already trying to stay off Pinterest!)
-
Not sure if you are similar, but I find that I tend to take a specific theme and run with it until both my brain and wallet are tapped out. For DD's next birthday, I'm leaning towards throwing her a good old fashioned "birthday party" themed party to save myself some sanity. Is this an option? Think pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, balloons, crepe paper streamers, party hats, a construction paper birthday crown. Perhaps serve a spread of her favorite lunch/dinner foods, and bake a simple, homemade cake. Whatever you do to keep other little ones busy, keep it straight forward and open ended. Cover a table with butcher paper and leave out paints or crayons. Buy a cheap flat of assorted playdoh and set out bowls of cookie cutters. Done and done.
-
Well, for DS' 1st birthday, we just picked a simple nautical theme mostly to have easy colors to work with (blue, white, and a smattering of red). I had the cake made in those colors, got sandwich platters and shrimp cocktail from Costco, made some easy sides, and bought plates/cups in blue and white. We got disposable white tablecloths, ran a blue runner down the middle of the table, and filled some glasses with starlight mints, sour cherry balls, and Red Vines as a centerpiece. DS wore a little blue/white Prince George style jumper (mostly for his portraits) and that was it! We had the party at 12pm, ate lunch, had a cake smash, a doljabi, presents, and it was over in 2 hours.
-
I need some ideas to keep it simple and not break the bank.
@deerylou: I'm wondering the same thing about having themes. I just don't think everything needs to be centered around a theme. It does sound like it could get expensive sticking to a theme.
-
For my son's first we had no theme, just invited about 30 friends and family around to our house, I made a square cake with simple buttercream icing, and we bought a bunch of meat and veggies for the bbq. The biggest part of our budget was beer and wine! Everyone had an awesome time. If you want to keep it simple just do!
-
One of my friends always throws great parties without any themes. She just makes cupcakes and her husband barbecues some meat, and they dump a few containers of toys in the backyard (mostly dress up clothes although they also have tricycles and a swingset).the kids love it and I'm in awe! @ScarletBegonia: wine and beer also factors heavily into these parties
-
I actually think a good theme can keep you on point. They don't necessarily have to be complicated or crazy - they can be as simple as a color palette, favorite stuffed animal, food, etc.
We had a super simple first bday for my son (we had just moved into a new house and life was a mess!). All I did was pick a color scheme - light blue, white, silver. Set up a few easy decorations, got a light blue frosted cake for the smash, had a few friends and family over for take out and cake. Very simple but we got to celebrate with the ppl who love him most
-
Just wanted to follow up. DS1's nautical 1st birthday party was pretty easy for a larger party, but for his 2nd party, we kept it super simple and did a cake and pizza with some very close family friends. We went to the pool because DS1 loves to swim, then we had cake and pizza with very simple decorations from the dollar store (hats, noisemakers, and matching plates/napkins). We did the swimming at 4pm after nap, have him a shower after the pool, had cake and pizza around 530pm and we were still home for his 730pm bedtime. Plus he had a little party in his class at school (just sent some rainbow Rice Krispie treats and the leftover plates and napkins from his party), so that was plenty.
DS2 had a luau themed 1st birthday party. Mostly because DS1 had a little Hawaiian outfit to pass down from our trip to Hawaii the year prior and they had tons of luau stuff at the dollar store in May. DH and I both had Hawaiian-y attire from our trip as well so all we did was order DS2 a Hawaiian shirt. We sent each kid home with the leis, sunglasses, and a beach ball as a favor (Oriental Trading). The centerpieces were the leis and sunglasses strewn around blue plastic margarita glasses filled with Goldfish crackers.
We had an easy luau-themed menu of Sweet Pineapple BBQ Chicken, served with Hawaiian rolls (for sliders) or steamed white rice. We made a simple macaroni salad, a pineapple coconut fluff, fruit kabobs, and a crunchy Asian bok choy noodle salad. We got a beachy-themed cake from the grocery store and I set out some Nutter Butter cookies that I piped with some tube frosting to look like flip flops.
DS1 is turning 3 in September and I think right now we're going to do the same thing we did last year - pool and our close family friends. He is really into the Wiggles so I think that's going to be our theme. The characters on the show dress in black pants and then wear red, purple, blue, and yellow turtlenecks, respectively, so the adults joked about dressing as a Wiggle. DS2 randomly has a dinosaur costume, which is also a character on the show, so we may put him in that. I think DS1 will really get a kick out of it. I'll use the blue, red, yellow, and purple as the basic scheme for decorations (i.e. some balloons and streamers) and then doctor up a storebought cake into something Wiggly. We may also take him out for frozen yogurt, as that's like one of his favorite things.
I'll have to figure out a treat for his school party, but I'll probably do some kind of fun Rice Krispies treat. Maybe I'll make them blue and decorate them to look like Tayo the Magic Bus? (Another obsession).
-
I wanted to keep it simple in terms of decor and planning for my oldest daughters birthday this year, so I didn't do any fancy etsy banners, I didn't do any DIY decor, didn't spend a lot of $$. I basically went to Walmart and got some princess stuff (DD wanted a princess party), bought some crepe streamers at Michaels with a coupon, and paid $28 for a cake at Sam's. Favors were from the $1 spot at Target and I resisted the urge to go way overboard there.
Then we ordered pizza for the party itself. It still ended up looking "done" but in a cheesy birthday party way, but my daughter loved it. It was not Pinteresty at all, haha (I hate to say tacky, but well, the pictures say it all).
-
Just some food for thought as well - think back to your own childhood - what do you remember about your own birthdays? I'll bet any money it wasn't the theme, the decor or the favours - it was probably running around with friends, gettting hopped up on sugar and being the centre of attention for a day. Kids are so simple, I think parents complicate and emphasise things that are easily forgotten by the guest of honour!
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
9 comments