Like many new parents, first birthday’s around here tend to be a little over the top. This is clearly not for the child, as she or he will really never recall this day, or even care if this party included everyone you know or just mom and dad.
When my daughter turned one I may have got a little too excited. Her birthday was in February. I started planning in October. Yes, that’s right! October. Four months before the big day! But we actually had her big party around Easter as we waiting until we flew back home for the holidays. So I had almost 6 whole months of planning this party.
I did have a small party at home in Burlington with a few friends to celebrate her official birthday. I kept the theme the same so I was able to use some of the party accessories twice.
I quickly decided on a theme (which I now regret that I didn’t wait until she was older as Tinkerbell is now a favourite of hers). Her first birthday was a Fairy Garden Party. You can still do this theme if you have a child’s birthday in winter. Anyone who knows the story of Tinkerbell and fairies understands that they are preparing for spring in the winter.
I even had a story in the invitation with a cute poem explaining all the details. Here's a copy of the invitation.
If you want to do something similar, this is the wording I used:
Royal Celebration
In the hush of winter beneath glistening snow Enchantment and merriment mingle below.
Deep within the garden under canopy of flowers The fairy kingdom gathers to await the hours.
With glittering costumes and delicate wings, gentle fairies frolic, make music and sing.
Fairies take flight, get ready to have fun. For our sweet Isabella is turning the Big1!
Wishes come true by the King’s proclamation
As dancing fairies gather to make exclamation: “There’s nothing as magical, lovely and grand
As a royal celebration in Fairy Land!”
Garden Attire
Garden girl fairies, wear your fairy best. A tutu will do, or a pretty fairy dress.
White or pink, violet or blue. Wings of all colours will await you.
And let’s not forget the garden bug boys. We need Grasshoppers & Bees to make some noise.
Or fly with us to Never Never Land. We invited Hook, the Lost Boys & even Peter Pan.
This is the birthday girl's dress. We had special wings just for her too.
The good thing about planning this in October was that I went out to buy costumes and accessories after Halloween for a fraction of the price. It pays to think ahead. I also lucked out and found lots of garden accessories that started coming out right before Easter.
The birthday girl still learning to balance when walking.
All the kids came dressed up. Even the boys dressed up as pirates. I made sure to invite Hook, Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. I had a table just for all the accessories where the kids picked out their wings, wands, hooks, swords, etc when they walked in.
We had a special cake just for the birthday girl, as smashing of the cake is a must for a one year old birthday party!
To keep the kids entertained we set up lots of arts and crafts. They decorated flowers and butterflies to help prepare for spring. They also decorated their very own flower pots.
I made these pots out of yogurt containers. They held all the markers and paint brushes. My daughter still has them. We use them as containers for her arts and craft supplies.
And every kid was sent home with a loot bag filled with garden fairy accessories! As always, we had each loot bag customized based on his or her age. Flower seeds where also included for the kids to plant in their flower pots that they decorated at the party.
My little boy is just three months old and now this has me thinking….. what theme shall I do for his big party! I'll have to check out
momstown's Birthday Ideas on the blog for some themes that could work for a one year old! Stay tuned until next spring to find out what theme I went with!
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