I have two children. And because I have two children, I have naturally celebrated two first birthday parties. When I threw my first-First Birthday Party for my son, I noticed some funny differences as I compared it to a normal party, AKA an adult party, but it wasn’t until I gave my daughter a 1st birthday party that some of these differences have solidified in my brain. Surely, I’m not the only person to notice these special things that make a one-year old’s birthday party that much more… precious.
1. Only at a one-year old’s birthday party is the guest of honor NEVER around when family and friends begin to arrive. You will never see a one year old welcoming guests, or babbling at their dearest friends. Chances are, mommy and daddy have their little tot sleeping until the last possible moment to attain as much “happy baby” time as possible. We all know this is true…
2. Only at a one-year old’s birthday party will we create an entire separate cake for the birthday baby to destroy. Not eat. Destroy. Okay, they eat some of it. But most parents avoid giving their babies sugar, or large cake-sized amounts of it, until after they’re one, so this first encounter is typically met with confusion. What I love most, is how every baby has a different interpretation on how they will eat the cake… gently lick the icing, pinch away a few piecies, or do something like my little princess here and OWN IT.
3. A first birthday party is the ONLY party ever thrown where the person it is thrown for has no clue it’s happening. A one-year old’s birthday party is really a celebration of the parents. A celebration that the parents have survived 12 months with a screaming person. And that is a complete and total reason in which to have a party. Plus the baby probably isn’t screaming as much, so it a lot more enjoyable too 🙂
4. Only at a one-year old’s party do you have to designate someone else to blow out the candle. Once the “Birthday Song” has finished, the Party King/ Queen is just as clueless as when it began. Now, you begin to shove a flame in their face? “Blow it out, blow it out!” — you lovingly call…
Trust me, they don’t get it.
Save some time. Ask the toddler, who has turned blue from making blow-out noises through the entire birthday song, to blow out the candle. Just don’t let them get so close that they spit on the cake. Just trust me.
5. Only at a one-year-old birthday party do the games include “clapping”, “hiding toys under a blanket”, and “put as many children into a pack-n-play as possible”. I guess my point is, don’t drop money on that toddler TWISTER game… they just want to lay around with their friends, and clap about it.
First birthdays are kind of frivolous and absolutely more for the parent. But gosh, they sure are sweet, and probably the easiest birthday party you’ll ever throw for your children.
