1st Birthday Ideas???

OK... I'm a first time mom.... I'm all gung ho about throwing this Huh-UGE first birthday party and I'm inviting all our friends and family... Hey! We deserve it! We've gotten through a whole year right??? So.... I'm inviting about 70 guests . I booked a restaurant (no WAY are they coming to my house! Can you imagine cleaning up after them?) for October 28th from 2-6. Its a private room and they do all the food, plates, cakes, drinks, etc. Heres where I need the help. I need: a) a theme.... I'm so tired of the basic baby blue. I've been playing around with a fireman, fall or barnyard theme but I'm not set in stone.... He doesnt seem to like one cartoonish character over another at this point so I'm trying to stay away from something like Sesame street or blues clues or some other character. I'm trying to steer clear of a Halloween theme because I'm sure when he's older he's gonna be so sick of sharing his birthday with Halloween. I'll get balloons, favors, partybags, hats, etc to match the theme. b) some entertainment... of those 70 someodd people, I'd say 20 are kids ranging from 2 years to 13 years old (most of them being younger and not including the birthday boy) I got a clown that does magic for his christening to keep them entertained and I'd love to have her again but all my friends took her card and we've seen her at about 12 birthday parties since February Danny is OK with big characters (like Elmo- we went to sesame place and he wouldn't lay off) but then again, do I have to stick to a theme if I hired Elmo? Is a puppet show too childish? What do I do? c) favor ideas... for his christening, I gave out little candle holders with candy in them that held one of his christening pictures for the adults.... If I'm doing a fall theme, I'm thinking those caramel and chocolate covered apples on a stick but then again, they're gonna be a pain to make or a lot of $$ to buy like 40-50 of them! Any ideas? I'm pretty crafty so if they have to be made, I'm the one to do it! Money isn't really an issue but I would like to keep the whole party less than what my wedding cost! ROFL! Any ideas? Thoughts? Comments? Likes? Dislikes? etc... -Janine

Janine- My sister's twins had their first birthday on May 26th (4 days after Hunter was born). We celebrated on Memorial Day so that the whole family could be together. My sister sat Jonathan and Joel in their highchairs and gave them cake, they sure like that TREMENDOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!! Ha Ha, What messy but happy boys!!! My DH and I were tired, we had been home with Hunter for like 3 days, and were trying to get adjusted to being 3 instead of 2!!!!!! I honestly do not remeber much, except the cake, and the brightly wrapped presents!! Their 3 year old brother Joshua made off with the toys after a while!!!! But I remember that the kids were very happy!! -Jamie K.

Hey Janine, I'm new to this birthday party planning stuff myself but at least I have till next March to come up with something for Sarah's 1st birthday. LOL Since it's in the fall how about a carnival theme. I don't know how much room you'll have at the restaurant but you could have different little stands set up. One for face painting and maybe some carnival type games with little prizes. Again, I'm new to this party planning but I would think this would go over pretty good for kids of all ages but I'm sure it depends on the amount of space you have to work with. If my fried brain can think of anything else I'll share with you. Teresa

Damn I wanna come!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think for Gabe I am going to try to rent a room at the community center nearby b/c our family is from out of town and I don't know how many will come. I am trying to not be too big b/c at one I think Gabe will still have a pretty short attention span and an intolerance to a lot of activities at once LOL! I am thinking of sesame street theme b/c we watch it so much! Plus Gabe really loves Elmo and the Cookie Monster when they come on. I was going to do Pooh but his nursery is in pooh so I figured I wouldn't do that. I doubt we will do any entertainment or favors or anything mostly b/c of money and secondly b/c for all we know nobody in our family will show up since its a 2 hour drive. But we'll see and I plan on sending out the invites early enough. I was thinking we'd have cake and maybe sandwhiches or pizza, something that I can buy in bulk that won't cost a fortune! You go super momma party planner! Maybe one year the boys can have a party together that would be adorable!!!!!!!!!! Amy Proud Mama to Gabe the Babe - 9 months old Proud Wife to Dave the Dinkabot - for 8.5 years Sleep deprived nursing student - one year left til RN and then on to Nurse Practitioner school to be an OBGYN NP - Midwife hopefully!

Well I love the idea of a fall themed or barnyard party. Since it is close to Halloween, maybe the kids that are coming could come dressed as a scarecrow or farmer or milk maiden (is there such a thing?? lol ) *For games for older kids (and adults) you could do a guessing game like put candy corn in a jar and have everyone guess how many is in there. Winner takes it home. (Also for older kids you could have a memory game and put different items out on the table (fall themed of course, leaves, apple, straw hat...etc.) and have them write down as many as they can remember. Again, winner could get a small prize. *For all the kids they could have a relay race. Take two bags of cotton balls and put them in a bowl. The kids must use a spoon and carry as many cotton bowls to another bowl on the opposite side of the room. Which ever team fills their bowl up first wins. *For all guests that can spell and write, see how many words they can make out of the word SCARECROW...winner gets a prize. While the older ones do that, the younger ones can have a coloring contest.....again, winner could get a prize. I'm sure there are printable scarecrow coloring pages or barnyard coloring pages. *Another funny relay would be the baby relay. Teams line up and take turns putting on a large pair of socks, carrying a blanket to a designated spot, picking up a stuffed toy and taking it to the next person in line. *Then everyone can play pin the hat on the Scarecrow. FUN! lol With all these games, who would need entertainment?? For party favors buy clear plastic frames or have guests make their own from craft sticks and have them decorate the frames with paper, paints, cutouts, or other craft items. Take a Polaroid of the guests when they arrive and the photo and frame are a great gift. For a good keepsake, have the guests sign a sheet or maybe a plain blanket that you've decorated beforehand with Danny's handprints and footprints. You could make his little cake be a barn. And they have these cute Little People farm animals that you could put on the cake and when the frosting gets washed off of them he could have them as toys! Okay, I'm all partied out!! Allie

Wow........do you want to plan my parties from now on. Not that we have huge parties.......My family is all out of town and my husbands is very small. Oh well that sounds like so much fun I want to go!!! Michelle

Are you able to let the kids outside also? If so then Jupiter Jump- I hope I am spelling this right. kids around here love that thing. they take turns with the big kids and small ones.