How extravagant or not does a babies 1 year old birthday have to be?

All you need is a cake, camera and family. Let the little one have at it with the cake and take many pictures!

@jonsblond beat me to it.

However, there’s no penalty for being as extravagant as you have the means to be.

I think extravagant parties are rather silly- and, when the child gets old enough to understand what a party is, they will come to expect bigger and flashier every year. Small and intimate is much more meaningful.

The baby won’t care, so do whatever you feel is right. As @jonsblond says, all you really need is a cake, camera and family, but if you want to have a bigger bash, fine. Just keep an eye on the birthday kid so you can put him/her down for a nap if crankiness strikes.

We had a cake, a camera and godparents for our daughter’s first birthday and that worked out perfectly.

i think at 1 year old, the party is more for the adults than for the kid. of course, a cake and some balloons and whatnot would probably make them happy (i would think), but i personally wouldn’t spend that much money/effort on the decorations and whatnot, unless i was doing it for the (older) guests.

Yes, I think for someone who is only one year old and most likely will not remember a thing a yummy cake for the kid to dig into, fun toys, good food, camera – both video and still and good friends and family should good enough and fun. I just wonder because some parents and many baby mags seem to show the extravagant stuff but I guess that I’d more interesting.

It depends on who the party is for. The baby won’t even know it is having a party, but most of guests will. If you want to impress them, then be more elaborate.

I really agree that this is more for the parents hence my anxiety – hee hee.

Baby will be happy with pretty things to grab.

The first birthday party is for the parents to celebrate getting through that first year. The child won’t really have a clue until the second birthday. It’s the third when they really know what’s going on and realize they’re the star of the show. So you have fun the first time, honey. Next time it’s going to be a lot more work.

I just went to my god daughters first birthday party. (Her mother is my bestfriend) The party is definitly for the parents. Don’t get me wrong, they had the party at a park, bar-b-qed, invited 80 people and had a princess theme going on, even a little smash cake she could tear up. She also now has enough clothes and toys to last Til she’s about 3, but really it was really for them to be with friends and family they haven’t been able to see since she was born.
A lot of the other people had children too, so it was like a huge play date.

We had a lovely family party for my son’s first birthday. We paid a lot for balloons..that was a little excessive. And we had lots of burgers and shrimp on sticks, it was a lot of fun, and our son enjoyed it. We didn’t go crazy though. we might for his second birthday

The baby will not remember the first birthday, so whatever you do is for the other relatives, especially grandparents and so on (if it’s their first grandchild). We spent a lot more than we could afford on ours, and got divorced 2 months later. I’m sure my daughter would have preferred a better family environment to any fancy parties money could ever buy.

I have read, and agreed with, all of the posts. I would add that a camcorder is essential. In today’s day and age, the child will grow up and appreciate your taking the time to film it.

Details: Besides the cake and balloons, what about bubbles? Cheap, fun and add the special FX for the one-year-old.

Does the toddler have a favourite doll or puppet? That could be the theme, and do a little puppet show.

This is fun – maybe I’ll make some more babies.

:-)

We had cake and balloons along with bubbles,and cameras. Oh and of course the baby :D

My daughter turned one last fall, we had a small party with immediate relatives (grandparents and an aunt and uncle) and my best friend and her two sons. There were 12 of is total, including the baby. We blew up a few balloons for decorations. My daughter loves Elmo, so I made a small round cake for her and decorated it myself, my Elmo turned out pretty good. We used the rest of the cake batter to make Elmo cupcakes, those turned out pretty cute too. She loved it and overall it was simple and stress free AND we got to enjoy her birthday also.

My brother, on the other hand, has gone overboard with all of his children and their birthdays (hence why we won’t do it)...anyway, it seems like they spend more time worrying about the party then enjoying the day, for what it’s worth.

My mother-in-law only allowed the number of kid guests to equal the babies age, so if they are 3, there are 3 kiddos there. I personally love that idea and we’ll be doing that from now on.

Well the baby’s going to appreciate little of it.

The party is mostly for the guests anyway… the baby will have no recollection of the event other than the pictures you show his/her friends in high school to embarrass him/her.