If you are getting ready to have your baby’s first birthday party and are stumped for a theme, here are some suggestions:

• Were there any special toys your child particularly loved during his or her first year, such as a teddy bear or special doll? If so, you could use the toy as a theme.
• The number “1″ is a very popular theme for this age!
• The child’s first initial is also another popular theme, and could be along the lines of having an Alphabet party.
• A favorite color could also be a theme to build your party around.
• I have seen some really unusual themes, such as a Tiffany’s store theme or antique car theme. They can be seen as giving a classic, vintage feel or something a bit more upscale for your party … depending on your plans of course!
• People often combine a child’s christening with his or her first birthday party. Although these are two separate events, there can be a joint theme.
• A favorite character, such as Baby Einstein, would also be an appropriate theme for a first birthday party.

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Recently I read the post of a very frustrated Mom who had invited 12 party guests to her kid’s 6 year old party. What made it frustrating for her was she had organized many activities for the party, but when the kids actually arrived with so many guests and no “helpers” the kids did very little of the crafts and/or activities, and simply went to playing roughly together…to the point where this Mom felt the party and the kids were out of control.

This is a stressful situation indeed, and one that can happen pretty easily if you invite a large number of guests with little help. In this case, when the Mom saw the party packets full of 10-12 cups, plates, etc. she thought it would be OK to invite that many kids. I am not sure why we can’t buy smaller packs, but somehow the “stuff” companies like to go with those standard numbers of 8 or 10 or 12.

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If you are interested in holding a particular flower party, i.e. a rose or daffodil party, it may be difficult to find exact ideas that match your particular flower. As a result, it is a good idea to expand the theme to look at a general flower theme and try and make it specific to your party, by substituting your particular flower, for the general theme.

If you are having a rose party, instead of making paper tissue flowers, make paper tissue roses, play “Pin the Petal on the Rose,” etc. These would be the easiest ways to make your flower the theme of the party.

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So, what if you really don’t want any guests to bring gifts for their birthday party? This could be for any number of reasons — your child is too young to appreciate gifts, your child has yet to go to a friend’s party and so hasn’t given any other child a birthday gift, you don’t believe in gifts at parties, etc.

Would it be appropriate to put on the invitation, “No gifts, please?”

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Amount of Time: 10 to 20 hours
Budget: $100 – $500
Number of Guests: 10 guests or less
Age of Children: 4 to 8 years old
Indoors/Outdoors: Indoors
Special Notes: This is a very popular party for girls ages 4 to 8. The nice thing is there are many variations on this theme, i.e. you could have a tea party with the dress up, or you could make it more specific and play “wedding” withe the dress up. It could also turn into a “Glamour Shots” party. So, there is a lot of twists you can do on the theme depending on your child’s interest.

This party can also be done on a very good budget. Yes, you can hire people to come in and provide the dressup clothes and a make-up artist to do the kids’ fashion show makeup, or you could provide the dress-up clothese by going to thrift stores and picking up the clothes for little money and having the girls make themselves up, or having adult volunteers help with this process.

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If your child wants a “snake” party, here are some ideas that may help you out when you are planning.

Have a Snake Parade: Have all of the kids form a line and have the birthday kid be the head “snake” and the kids can move like snakes in a line together set to music. Just a fun game to get the kids moving.

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Here is a good resource for parents looking for creative goody bags. Check out Thank Goodies.com

On the “About Us” section of the website these moms who started the company were frustated with “coordinating and finding creative goody bags for their kids’ parties.” They have put together a whole host of creative goody bags, mainly by party theme, and so it will be easy to choose what will work for your next party.

Their bags also have “thank you” cards included to encourage “appreciation, respect for others, as well as good manners.” I love that idea too!

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