This Year’s Guide to Planning your Baby’s 1st Birthday Party 

This is a guest post done by my friends over at Sprinkles & Confetti. Check them out here for more party inspiration!

It seems like each year we only get busier which is why we reached out to party experts at Sprinkles & Confetti to remind us how to save time when it comes to planning baby’s 1st birthday party.  To be honest, the first full year can be a total blur and there’s a lot of pressure to throw a photo-worthy party for baby’s 1st  birthday celebration so we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss the highlights for party success! 

What are the latest trends?  What does it take to plan a successful party?  Let’s find out what Jackie and her team had to say about simple hosting tips!  

Before we jump right into the details, you can see there isn’t just one element that defines success, milestone birthday parties take some planning and that starts here!  

1st things 1st…Decide if this is baby’s party or your party!   

Before you even sit down to make a guest list, remember that the more people you invite the larger the budget and the more complicated the party will likely become from the invites to the menu. There’s no right or wrong answer, some hostesses love a small gathering while others thrive off a house or venue filled with friends and family, but please do a reality check and make sure you plan appropriately for yourself.  The last thing you want is to be mega stressed out when the party actually comes, we’d rather you’d be enjoying it and celebrating your little one not regretting your party choices.   

So you need to know are you throwing a low key 1st birthday?  Is the most important piece of the day watching baby have some fun with a smash cake?  Or are you hosting a full-blown celebration, impressing friends & family while also celebrating being a parent and surviving the first year!  

GUESTS 

You know your baby best and you need to consider whether your soon-to-be one-year-old is a social pro or is a little more shy and overwhelmed in busy places?  This first answer will set the scene and determine the best party for your family.   Of course, this day can be just as much a celebration for the parents as it is for baby boy or girl, but the most important part is that everyone (baby included) is comfortable on the day of the celebration.  If baby freaks out around strangers, it might be better to consider a more intimate, friends and family gathering!  

Is guest list getting too large?  Think about whether all your friends without kids really want to give up their Saturday celebrating with a one-year-old who may pass out from exhaustion before everyone even sings happy birthday!  That suggestion doesn’t apply to all friends and family – but keep it top of mind that you only want guests to attend if they’ll enjoy the gathering and there are no rules that you need to invite everyone you know to witness little miss or mister staring at his 1st birthday candle in shock!  

TIME & PLACE  

When you’re deciding when to start the party, remember that your guest of honor (and probably a few guests) will need to nap! Plan on the party lasting around 2 hours and don’t be offended if anyone needs to leave early because of an unexpected meltdown.   

You place kind of falls right in line with catering to little ones.  If you have space at your house or backyard we highly suggest entertaining at home for this occasion, but if you happen to select a venue or restaurant make sure that it’s kid safe and friendly for little ones who will likely be wandering around throughout the party!  

THEME 

At Sprinkles & Confetti, we believe choosing a theme and color palette is half the battle to planning an amazing party!  If you’re anything like us you’ll spend more time than you had hoped browsing Pinterest boards for ideas and inspiration, but the important part is that you come out of those browsing sessions with a really clear theme.  Once you have your theme in mind you can easily narrow in on what you need to buy; making it super easy to visit our pre-curated party collections or taking advantage of our affordable custom party box options where we take your party vision and bring it to life shipping everything to your doorstep ready for setup on the day of the party!   

We recommend sticking to a clear color palette (4 colors or less) and focusing on one or two main areas of your home (or venue) that you can really decorate for the biggest impact.  Whether you have a wall that you can make the backdrop to your party or a great central countertop spot to set out your food and dessert displays picking meaningful destinations for your décor will allow you to keep a tighter budget and your party guests will be impressed with your photo-worthy party decorations! 

When it comes to party themes and trends there’s always something new!  2019’s color of the year is Living Coral which we love for its bright optimistic cheer, but theme is also a great opportunity to think about what baby loves best and run with it!  There are so many cute options and there’s no reason to avoid going over the top with baby’s favorite character or color!  

Here’s a couple of our all-time favorites for inspiration!

FOOD 

If you’re hosting at home, you have the control over what you serve! So be extremely thoughtful about the menu, you definitely don’t want to spend the entire party stuck in the kitchen watching over ovens or serving up guests complicated dishes.  And if there’s a lot of other kids around the main focus should be on what kid-friendly snacks you can serve up to keep the littlest party guests happy!  

While catering can get pricy, definitely vet your options!  Sometimes ordering large trays from a local restaurant or having a nicer grocery store in town deliver some already prepared trays can be worth every penny if it saves you time, stress, and allows you to enjoy the party!  

We keep a Pinterest board with party food ideas and cocktails ready for inspiration so we can reference those whenever we host a party!  Take a look – we add new ideas all the time!  

At my son’s 1st birthday we hosted brunch – something we could handle for about 30 guests without being too overly complicated.  Bloody Mary bar for all the adults and lots of easy serve yourself finger foods for all our guests (including the littles in attendance) 

CAKE 

The only tip here is don’t forget about the cake!  If you’re placing an order at the local specialty bakery they may require a couple of weeks notice so make sure that stays on your list! Otherwise, you can easily get a variety of cakes, cupcakes, and cookie dessert options as the party date approaches.  

PARTY ON 

There are tons of options when it comes to planning a party for your 1-year old. The trick is to first think about the basics – guests, venue, time, food – before diving into the other details. Once you’ve established what vibe will work best for baby and you, you can get the party started!  Even though your little one won’t have any recollection of this bash, you’ll know you did all you could to commemorate this milestone. 

Real life tip:  Even after all that planning when your new 1-year-old gives you tired eyes that say “you want me to do what with this cake?” 

You smile!  Take the photos!  And enjoy every minute of it! 

Thanks for letting us share our party experience today, I remember all too well the joy and stress of planning both of my kids 1st birthday parties.  For me, there was nothing happier than to fill my house with close friends and family in a celebration of the first year of our child’s lives, but I do also recall how stressful and busy that time of life can be.  It wasn’t long after hosting my own 1st birthday parties that I knew I had to start Sprinkles & Confetti and help more busy ladies host simpler parties! 

NOW YOU HAVE A PARTY TO PLAN!  START HERE.  

Parties Made Simple,

Jackie  

About Sprinkles & Confetti  

A mom-owned business, Sprinkles & Confetti makes parties simple by offering quality party supply collections from several stylish brands & creating affordable custom party packages to bring your child’s party theme dream to life!  Even the smallest parties can feel special with your inspiration and their party expertise.   

Sprinkles & Confetti offers curated party supplies, saving you time & stress!  So let go of the endless hours of inspiration browsing, save yourself the time of errand running, and get excited when your party package is delivered right to your doorstep while also knowing you’re giving back to the local community.  Sprinkles & Confetti donates a portion of their proceeds to support The Birthday Party Project bringing joy to children in homeless and transitional shelters through the magic of birthdays!  

You can find out more about Sprinkles & Confetti on their website (www.sprinklesandconfetti.com) or by following them on Instagram @sprinkles_and_confetti