Here I am in the midst of planning my daughter’s FIRST birthday party and I’m faced with a dilemma I’m sure many of you have faced…. should I throw a big a party or a small party? invite everyone we know or just close friends and family? I have received a few invitations to some pretty swanky kids’ parties and I think to myself, Halle deserves all of that! I mean, it’s her very first birthday party, why not do it up big? But then that little voice in my head speaks up and says, “really? for a baby? She won’t know the difference!”
Neither way is wrong but what I have realized while debating all of this in my mind is that 
I should always determine my motivation. Am I throwing the party for me or her? Would I be throwing a big to-do because that is what people expect or because it would be fun to have a much-talked-about party? Or, would we choose to throw a big party because we truly see it as a celebration of Halle’s first year of life and want to celebrate with everyone that has played a part in her previous 12 months? I know that many people feel that way and start looking into venues and caterers but I honestly can say that I wouldn’t be doing it for her. I’m more of a practical person so I would rather do something “big” later on when she can enjoy it herself and remember it as a special day. So I’ve decided on the small, family party. We won’t need a party photographer, a hired clown or a petting zoo but we will need those who love her the most and time to make all the cute stuff I’m finding on Pinterest!
While her first birthday won’t be featured on anybody’s blog or even talked about down the street, I’ll know that I truly threw her the party that is best for her. She’ll have time to warm up to everyone that comes and slowly open each of the few gifts she’ll receive. I can’t believe at my age I’m still reminding myself that IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT ME! But we all know that there is an unspoken sense of competition between mommies and I need a reminder that those are competitions I’m not trying to win.
What have you done for First Birthday Parties? Did you go all out of keep it small? Let’s hear your ideas!
love this! such a good reminder!
I think I’m going big. Kais first is the day after our family’s thanksgiving and everyone will already be in town! I really want to get a bounce house for all the kids….mainly bc I want an excuse to jump on one!! I still haven’t finalized the plan but I’m definitely leaning towards a blowout. I just can’t help myself…..
I love to throw a good party so of course I went big for the first birthday party! 🙂
LOOOVE this article! Me and 2 of my neighbors all have our very first babies within 4 months of each other and we all had completely different parties. My child is the 15th grandchild on my husbands side so if everyone threw their child a huge 1st birthday party it would be crazy! So we invited my siblings and grandparents for a funtime at the lake, just played at the swim area, had some cupcakes…which melted in the texas heat.lol But mostly we enjoyed each others company. Scarlett, my baby could have cared less about it being her birthday. Then my neighbor number one threw a party where she invited extended family and lots of “close friends”, I have to admit it was really awkward being there because I didn’t know anyone and I felt like it wasn’t really about the baby, and she was competing with neighbor #2 who has been planning her babies 1st birthday since he was 3 months old. It was crazy, over 100 people were there, an insane amount of presents, a huge production, the poor kid cried half the time, I didn’t really enjoy that one either seeing how I never even got to hold the birthday boy he was so busy. I don’t even want to guess at how much money was spent, but like you said it is alllllll about the why. Why are you throwing a huge party, for you or your baby. In all fairness the mega party baby is the 1st grandchild on both sides so he is quite spoiled and it’s a new thing, but I did think it was overkill, and neighbor #1 tried to make her party bigger because she was competing. i don’t think big parties are necessarily bad but I guess I just can’t understand it because to me, the smaller the party the less stressed you are and worried about everyone that’s there, the more you can focus on your sweet little 1 year old. Wow, sorry for such a long post, but it is a great topic to discuss!