12812

One is Fun Party  1yr

January 2006

Char in Ontario, Canada

Special Mention

Theme: Baby's 1st Birthday-One Is Fun/The Cake Is On Me  For our son's 1st birthday, we wanted a theme that related to this momentous occassion, so we chose the "One Is Fun/The Cake Is On Me" Theme. The party was held indoors at a preschool center to accommodate 15 children ranging in age from one to fifteen, and sixteen adults. We rented the Center for half a day but the party was only two and a half hours. This party required a great deal of preparation but all worth it in the end. We ordered all of the Themed party supplies off the internet and purchased additional party supplies such as plates, napkins, cutlery, cups at a party supply store. The main colours were lavender and yellow. However, the Themed stuff was an assortment of colours, including yellow and lavender. Decorations included One Is Fun decorations such as banners, centerpiece & streamers, helium lavender and yellow balloons that were made into balloon bouquets that decorated the ends of the food tables, the children's activity table and food table, the entrance to the party and the gift table. Activities included: 1)Personally customized activity booklets with a picture of the birthday boy and a poem that included the name of the child that received an activity booklet. Each child received an activity booklet that contained colouring pages, mazes, connect the dots,etc... The children received their booklet as soon as they arrived at the party along with their themed party hat. These booklets helped to keep the kids occupied until all the guests arrived, and was also a keepsake for them to take home. 2) The second activity we did was to have our son and each child guest (and even some of the adults participated!) dip their hands into kid-friendly paint and then put their handprints on a white one metre piece of cotton fabric with a scanned picture of our son in the middle of the fabric. My husband and my best friend's son helped the children with this activity. We used colours that were in the One Is Fun... theme. Then once the handprints dried we printed each child's name under their handprints. The mural was hung where everyone could see it. This makes a great keepsake. 3) Another activity was Fruitloop Necklaces. They are exactly like the candy necklaces, except instead of candy use Fruitloops. Prior to the party, we purchased and cut up 18 inch lengths of threaded elastic (purchased from WalMart). Each child received their own small styrofoam bowl of Fruitloops. The children sat down at the activity table and with the assistance of an adult helper (my cousin), they made their necklaces. Games included: 1) Pin The Curl On The Baby- Yep, you guessed it, exactly like Pin the tail.... The kids were blindfolded and each took their turn. All children received a participation prize of glow in the dark stickers. \*My husband made the baby face and curl using a large sheet of bristleboard. He coloured it and cut it out and then I had it laminated at an office supply store. 2) Pinata- Each child had their own string to pull to help release the latch that contained individually packaged bags of candy and treats that my mother and I put together. We also put in loose candy and prizes for effect.We felt it best to do it this way so that all children at least received some goodies. The pinata was one of those ones that you can decorate yourself. So, my husband drew the One Is Fun theme on the pinata to match and coordinate. Because there were a lot of adults at this party, we also had three adult games: 1) Guess how many rolls of empty film containers in the jar. 2) Baby ____ Trivia, and 3) Memory Game of guess the items on the tray. There were prizes for all of the participants. We had a couple of roaming photographers (adult cousin and an adult friend) who took plenty of pictures of the birthday boy and guests. Food: handshaped ham sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, hotdogs, macaroni salad, veggie & dip platter, fruit & dip platter, mexican dip with tortilla chips, fried rice, chips, ice cream, cake, cupcakes, punch, coffee, tea, bottled water, pop. Cake: Professionally made birthday cake in the shape of the number one with a baby's face at the base of the number one. It looked exactly like the invitation. In addition, we made cupcakes for the children and the birthday boy. We frosted them lavender and my husband piped a number one in yellow on each cupcake. The Guest-of-honour's highchair was decorated with a banner that said the "Cake is on Me."  After we sang Happy Birthday the birthday boy opened his gifts(with assisstance). Then the party-goers headed home with their gifts. Children's Favours: Each child received a customized treat bag filled with age-specific books & toys, stickers and candies. Adult Favours: This idea received from this site. Each adult received a small cellophane bag half filled with Hershey's Hug and Kisses. Attached to the bag I had made Thank you tags that said, " I'm no longer a baby, now that I'm one. Glad you came to my party, hope you had fun. I'll be waving bye-bye, now that it's through, and giving out hugs and kisses from me to you!" We also mailed out Thank you cards to all of our guests to thank them for coming to our son's party and for the lovely gifts. Each card contained a picture of the birthday boy wearing his birthday hat and smiling into the camera. All in all this was a great party with a lot of willing helpers! We all had a marvelous time, including the birthday boy who was completely and totally in his element basking in the limelight :). Looking forward to planning his 2nd birthday!

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