First Birthday Ideas

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Planning baby's first birthday party can be a lot of fun. Everybody knows that the 1st birthday is a major milestone in your baby's life so of course you want to plan the perfect party to mark the occasion. Here are some planning tips and first birthday ideas to help make things easier for you.

Start by Picking a Theme - If you are going with a theme for the party, picking it should be the first thing you do since this could influence many of the decisions you will make.
Take Care of the Invitations - Invitations are the next step you should take care of. It is best to send them out at least four weeks in advance to give your guests enough warning that the big day is coming. Handmade and photo invitations are really popular choices for a first birthday party.
Decide the Menu - Picking the food will be an important part of the party and so be sure to put some time and thought into it. While you want to make sure that the menu includes some of your baby's favorite foods, you will also want to keep your guests in mind. Consider mixing some kid friendly finger foods like chicken nuggets and tiny sandwiches in with whatever you have planned.
Pick Up the Party Supplies and Decorations - This is where having your theme chosen will be important. If you have a theme, you may want to get party supplies and decorations to go with your theme. As for decorating, besides banners, balloons, and streamers, you may also want to create a collage of photos from baby's first year to display at the party.
Party Favors - Candy, toys, stickers, temporary tattoos, coloring books, or little stuffed animals are all great ideas if you have children attending the party.
Pinatas - Pinatas are a popular option for a first birthday party. If you have a bunch of children attending the party, you may want to consider one.

And finally, we can't forget the birthday cake! Decide what type/theme cake you want and choose your cake, frosting, and filling flavors ahead of time. Make sure to order your first birthday cake at least a week ahead of time and arrange to pick it up the morning of the party.

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Fun Theme Ideas For Kid's Birthday Parties

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Having trouble figuring out a theme for your child's birthday party? Look no further, here are some ideas to get you started:

Girls

There's a wide array of classic choices for any girl's birthday party, consider a princess theme, cowgirl theme, fashion, ladybug, butterfly or beading party.

Boys

For boy's there are themes centered around trucks, cars, fire trucks, cowboys, construction, kung fu among many other themes.

Music

Music themed parties have skyrocketed in popularity thanks to Disney channel movies like High School Musical and Camp Rock. More music themes include Hannah Montana well as Elvis and other musical groups.

Movies

Movie themes have been popular for a while. Popular movie themes include Iron Man, Spiderman, Batman, Wall-E, Madagascar, Star Wars, Pirate of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, Kung Fu Panda and many others.

Sports

Sports is a popular theme as many kids love sports. Any sport that the child likes can be used as a theme, including baseball, basketball, soccer, football, tennis, even car racing, bowling and other sports. There are now official party supplies for many teams and drivers in the NFL, MLB, NASCAR as well as other sports. Due to the popularity and wide availability of official team party supplies for the Superbowl, World Series and other major events, it's easier than ever to theme a party after your child's favorite sports team or sports hero.

Sleepover or Slumber Party

A fun theme for girl's between certain ages is to have a sleepover party. Girls can have fun stargazing, telling stories, watching movies, making popcorn and snacks and generally have a good time.

Crafts

Crafts can be a great theme for kid's parties. You can choose many crafts or concentrate on certain types of crafts. For instance, a baking party can include the baking of cookies, cupcakes and other treats. A painting party can include the painting of mugs, clothing, hats as well as other painting activities like finger painting, face painting and sidewalk chalk painting.

Interests

You can also theme your party by the child's interests. Does you child love space? How about dinosaurs? Or the ocean, wildlife, tractors, fire fighters, fashion, horses, trains, the circus or cats? Virtually any interest can be turned into a birthday theme. Does you child love to read? Even reading can be turned into a theme by choosing a favorite book to use as a theme.

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Must Haves For Any Kid's Birthday Party

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There are certain things that will make your child's birthday party special, certain "must haves" that you simply can't go without. Here are some of those "must haves":

Birthday Cake

What birthday would be complete without a cake? None. The cake is certainly one of the most important parts of any birthday party. However, with the rise in diabetes in both adults and children, some people may want to alter their recipe a bit from the traditional birthday cake or order a sugar free birthday cake.

Pinata

Though a pinata is a tradition from Mexican celebrations, the pinata has been a part of many kid's birthday parties for quite a few years. A pinata is simply a container, usually made from cardboard or heavy papers shaped into an animal or other design. Then the container is filled with a variety of candy and toys. The pinata is then suspended from a tree, beam or roof and blindfolded children take swipes at it using a stick or baseball bat. When the pinata is finally broken, there is a mad rush to get the candies and toys as they fall to the ground. Pinatas are a fun and sometimes funny birthday tradition.

Party Hats

It's not a surprise that kids love to wear those pointy, colorful birthday hats. Wearing a party hat helps kids feel as though the day is truly special. Adults may hate to wear them, but kids love them and they make for great birthday pictures.

Party Favors

When kids come to birthday parties, they may not expect to get a gift themselves. Make the day truly special for them by thanking them with a party favor. Party favors for kids can be just about anything. Consider things like card games, puzzles, plush toys, inflatables, yo-yo's, stickers, stationery, pens and pencils, art supplies, keychains or craft kits. Or go for a "goody bag" filled with candies or other edible treats.

Video Camera

A video camera is essential to capturing those memories. One day in the future, you can play the video for your child and they can see what they were like when they were young. Don't forget to capture those priceless memories with a video camera. Also, don't forget to make sure the camera batteries are fully charged and you have enough media to record to.

Family & Friends

Last but certainly not least, make sure to invite all the most important family members and friends so that they can share your child's special day with them.

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Baby Einstein: Baby's 1st Birthday Smart Brain Playdate Party

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A Baby Einstein party is a smart fun way to have a 1st birthday celebration. Baby Einstein is a collection of toys and activities that is based upon the premise that babies are naturally curious and that infants will benefit from being exposed to real world objects, music, art, language, science, poetry and nature. Baby Einstein parties are easily geared toward children having their first birthday party with an educational theme. Most parents would see the first birthday as a celebration generally aimed for the parent's gratification since the child won't remember the event first hand. Instead, only photographs will offer any memory of the event to the child. However, the Baby Einstein party can be looked at a little differently in that it can be seen as more of a Birthday Play Date.

At the party children can be read to from Baby Einstein picture books, with a great deal of attention given to bright colors, or shapes. Music can be played from a Baby Einstein music CD with parents singing along. Then, children can sit in a circle and a ball roll game can be done while the music is playing. Lots of praise should be given to kids who roll the ball back to someone across from them in the circle.

In addition, personalized party favors can be made by having each guest's hand print made from making a handstamp of acrylic paint placed onto a quilt block. Try making two copies, one for the guest and one for the birthday child. You can do all guests (including Grandma, etc.) or just the other infant guests. After the party, one set of blocks can be sewn together to make a keepsake quilt or wall hanging of the event for the birthday child. After completely cleaning the paint from the other guest's hands, let the children have some free play time (with blocks, picture books, and other safe activities). Be sure to have a child safe environment ready for children to play in, with a lot of parental supervision available, of course. Remember, at this young age, children may not know exactly what it means to (or be willing to) share. Keep with the Baby Einstein theme from the invitations to the party favors.

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Children's Birthday Party Ideas

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Games are a great way of breaking the ice particularly if the children are shy and don't know each other. Always include traditional games such as pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey and blind man's buff which have been passed down the generations and are timeless classics. But why not intersperse those with name badge-making, and party hat colouring for a modern twist.

In the past ideas for parties tended to be confined to the good old-fashioned games and jelly and ice cream tea-parties. Today's they are so much more sophisticated and range from themed parties - such as Pirates and Princesses - to activities such as ten-pin bowling, laser games and cinema or theatre outings.

There is always so much to think about when organising a kid's party, and organisation is the key. Make sure the invites go out three weeks in advance and prepare checklists for venue, activities, and food. Make sure you set the scene with music and decorations. If you're holding the party at a venue away from home does not forget to take your portable CD player. Balloons, streamers, banners, themed paper, tablecloths, paper plates and cups, spray streamers, party hats help create an instant party atmosphere.

You may choose to run the party yourself or opt for an entertainer. The best way of finding an entertainer is by word of mouth. Otherwise check out the local directory and find your own entertainers, making sure you check out their testimonials before making your booking. Party venues can range from your own home to a sports centre or play area - if you are only inviting a few children, there's no place like home! But if the whole class is on the list of guest you might wish to opt for a hired venue such as a community or sports hall.

There are plenty of ideas on the internet, so if you are looking for something extra special, you might just find a theme or concept which no-one has organized before and you can blaze the trail! But whatever you choose, make sure you relax and enjoy the party with your child - there's nothing worse than a stressed mum -except a stressed child!

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Creative Crafts for a Special Birthday

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There are plenty of crafts that you can do to celebrate someone's birthday. You can use them for a present, or you can decorate a party with the themed crafts. What you do is solely up to you. The main point of making things homemade for someone's birthday is that it shows effort and love that can't be shown with store-made items. Crafts are thoughtful and always appreciated.

Some people who are having a birthday prefer that they get store bought items for presents instead of crafts. It's important to comply with their wishes as this is their birthday after all. You can still add a handcrafted element to what you give them, though. For example, you could buy them a book, but that wrap it really creatively. Use ribbon and buttons and all manner of stylish design elements to make your present stand out from all others. This will add extra flair. Your friend will be getting what they asked for while also seeing how much you care about them.

There are also crafts you can do for the actual birthday party. The decorations are a great way to show off your crafting ability. Sure, you can buy all of the decorations from a party store, but it means a lot more if you make them yourself. Be sure to make a sign to put on the wall, as well as other random decorations. You can also craft gift bags for the guests. Be as creative as you possibly can in order to make this day memorable.

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Little Einsteins Birthday Party Ideas

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Little Einsteins is an excellent and informative show that helps children learn about the world around them. It teaches everything the children need to know and has helped prepare millions of children for their lives in school. It is so popular, that the show has become a phenomenon and children will be asking their parents for a Little Einstein themed birthday party.

So, how are you going to provide this type of birthday for them? It is no easy task, but it can be done with Little Einstein birthday party supplies, as well as various household craft objects.

Learning is Fun


One of the best things you can do is use the message of learning from the TV show, and turn it into fun at the birthday party. Do up some easy to answer questions and have candy as a prize for the kids. When they answer correctly, they get a piece of candy. Have the answers be something like What animal has tusks and big ears? Make sure everyone has a chance to answer, and everyone is able to get some of the candy. This is a fun game that will also help the children learn.

Watch the Little Einsteins


Kids love the television show, so while you are getting everything ready for the kids in terms of presents and food, why not let them watch the Little Einsteins television show on DVD. You can also have them watch some of the movies that have also been released. Not only will this keep them busy, but they will love watching them, and they will learn something while watching it. It is one of the best things you can do for the birthday party, and one of the easiest.

Invention Time!


This is a great activity because children can really let their minds and creative imaginations out for this. All you have to do is put cardboard, foam, cotton, streamers, paper plates and more on a table with some glue, and let the kids go wild making inventions, just like Little Einsteins. This activity is excellent for the children and they are going to have a lot of fun with it. See what they make and ask them to explain it, you will be surprised at some of the neat inventions they make.

By using these party ideas, you can provide your guests with a great Little Einsteins themed birthday party. Everyone will have fun, they will learn something and it does not have to cost you much to do it. Now that is a genius idea for a birthday!

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Creative Birthday Party Ideas for Children

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Birthday parties for children are memorable occasions that every parent wants to make as special as possible each and every year. But planning a unique birthday party every year can be a challenge, especially if you’re tired of the many character-themed children’s birthday parties. Here are some creative birthday party ideas for young children.

Make-Believe Sleepover Birthday Party

This is a great birthday party idea for young children not quite old enough for an all night sleepover and may be the perfect party theme for a child graduating from a crib and receiving a new big kid bed, like the KidKraft Nantucket toddler bed. Plan to have this birthday party in the early evening, shortly before bedtime.

Pillow or teddy bear shaped invitations will work well for announcing your party plans to guests. Be sure to tell everyone to bring a sleeping bag and their favorite stuffed animal and to wear their pajamas. Start the party off in the middle of the living room floor or in your child’s new big kid room. Play a party game, like musical sleeping bags, watch a movie, and give manicures or facials.

You may choose to serve a pizza dinner or opt for popcorn during the movie and cookies and milk before bedtime. Before the party ends, gather everyone into their sleeping bags and share a bedtime story. Send the guests home with pillowcase bags filled with small bottles of lotion, bubble bath, or lip balm, a book, a toothbrush, breakfast for the following morning, or other small items.

At Home Beach Party

Regardless of the age, everyone loves a birthday party at the beach! With a little planning, you can throw a beach party without even leaving home. For those children with cold weather birthdays, turn up the heat and try an indoor beach party for an unforgettable birthday blast! Send out invitations with a tropical, island flair and request that guests dress for the beach. If you plan any swimming or thoroughly soaking water activities, you may also ask guests to bring a swimsuit or change of clothes, as well as a beach towel depending on your activities.

Decorations for your beach birthday party can be simple or quite creative. If your party will be outdoors in warm weather, you may want to set up a waterslide or swimming area. Outside decorations could include inflatable palm trees, tiki torches, pineapples, and other tropical décor. If you’re planning your beach party indoors, you can use similar decorations and may want to create a beach with blue blankets or a tarp.

Play fun and energetic beach music or songs with an island beat throughout the party give your guests leis as they arrive. Play beach related games, like Limbo or beach ball games. If your beach birthday party will be outdoors, you can have water balloon or squirt gun activities as well. Other indoor games may include musical beach towels or beach-themed bingo.

Serve a summer-themed birthday cake with tropical fruit punch and ice cream. Party favors could be sand pails with shovels, sea shells, shark teeth, sun glasses, sun visors, and lip balm. A treasure hunt for these before the end of the party could be a fun activity or you could put the favors in a large treasure chest or wading pool for a creative decoration and let guests help themselves as they leave the birthday party.

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