You brought home your newborn just months ago, and now you have a smiling, active bundle of curiosity! Your child's birthday marks the end of this remarkable year, and the 1st birthday party you throw, complete with cake and gifts and the presence of those who love your baby, will create a memory you'll treasure for a lifetime.

Invitations
Decorations
Food
Party Favors
Games & Activities

Choosing a theme will make it easier to decide on decorations, partyware and activities for your child's party. Consider using one of our first birthday patterns, or choose a theme based on your child's favorite book, TV character (Elmo, Pooh), toy (teddy bear, blocks), or perhaps a favorite color. Visit our Developing a Theme page to learn more, or choose from our entire selection of party themes.

What Do I Need for the Party?

If you plan to use paper tableware and first birthday party supplies, our Suggested Party Supply List may be helpful while you're shopping. Please note that you may not need everything on the list; it is intended only as a guide.

First Birthday Party Invitations

Creative invitations are fun for guests to receive and build excitement before the party date. If you have time to make your own invitations, we have some great ideas to get you started:

• Trace your baby’s handprint onto colored paper. Cut out the handprint and glue it to another piece of paper. Print the party details around the handprint yourself, or scan the handprint into your computer and add the words using a cute font. Use wording like “Little [your baby’s name] is One. Come Join the Fun!”
• Create a small paper diaper with the party invitation written inside. To do this, fold a square piece of paper in half on the diagonal and cut it to create a triangle. Then fold all three corners of the triangle to the center so that the ends touch or slightly overlap. It should now look like a folded diaper. Open up the diaper and write your party invitation inside, then fold the corners back into place and hold them together with a safety pin.
• Cut a large No. 1 from colored cardstock and attach a small photo of your child to the front. Print your child’s name underneath the photo and write the party information on the back side. Remember to measure your envelopes first to get the right length and width for your cutouts.
• Seal the mailing envelopes with first birthday stickers.

Choose from our list of decorating ideas to create a festive atmosphere for your baby’s party. Try just a few ideas, or go all out!

• Perhaps the most popular decorations for this age group are helium balloons! Floating balloons are often the favorite item to play with during the party, so be sure to have more than enough for every child! Let most of the balloons float freely with the attached ribbon hanging down low enough for the children to reach. You can also tie groups of helium balloons together and anchor them in place with balloon weights. For greater impact, combine first birthday balloons with colorful latex balloons.
• Make a height chart for all the guests to sign and hang it just inside your door. Cut a 5-foot-long piece of white paper and draw a design along one side from bottom to top. For a girl's party, you might draw a long green stem with a large flower at the top, and for a boy's party, you might draw train tracks with a train chugging off the top corner. Print the words "I am this tall" across the bottom. This decoration doubles as an activity! As guests arrive, have them stand against the chart and label their name and height. This will keep guests busy until everyone arrives.

• Make the birthday boy or girl really stand out by decorating his or her high chair with one of our adorable highchair kits.

• Make a banner that says "Happy 1st Birthday [child's name]" and hang it behind your baby's high chair. It will make a terrific background for photos of your child with the cake. See our selection of first birthday banners and let us do the work for you!

• Lay a blanket in one corner of the room to hold stuffed animals, picture books, dolls, plastic trucks, or other toys for the children to play with as they arrive.

• Place your favorite photos of the birthday child on tables in the party space.

• Set out the baby book or a photo album from the past year.

• Display a newborn outfit and a clothing item in your child's current size to show how much your baby has grown over the past 12 months.

• Spell out your child's name in building blocks and place it on a shelf or table. To make your own building blocks, cover a variety of empty boxes with solid colored wrapping paper and add one letter from your child's name to each box. You can either cut the letters yourself or purchase die-cut letters from a craft store.

Babies and toddlers can become very cranky on an empty tummy, so be sure to have age-appropriate snacks available during the entire party. You will want to give your own child a good snack before the guests arrive, but there is no way of knowing how recently the other children have eaten. For toddlers, stick with familiar food items such as teddy bear shaped graham crackers, fish shaped crackers, dry cereal and perhaps some teething biscuits.

The adults attending your party may be holding their own child in one arm, so choose food that can be eaten with one hand. Consider serving a submarine sandwich cut into small portions, a vegetable tray with dip, mini meatballs with a tasty dipping sauce, and cut fruit.

Cover the main table in a colored tablecloth or one that matches your party theme. Choose a matching centerpiece, or for a fun alternative, fill a clear vase with lots of different silly straws and set it in the center of the table. The different colors and shapes will look festive, and older kids will enjoy using them for their drinks. This is definitely the age for party hats, so set one out for each guest.

First Birthday Cake - Making a cake in the shape of a "1" is fairly easy to do yourself. First bake a 9-by-13-inch cake in any flavor and let cool. Using a serrated knife, cut out the shape of a 1 and frost.

What to serve baby? Remember to have a cupcake to put in front of your child as his or her personal birthday cake. You can place one candle on this as everyone sings Happy Birthday to your child. For those parents who haven’t given their baby any sugar yet, consider using a carrot muffin frosted with a bit of cream cheese instead of a cupcake.

Finally, set out a package of wet wipes so you and other parents can quickly wipe off sticky fingers.

First Birthday Party Favors

Party favors for babies and toddlers should be chosen with safety in mind. We suggest favors such as bathtub toys, finger puppets, bubbles, picture books, balls, and soft toys. You can also choose from our large selection of individual first birthday party favors, favor bags, and favor boxes to create your own goody bags.

To simplify your planning, we’ve designed several complete First Birthday Favor Sets that include matching bags!

For a final, special touch, don't forget to check out our personalized first birthday favors like stickers, magnets and bag tags, which can be printed with a special message or your guests' names. Just choose a design, and we’ll do the rest!

Additional Party Planning Tips

To simplify the rest of the party planning process, check out our Party Planning 101 section for our party planning timeline, a printable RSVP sheet, birthday cake ideas, and other party planning basics. Or, just read the paragraphs below for decorating and food ideas, party activities, and more for your child’s first birthday party.

• Adapt traditional party games to match your theme. For instance, at an Elmo party, play "Pin the Nose on Elmo" and "Elmo Says" (instead of "Simon Says").
• Create a tower from toy blocks and let the kids knock it down…again…and again!
• Play a few rounds of “Ring Around the Rosy” with the guests and their parents.
• Chasing bubbles is a favorite toddler activity! Turn on a bubble machine or have other adults help blow bubbles and let the children catch them.
• Create two or three separate play stations by laying blankets on the floor or in the yard. Put a different type of toy on each blanket, such as balls on one and blocks on another. You could also use stuffed animals, dolls, cars, or picture books. Let the children move from one blanket to another.
• Leader of the Band - Stage a music parade with you and the birthday child leading the way! Play some fun music in the background and hand out toy musical instruments to the children. Then lead them in a parade around the room as they make music together.
• Bean Bag toss - Make five bean bags by filling baby socks with dry beans and tying the ends closed. Set out a plastic bucket, a toy grocery cart or a laundry basket for a target. Show the children how to toss the bean bags into the target, or simply walk up and drop them in. Make sure every child is a winner by allowing them to walk as close to the target as necessary.
• Clothespin Search Game - Before the party, attach clothespins to sofa cushions, curtains, and other places in the room at toddler height. Then let the children search for all the clothespins.
• Wagon Rides - Place a colorful blanket and a variety of stuffed animals in a child’s wagon. Tie balloons to the back and pull the guests around the room or yard for rides. If throwing a theme party, make sure the stuffed animals fit the theme (a Tickle-Me-Elmo for an Elmo theme, for example).
• Baby Art - Set out paper or white paper plates and child safe paint. Dip each child’s hand into the paint and press it onto the paper, leaving a little handprint. Label each paper with the child’s name and let guests take them home at the end of the party.

• For Winter Babies... holly, flowering jasmine, or crocus.
• For Spring… flowering bulbs, such as daffodils, lilac bushes, or tree peonies.
• For Summer… roses, iris, or hydrangea.
• For Autumn… Clematis, Japanese Maple, or Crape Myrtle.