As Little Miss' First Birthday is fast approaching, the quandry about a party begins. Since she's only going to be 1, does she need a bouncy castle and balloons? She won't even remember it! But she's only 1 once, isn't she? In this day and age, if you go whole hog for Birthday Number 1, are you obliged to out-do yourself every single year after this? That's a lot of creativity! And money apparently. According to the Daily Mail, the current average spend for children's birthday parties is £5000-£50,000! I'm not sure if this article was actually researched recently as with the credit crunch we can barely afford to EAT much less splash out £5000 on a party. The whole idea of spending that much money on a child's birthday party is a bit obscene really. As a result of this new trend, we have parents feverishly stuffing goodie bags with tat, icing grand tiered cakes that rival my wedding cake and frantic calls to children's entertainers because we couldn't possibly let them just PLAY, could we? Shall I tell you how we are celebrating Little Miss' First Birthday?
1) On the day, we'll have a quiet celebration with my visiting mum and Hubby's parents. There will, of course, be cake...perhaps not 3 tiered, but at least 1.
2) For Little Miss' friends we're having a JOINT party with Little Miss' best girlfriend. We intend to have a couple take-away gifties for the kids but to primarily celebrate the Mummyhood we've all endured for the last year while the Kiddies play. There will, of course be cake...of the fairy kind I do believe. And there very well could be a wee dram of alcohol for the long-suffering Mummies.
3) On the weekend we will host an open house at our house for friends and relatives to drop in and visit. Very casual. There will, of course, be cake...of the Duck Shaped Variety as that is the animal of choice for Little Miss. There will, most definitely be alcohol and hopefully a nicely grilled burger or two for the long-suffering friends and relatives.
All of these parties are not without stress, mind you, but we're aiming for as little HOOPLA as possible. There are plenty more birthdays for that!
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We invited grandparents, an auntie and 3 baby friends, plus Mums. It was lovely, but quite the whirlwind! With next baby, I will ensure 1st birthday is a quieter affair. The photos are lovely though....shame it was on Christmas eve!
ReplyDeleteSounds fab allgrownup... ;)
ReplyDelete£5,000 - £50,000?! Blimey.
ReplyDeleteWe had a party at home for our daughter's first birthday last month. (Ok it was two parties but that was because we couldn't fit all the family in the house on the same day.) I managed a home-made cake with green icing which admittedly went a bit wrong. It tasted nice though and monkey had a great time. A friend of mine did the whole hire out a hall, entertainer, big spread, party bags thing. It was great but too much for her little one who was a bit overwhelmed.
I'm going to attempt a Duck Cake...Little Miss adores ducks. My mum, who's visiting from the US, thinks I'm nuts...she said, "Don't you have bakeries here?". Yes, of course we do but God only knows what they put in their cakes! I'll take a picture and post it here...wish me luck! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteKarin
First birthday parties were low key affairs for us, my children anyway's would of been over whelmed and not enjoyed to many people . I cannot beleive people would spend so much on parties ...are they crazy
ReplyDeleteIf we had £5000 I can guarantee we wouldn't be spending that on a birthday party. Not the right message we want to send to our daughter.
ReplyDeleteYour party plan sounds wonderful! Low key is the way to go for babies first birthday. We did the same for our oldest (who would have been way too overwhelmed with a gigantic crowd, noise, etc.), and are going to do the same for our youngest who's b-day is just a few short weeks away! Let me know how it all goes!
ReplyDeleteWill do Corinne! M and I both got up with E this morning to open a few pressies. M is taking most of the day off so we'll go do something special (probably in Stamford...you know it!) during the afternoon and then it's off to M's parents for a roast dinner tonight. I'm looking forward to our girlies party on Friday...hope the weather accomodates. I will keep you posted! :)
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