Well it's almost over for our family and as Sienna's 1st birthday approaches (much too quickly by the way), I keep getting the same question: "What kind of party are you going to throw her?"
Since Sienna is still limited in the input she can offer us, my husband and I were left to make the decision ourselves. I'll be honest, I want to spoil Sienna on her 1st birthday and have plenty of pictures with cake smothered all over her face while wearing a 1st birthday tiara.
But some of the stories I've heard about 1st birthday parties are a bit over the top. A heard about one party with an entire carnival theme, cotton candy machine and live animals included.
Now whatever party someone chooses is wonderful, but the pressure of planning a 1st birthday party equal to the effort and budget of a wedding is not something we were interested in doing. After all, Sienna is ONE... I'm not convinced she's been dreaming up the details of the party for the last 11 months.
But still, the pressure lingered so I began searching for some ideas on how to make the party special and memorable, but not over the top.
I got some great advice from various sites listed on the bottom of this blog. But here's the bottom line. We wanted to have a party with all of the people closest to us and we wanted to be able to focus on Sienna. As much as we love to cook and entertain, I did not want to spend the entire afternoon making food or making sure people were fed. That's why we decided on cake and ice cream... easy and appropriate and both self serving.
I think it's important to remember that you are throwing the child for your child and as long as you're there... everything else is icing on the cake. No pun intended.
I'm in the process of getting some cute decorations and buying Sienna a special dress. Other than that, as long as we have a camera and our family with us, the day could not be anything but special. After all, it's a celebration of the 1st year of our little girl's life and maybe a small celebration of surviving the first year of parenthood.
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http://www.babyzone.com/baby/fun_travel/celebrations/first_birthday/article/throw-perfect-first-birthday-party
http://www.howtodothings.com/food-and-drink/a1923-how-to-throw-a-great-first-birthday.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2057291_throw-first-birthday-party.html
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