You Say: First Birthday Parties
The first birthday is a big milestone, and not just for the little one celebrating. The whole family has made it through that year together, growing along with each other. It calls for a celebration – but what kind of celebration? Some families go all out in honour of the occasion, other families keep it low key. There’s no right or wrong answer, and you should do what works for you. All the same, we were curious about how our fellow Vancouver moms marked that first birthday in their own families. In our latest You Say feature we asked our Facebook followers what they did to mark their little one’s first birthday, and a number of you came through with an answer. Here’s what you had to say.
You Say: Celebrating Your Little One’s First Birthday
2014 Top 30 Vancouver Mom Blogger Kelly Krol marked the occasion with a “small party with family and close friends at home.”
Sandra Murta shared, “We got our immediate family together and went to a little restaurant that serves wood oven baked salt cod. My sister in law made a beautiful cake with marzipan toadstools.”
Another one of our 2014 Top 30 Vancouver Mom Bloggers Andria Milliard shared, “We had a luau themed BBQ for Hazel. Had all our family and closest friends over to celebrate. We had 75 people, it was chaotic but some of our family hadn’t met Hazel yet. We had people come from Vernon and Harrison to see her!”
Our Top 30 Vancouver Mom Blogger winner for 2014 Tamara Goyette said, “We did two separate parties one for family and one for friends with kids. Our daughter is a winter baby so we hosted the party at our home, inside and out of the cold.”
Lorrie Scuffell went for “A whole bunch of balloons! No matter what gift he opened it was the balloon he loved, same at his second birthday!”
Catherine Pope had a celebration “in Acapulco … while we waited for her adoption to be finalized by Mexico.”
Danielle McFarlane marked her little one’s first birthday with “a family BBQ with 30 guests, very casual.”
Saira Khan went big. She shares, “We went to Thailand.”
The first birthday party changed from one child to the next for Kyenta Martins. “First child – 40 guests (kids and adults). Second child – maybe 15 people (child-focused party).”
Another one of our 2014 Top 30 Vancouver Mom Bloggers Louise Dekens Chapman shared, “We had about 30 family members meet up at a local park where we had a bunch of snacks and the kids could just play. Casual, low stress, and she loved it!”
Gabrielle O’Leary celebrated expat-style. “We don’t have much family in Canada so we had a community centre play gym party for about 20 children whose families had been a key part of our first year as parents. It was as much a thank you for all the friendship and support as it was our son’s first birthday. People we’d met and connected with at newborn group, library story time and classes etc. Basically, a giant play date for one year olds and their older siblings. Great fun and having a community centre party meant no disruption at home.”
Dian Kohoutek kept it casual with “just the three of us and homemade birthday cake.”
Mahsa Sae Dip says she “had a family/friends lunch party in the lounge of our building. We just came back from travelling in France so it was French themed with Eiffel tower cookies/cake, etc… We both have huge families so it was embarrassingly big at around 60 people. Good for a first birthday but I wouldn’t do something that big again.”
Jackie Ebdon Mandzak, one of our 2013 Top 30 Vancouver Mom Bloggers, shared, “We invited all of our friends/family in the area for our first son’s 1st birthday. Had it in the community room of our complex. it was a BIG turnout. For our second, I invited everyone over for it again. This time to our house. It snowed that day, so a smaller turnout. It was more about celebrating with our friends/family since they were too young to understand. We had cake, snacks etc. and just had fun together. I think I did an Elmo theme for the younger one. And without going to the photos, I’m not sure what for the first one!”
Lindsay Coulter, David Suzuki’s Queen of Green and one of our 2014 Top 30 Vancouver Mom Bloggers celebrated with “10 families at our house.”
What about you – how did you celebrate that milestone first birthday?
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