TIPS FOR PLANNING YOUR BABY'S FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY 🎉


Your munchkin is turning one! Congratulations! This is such a BIG milestone , and I believe it should be memorable whatever you do. I initially didn't want to plan a party because I never like planning parties but as we got closer to the date, I began to feel more celebratory - I wanted to turn up gaaaan. I got a lot of questions after sharing my baby's Cakesmash photos and 1st birthday party photos, so I want to share tips on how to plan your baby's first birthday party!


1.
I didn't have pictures when my son was born as is the trend now and I really wanted to. So I decided having cake smash photos were a big deal. I found an awesome photographer and within hours we set up and appointment for the shoot. I loved it. These photos were used on the birthday to decorate the venue and the grandparents loved it. We also agreed the photographer was going to cover the party,

2. 
Decide how big you want to have this birthday turn up. You can have a parlour party (just invite closest friends over), or have a creche party (take a cake to your baby's creche along with party packs +take photos) or have big party inviting family, friends and all the jamboreee
3.
If you are having a big party, decide on the number of guest you want to have. I chose my guest by how active they have been in my baby's life. If I had to invite everybody we would not be able to cater for it so I invited my nearest and dearest. 

Don't forget the grandparents and great grand parents. It was after the party I realised I didn't invite my grandma, Tito's great grandma ...

4. 
Pick your venue. I wanted to have the party in a park that already had swings and games + playing area for kids. 

I discovered Kanu Ndubuisi park in Alausa a few weeks before the party so I had to go to their office to get a permit. It took a week and was about N50, 000 to use it for a party, you are not allowed to bring your own food (they had only 2 food vendors you MUST choose from) and not allowed to play on the grass. I didn't like all the restrictions :(

5. 
Create a theme for the party because themes are always fun. You can choose your theme on your baby's favourite cartoon or toy. My Tito loves Barney but it was difficult to find barney decor so we had just the cake, photo props a barney themed. The rest of it was mickey mouse and winnie the pooh. You can't go wrong with cartoon characters.  I already have the theme for his second birthday planned out. LOL


6
Make sure the party runs only for a few hours. Remember kids get cranky. So your party should start and finish within 4 hours.  Everything should be sharp sharp!
7.
Don't forget the details: get a photographer (all you have after your party is memories and photos to show your child when he/she gets older), get a DJ (music can create a mood,  family member can volunteer to handle music and cue in the right songs and the right moment). Don't forget to get Clowns too! My clowns doubled as the MC and that was one of the highlights of the day. All the kids wanted to meet the clowns. The clowns came all the way from the United States of Aguda




8. 
Most of the catering budget will be spent on the adults even though this is a childs party. Don't forget to give the kids a variety of meals: chicken and chips, cake, candy, sweets, biscuits.




9.
Get friends to help. Shoutout to friendship mi Tomi aka Clarine aya Fikayo Otun, she made sure guests were served food. She's awesome like that!

10.
Remember to get gifts for the children-this is why a guest list is important. Kids love party packs and you can find them at Iporin market in Lagos. The party packs contain toys, sweets, biscuits, books, pens, and anything you feel appropriate for their age - you buy the contents in bulk and distribute evenly. I decided to have unisex party packs because it was too much hassle figuring out how many boys/girls were coming.  Get the bag kind of party packs as the box kind I got were difficult to handle (they were so cute though!) plus they are more expensive. So you can save money by buying the bag kind

11.
Things will not be perfect. C'mon! It's a 1 year old's party...don't beat yourself up if you feel it is not good enough. My baby spent only 30 minutes awake at his party and I'm glad the photographer was smart enough to capture those moments quickly. Getting him to pose for the group photos was A LOT of work too. 

Have fun at the party!


15 comments

  1. Nice, i tink i need to print out dis page

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  2. I like all these your tips Sisi Yemmie, thanks for sharing.

    www.wurassecrethair.blogspot.com

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  3. Thanks for sharing,in as much as kids loves parties they get tired of it easily.No 6 point should not be taken for granted.

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  4. Kudos Sisi yemmie for this. This will be helpful for people planning kiddies birthday parties these days.You covered most of it. The other things i would add from planning my daughter's 1st birthday in April are:

    1. Make provision for alternative power source. Buy enough fuel for your generator. Make sure the DJ can plug in his tools when PHCN takes the light.

    2. Make a budget and do you best to stick with it.

    3. Mummy and daddy, make sure you also make provision for you looking good on that day. don't just throw on anything. wear comfortable shoes so you don't have to resort to slippers. The worst is if you don't like how you look in the pictures later.

    4-Plan for your baby's change of clothes on the day. For my daughter, i made her a Lovely trad dress and she wore beads. she also had like 2 other dress changes.

    5. The trend is to have a themed decor, whether parlour party or not. you don't have to break the bank. Lucky for me, my mum is an events decorator
    . so we worked together on a Mickey mouse themed but affordable party.

    6. if you have more crowd than planned and find it challenging to share the party packs round, you can start by sharing it to maybe 1-3 year old's first and then the rest goes round by age. You know naija party, people will bring guests u did not invite sef plus their kids.

    7. provide prizes for the kids who participate in the games, anchored by the MC or clown.

    most importantly, enjoy the day, dance ,dance, dance and be a good host and hostess

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree completely. thanks for adding these additional points

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  5. Very helpful tips. Please how rude is it to do a strictly by invitation first party for my kids because I am working on a tight budget

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  6. I find this useful especially as I will be organising for my daughter next month!
    https://kewanblogs.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was not Invited, Yemi Explain oh hahaha

    Cheers Applygist.com
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    Happy Birthday TITO

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  8. you pretty much solved my restlessness over my boo boos first bday party. Thanks for the advice.

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  9. Nice. The kid games I played were monopoly, uno, and that game that has the word Trouble, which I forgot the name of

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  10. New mothers of the world, you will never rest again. That is the thing that you may think. baby sleep

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Your comments are like delicious grains of jollof rice to me: please feed me! Send me love mail sisi@sisiyemmie.com / Official business@sisiyemmie.com

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