Birthdays are special…they bring along such happy moments, fun and laughter..and wonderful memories that remain etched in our heart for lifetime! We wanted Ritwik’s first b’day to be exactly that…something which will make us look back and smile at those truly priceless captured moments on the camera again and again and yet again! We did not really have the time (and budget) to throw a lavish Birthday party…and instead decided to host a toddler house party to celebrate our lil hero’s special day!
Ritwik’s first birthday was all about him – his fave play activities (read: sensory boxes), his fave venue (our home!) and his fave buddies (can u imagine we had 7 adorable babies aged 9-16 months attending the party with their mommies..I mean what a super cute sight that made!).
So here’s my behind-the-scene quick snap shot of arranging an infant / toddler house party:
1. B’day theme and decor – Since Ritwik still does not have a favorite cartoon character, we decided to keep the b’day decor just fun, and colorful..highlighting his first year journey! I created this really simple month-wise photo banner which was the main attraction 🙂 Cardboards, color cardpapers, ribbons, cute clothes hanging pins, ribbons and sticky tape is all I needed to create this!
 I also made this “little man – mustache”- themed welcome board that we hung on our front door.
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“I-am-One” banner adorned his high chair. I jazzed it up with cutsie stickers and ribbons! But Ritwik kept pulling this out every time he sat on his high chair to eat…till he literally snapped it apart! But what are first b’days without all such funny, cute moments..err accidents?!
Here’s a quicky storyboard of how i created it:
I also created this super quick b’day wish board with card paper , satin slashes and stickers – all the mummas wrote adorable messages for the b’day boy before leaving!
2. Play-activities for Babies –
We had arranged two very simple, fun games for the kiddos –
# Passing the toy – So all mummas sat in a circle along with their babies and passed on a ball. Every time the music stopped, the mother had to do a task assigned to her. The punishments were as cute as the babies in the house (read: sing-along your baby’s fave nursery rhyme, dedicate a song to the birthday boy, sing along happy b’day song for the b’day boy…etc!)
#Sensory baskets – I created sensory baskets for every baby – filling it up with household items and textured stuff like spoons, cups, sieves, cloth bands, squeezy toy, loofah. Their return gifts (board book and rattle) were gift wrapped and put inside the basket too! The babies enjoyed touching, feeling and exploring the items in their baskets..some also had a go at trying to open the gifts, playing happily (and being more interested) in the gift wrapping paper than the actual gift! Each basket had a personalized message from Ritwik 😉
I also created an ‘icecream-cone’ themed personalized name call-out board for all the kids 🙂
P.S: I keep creating lot of sensory boxes for my toddler son – so a post on what are sensory boxes and how to create them, coming up soon!
The play activities were followed up by a cake cutting session and yummy dinner. It was fun to see all the babies licking off the yummy choco truffle cake. But we missed out on having a smash cake for Ritwik, as all the babies were pretty much sleepy after couple of hours of high octane FUN!
This is one cute b’day celebration that will remain close to our heart always! All the 7 babies and their mummas made this one so much special for our prince. I feel truly blessed to have such amazing people in our life.
On the eve of Thanksgiving, i will sign off by saying a ‘big thank you’ to all the mommies and their super adorable babies who made our house party a smash hit! Thank you all the babies for being so awesome and non-troubling, and thank you mommies for being so cool and sporty! Thank you, and god bless 🙂
P.S: I got this really cool tee for Ritwik as one of his many b’day gifts 🙂
I think it all turned out fabulous 🙂 The board to write a message was a super idea 🙂
Thank you so much Veena! Yup, the wish board was a great hit, and everybody wrote lovely messages for the b’day boy, which i am sure he will love to read once he is lil grown up! 🙂
Nice ideas and must have been super party! Loved the ideas of photo banners and wish board.
Thank you so much Priya! The photo banner and wish board were a big hit amongst all the mommies 🙂 We still haven’t removed the photo banner from our wall, do not feel like taking it off, just yet! 🙂
What beautiful creative ideas! Loved the message board. I am sure you will treasure the special messages for a long time. A little creativity goes a long way 🙂
Thank you so much Shefali! Yup, the message board is the best first b’day souvenir ever! 🙂
[…] Behind the scenes | 1st b’day house party prep […]
Amazing ideas….luv the sensory bucket!
Thank you so much Priya! Yup, the sensory bucket was a huge hit amongst the toddlers, and they kept grabbing things, very inquisitively, from each others bucket! 🙂
u r too creative…
Thank you 🙂 I get all my inspiration from my son!
wow!!!…….excellent idea. such a wonderful arrangements u make for ur lovable son…thank u for posting all tis ..keep going.
Thank you so much 🙂
where you got that stickers which you sticked to the chair? They are nice…and all other preparations is just fab!
Thank you so much Shweta 🙂 I made those stickers at home using cardstock papers, ribbons etc 🙂
aww.. what ideas.. u made my day…. i am going to copy paste. .swear!!! 🙂
Thank you so much! Let me know how it goes :))