My son turned one in April so to celebrate the wild monster that he is we threw a Where the WIld Things are first birthday.
Some tips when planning a first birthday party:
The easier the better. I kept food simple. Less to prepare and less clean up. We ordered a variety of pizzas and had none left. I had a smash cake but didn't do cake for the guests. Again, back to simplicity. We had cake pops and cookies since they are self-serve.
Keep it short and sweet. We only hosted the party for 3 hours and it was plenty of time. We didn't have my son open gifts with all of the family there to avoid it overwhelming him. Time saver too!
DIY Decor to save on expenses. I'm a perfectionist and I did my best not to go all out on decorations that we will use one time, but sometimes my OCD kicked in and I couldn't hep myself.
We asked guests to write our son a note that he can open on his 18th birthday. We figured some of the family members may not be around by the time we give him the letter so it will be a cool way to memorialize them when he is old enough to appreciate it. I'm not going to lie, I was tempted to open a few...but I think it makes it even more special for him that he will be the first one reading them 18 years later!
Instead of gifts, we also asked for contribution to his college fund that my husband set up. Every little bit counts!
Here's some pictures that my cousin captured of the day: