How to Plan Your Kids 1st Birthday Party

I cant believe that a year has passed by already, and my baby girl is 1. I feel like I was just on maternity leave and was wobbling around the house. Her little personality has came out and she is the true comedian of the family. She may not can talk yet, but her facial expressions are hilarious. It is funny because I feel like she is growing up way  faster than the other two since she is always trying to do what Ashton & Aubri are doing.

This year I felt so prepared because I had her birthday party planned since December. Laugh at me if you want, but I wanted to make sure I was super on top of things because I have so much going on. Many of you have asked how I plan out the kids birthdays, so here we go. Believe me there is no magical answer to this, this is just how I do it on a budget, and use all of my resources to make sure it is exactly the way I want it.

How to Plan a Kids Birthday Party

1. Pick a theme: I am always inspired by what I see around me. It makes your job a lot easier if you look around at window displays in stores while shopping because that can always spark an idea. Believe it or not, I came up with the mermaid theme after we did our holiday window at work. The window didn’t scream holiday to me, it was more like this reminds me of a mermaid and scales. From that day on, I started to plan how I could incorporate the window displays into the mermaid theme.
2. Invitations: I always use Minted for their birthday parties because they have tons to choose from, and even have POC templates as well.  As they get older, I will probably go the more 2000’s route of using evite, but for now I like to still order invites.
3. Guest List: I try to keep the guest list to a minimum, but that never happens. Invite your immediate family (grandparents) and close friends, and of course your friends that have kiddos!
4. Venue: I like to have the  1st birthday at home because most places are expensive, and the 1st birthday party to be should be on a budget. The child will see pictures in the future, but they could care less if you spent thousands of dollars renting out a place.
5. Food: This year we decided to get the food catered because we had tons of adults that were going to be at the party. Make sure to order the food ahead of time. It can become costly if you are getting it catered, and most places require 2 weeks notice in order to cater your party. We also ordered pizza for the kids! We also usually have custom cookies done for the parties, but this year we couldn’t get the cookies in time, so I stress to you to order your food and deserts early. As far as the cake, I always get the bottom tier of a wedding cake made in white, and decorate it myself. I am not a big fan of those extravagant cakes, I just want the cake to taste good!
6. Decorations: My go to shops for party decorations are Target, Etsy, Harlow and Grey, Oh Shiny Paper Co, and Oh Happy Day. Also, I want to talk about how I walked into Target to pick up a few party supplies and came out with a black girl magic mermaid! I am still excited about this!!!
7. Goodie Bags: I always go to the Dollar Store and pick up little toys for the kiddos! Target also has toys on the party aisles and sell them in bulk of 8 and 12.
8. It wouldn’t be a Sweeney party if we didn’t have fresh flowers! Anytime we have guest over I try to make sure we have floral arrangements around the house! Don’t ask me why, I think its just my excuse to make floral arrangements.
9. Lastly, stay in the moment. I try to make sure Ahmad takes all the pictures at the beginning before anyone arrives to the house, because I like to live in the moment. I don’t want to miss out on anything, and at the end of the day its all about the birthday girl! I steal all the videos and pictures from everyone else that are taken throughout the event.