ugh, feeling guilty about not having 1st bday party for DD....

**frugalfoster** · 05-25-2010, 08:18 AM

If you start off with big parties...where do you go from there? Bigger parties as they grow older...and talk about hassle! I think that you were smart to lay low...quite honestly there is no way a one year old would ever understand the reason for it anyways. You have 18 years or more ahead of you, that's lots of time to have parties!!

**bumplett** · 05-25-2010, 09:06 AM

I think small family affairs are more comfortable.

**Greebo** · 05-25-2010, 09:10 AM

A one year old will NEVER KNOW they didn't have a party.

**Liane** · 05-25-2010, 02:32 PM

Your child, your decision. What you had was great. People are always going to voice their opinion in a family. That is fine as long as they can accept yours as the final say. I know I asked people not to get my daughter stuffed animals anymore and they all looked at me like I had three heads. She had 7 trash bags full of stuffed animals. Birthdays are what you make them. Have no regrets.

**sunshine** · 05-25-2010, 08:18 PM

My son and his wife had an awesome idea for my grand daughter's first birthday (they live nearly 1000 miles from both sides of the family). . .

They bought her a bag of tub toys at the Dollar Store. . . and wrapped each on individually. . . She got to open one with breakfast. . . and she played with it for several hours. . . when she tired of that -- they took her to the park, did the swings, slides, had picnic lunch, etc. . . and opened another toy. . . . home for a nap - and opened another toy after nap. . . . watched her favorite DVD (Wubbsy), then opened another toy at dinner. . . . took a bath with her new toys and headed to bed. . . and entire day, devoted to her with her parent's full attention. No big expense for them. . . no overwhelming mountain of toys for the baby. . . . but tons of great memories and pictures.

**marjorie** · 05-25-2010, 08:29 PM

Sounds to me like you did what would really be in keeping in with your family's priorities. If someone else doesn't like it, let it fall under "too bad, so sad". I guess I'd rather be Debbie Downer than Debbie Dumbbunny!

**joyousjasmin** · 02-14-2012, 08:45 PM

I think you did the right thing! We did a spaghetti feed with family and his one friend and then a peanut butter and jelly cake that I made since those were his favorite things. I am really thinking about doing the same for his second birthday party.

**dancemommy** · 02-14-2012, 09:31 PM

We've had big parties and small parties. For a one year old I'd just invite close people over for cake if I were in your shoes. Cake is cheap. Avoid mealtime. We avoid mealtime when we throw big parties too. Our daughter just had an ice skating party from 2-4- that way we just had cake and saved money on not having a meal. Good luck!

**Momto5RN** · 02-15-2012, 09:35 AM

i have 5 kids we only ever had family parties for them until they were school aged and they each had maybe 1-2 parties at a bowling alley or at our home for friends etc after that.
oldest is soon to be 24 i have never once head him say i didnt get a party for this or that .
in fact i made his cake out of 2 on sale pepperidge farm cakes cut to make a 1 and re-iced and decorated - cost me under 5$ - he got one toy from us .

**LuvMyHubby** · 03-11-2012, 04:57 PM

As a child I think I only had one party wiith a bunch of friends. The birthday's I most remember are just with my mom, brother, grandmother and a great aunt/uncle or two who would drop by if they were in the area. My best memory was always getting to choose the cake which my mom made from scratch. DD didn't get a formal first birthday party but did have cake and immediate family. She did get moderate parties with friends throughout school.

**Nana2two** · 03-12-2012, 02:26 PM

We always had a party every year till they reach around 12. But it was geared more around a family BBQ some one brought a dish ,i made the cake and had ice cream.Everyone brought a card and most put $5 or $10 in it. Nothing big. But the family is huge its was like 20 or 25 people. Thats my ex husbands side. My daughter would invite 2 of her friends for a sleep over that night.. We would give her $20 cash.We provided hotdogs and hamburgers and thats it. She is now 26.