The First Birthday: How to throw a Birthday Bash!

Is your child turning 1?  Are you running crazy on how to make the first birthday party of your child a truly memorable and fun event?

What’s the fuss all about?

Every person is turning one only once in a lifetime!  Needless to say, events that come once in a lifetime are celebrated.  So it is customary to every parent to throw in a party for their child’s first birthday.

Throwing in a party can be a gruelling ordeal because there are a lot of considerations to make in the preparation stage and on the event itself.  Not to mention that it can also be costly.  So hiring an events coordinator may not be a very feasible option since the event in itself will already drain your pocket.  Well, with the right knowledge and creativity, I’m sure every parent can do this job.

This article is meant exactly for this purpose – to guide the parents in organizing the first birthday bash of their child.

Birthday Party 101

As mentioned earlier, birthday parties come in two stages: the preparation stage and the event itself.
Preparation Stage
This stage is very crucial stage as it will affect the whole event.  Here are simple steps that can be followed so one will not run like a headless chicken in the process:
1.    Come up with a bird’s eye view plan of the birthday party.  
Set your budget for the birthday party, finalize who will be involved in organizing the party, choose a theme and calculate the time that you have to prepare for the party.  It is very important to set a budget at the first step of organizing the party as you don’t want to overspend and you want to have a guide on the other details.  Finalize who will help you out in organizing to know how to divide the work later on. Once you already know who are involved, decide on the theme.

There are various themes that you can choose from and it is not hard to search for a theme because it can easily be found over the net.  Choosing a theme is at the start of the planning because everything should be tailored to it.  Lastly, the time that you have to prepare for the party should be calculated so you can set out the timetable for each task that you need perform to avoid last minute preparations.

2.    Checklist of tasks

Your checklist should include the tasks that you need to do as well as the deadline.  The following are the typical things included in a checklist: the venue where you will hold the party (make sure that you reserve this ahead of time), the invitations and when to send to them, the list of invitees, the program (like who will host it, what is the general flow, what prizes should be bought, etc.), the menu, and party souvenirs.  As much as possible, try to follow the checklist that you have to avoid cramming.  
On the Day of the Event
On the day of the event, check the venue and the food at least 4-5 hours before the event so you can still iron things out if anything went amiss.  After this, relax and enjoy the party!  Who wants to be tensed on your child’s first birthday anyway.