Blog #117: How do you celebrate baby’s first birthday? Growing up my mother had birthday parties for my sisters and I every year. My birthday is on New Year’s Eve so there was always a celebration. I however, did not keep the tradition for my children. Especially celebrating baby’s first birthday. My tradition is to bake a cake and decorate it. As the they get older the boys pick something they would like to do for their birthday. One year we did indoor skydiving! That was super fun! Anyway, I picked a jungle theme to celebrate my baby’s first birthday!
Celebrate Baby’s First Birthday
Celebrating baby’s first year is super exciting! There are so many milestones your baby reaches the first year of their life. However, he or she will not remember! Which is one of the reasons you should not worry if you can’t celebrate during Covid-19. You can always celebrate virtually, of course!
I made the day special by decorating a cake, bought Carter an outfit and decorations. To make the whole family part of the celebration, we ordered food. Win win no cooking and cake for dessert ?. To me, it’s important for the pictures. Pictures are memories. When they look at their baby album and see how you celebrated their first birthday and the questions they will ask. The story behind each picture is what’s important.
Decorate Cake
Something I would like to learn is bake cakes from scratch. I bought a funfetti cake and decorated a lion, Pinterest inspired. To make boxed cake a pinch healthier I substitute the oil for applesauce. It always results in a super moist and light cake! I made homemade frosting and used 2 purple skittles for the eyes. I am definitely not a professional decorator but I enjoy doing this for my kiddos!
Jungle Theme Decorations
It was still a celebration without the party. From Amazon I ordered:
- a green onesie that says wild one,. Perfect for the jungle theme but my son Carter can still wear it on any other occasion, since it does not say birthday on it!
- Green balloons with confetti; and
- Wild one decoration with ribbons hanging on a string! I was planning to make something similar to this but I haven’t had as much time to craft lately! I am hoping to get to this soon! This string set came with a knitted crown. Soo cute!
As you can see in the pictures below, I added all the balloons to Carter’s crib and hung the string on his crib as well! Look at the crown. I absolutely love it!
Gift
Carter is still a baby even though he turned one! He has plenty of toys and of course enjoys playing with the remote and anything that isn’t a toy. No need to go all out. We got him a walking toy, which he loves! He has gotten gifts from family members already. No need to keep buying more.
Cost
With the outfit, decorations, balloon, cake and gift I spent under $45! $45 and life time of pictures and memories ?
Birthday Fun
In the end, we had a great time. We texted pictures to family and friends and did some video chat as well. Technology is great. Together from a distance. Lastly, we did not have to clean up any messes since there were no guests!
Being socially distant is hard but you can always make the best of things!
Enjoy!
