Ann Reardon

My Baby’s First Birthday – The Party

1st birthday party ideas dessert buffet sock monkey owl teddy bear

What theme do you have for a first birthday?

 I chose to use his favourite toys like sock monkey, owlie, little teddy and the fabric that my sons nursery is decorated with.

Before he was born I bought fabrics that I liked for his nanny to make him a cot quilt, as is tradition in our family.  I used the spare fabrics to make some boxes, owlie and nappy stacker for his room so that everything matched.

first birthday ideas sock monkey owl nappy stacker sock monkey owl sock monkey nursery theme

On the party table I wrapped some board game boxes in the same fabric.  I didn’t have enough of the fabric to use it for bunting so I colour photocopied it, cut it out using a exacto knife and glued it onto some fabric tape.  You could use wrapping paper that matches your theme instead.

1st birthday sock monkey bunting idea

I covered lemonade bottles using the scraps of paper from making the bunting and cut circles with 1 printed from the computer.  In hindsight squares would have been much quicker to cut out, but my 9 year old helped me – What a champion!

 

babies 1st birthday ideas sock monkey theme
 
For the party food I liked the look of dessert  and candy buffets but I did not want it to be all sweet so I mixed it up with some savoury finger foods.
Party finger food 1st birthday ideas
We had macarons with chocolate ganache filling.  I don’t own any cake stands so I used white square plates, that I got for 50c each from the second hand store, on top of some dessert glasses – from the same store. Easy Macaron Recipe

babies first birthday ideas macarons recipe cake stand idea babies 1st birthday party ideas sock monkey

On each side of the table we had cardboard cupcake stands (a few dollars each from woolworths) with fairy bread, veggie dip cups – using disposable shot glasses and toothpicks with cabanossi, mozzarella and a cherry tomato.

finger food 1st birthday party ideas veggie dip cups 1st birthday party ideas finger food

In the centre of the table were raspberry sphericals with white chocolate mousse and nut crunch.  They were a big hit with adults and the older kids alike with one guest commenting, “I have no idea how you did that but they were awesome” and another, “they are unbelievable!”.

molecular gastronomy raspberry spherical recipe molecular gastronomy raspberry spherical recipe


And of course we had cake pops.  These ones actually popped – I sprinkled them with popping sugar and then redipped them in chocolate.

popping sugar cake pops that pop 1st birthday ideas
On the table with the drinks I had watermelon with grapes.

finger food healthy first birthday party ideas
  The table centre piece was the birthday cake… for instructions on how to make the cake see this post. To see what was inside the cake see this one.

 

 

1st birthday cake sock monkey owl teddy bear fondant

I only had the one game for the mixed aged kids that were there, which was a treasure hunt for sock monkeys – which they gave to me and I swapped for lolly pops.

sock monkey party ideas 1st birthday

If you are planning a first birthday then HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your little one and a big CONGRATULATIONS to you as parents. You made it through the first year!  Check out this page for lots of first birthday party ideas from around the web.

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15 Comments View Comments

  1. 2lengthen

  2. Rating: 5

    What a cute idea. Incorporating his room added more warmth to the theme. Great idea. Bet baby loved it. Happy birthday!!!

  3. You’ve got to be kidding me-it’s so trtnpsarenaly clear now!

  4. Hey ann.. Could you please tell the recipe for the cake? 🙂

  5. Hi,
    In LOVE with the family tree, I’ve been trying to think how to use all the newspapers we bought on the day my son was born and they would do perfectly as a background. Can I ask what other materials you used (to coat the background and the color wash are they water colour paint?). My son turns 1 next month and I would really like to do this for him and to ask family and friends to bring a snippet of something they love to add to the tree as a gift :-).
    Thank you for inspiring me to get creative!

    • Hi Emma, I used mdc wood as the base, then wood glue that dried clear, stick all the pages on and coat in a thin layer of the glue. Once it is dry you can use water based poster paints over the top, and because you already have a layer of glue anything you don’t like you can wipe off. Once you’re happy add the circles if thats what you want (painted and outlined separately). and then coat the whole thing in another layer of glue – I used aquedhere. Hope that helps 😀

  6. Hi ann could you do a cake recipe for my easy bake oven thx

  7. Hi Ann, I’ve just come across your page today and have already whipped up a batch of macarons! I just love your creativity and have saved your website to my home screen for quick access to your fantastic work!
    Thanks for some great ideas for my little girls bday.

    • Thanks so much Jody glad you are enjoying it 😀

  8. Wow such a Great Party.thanks for sharing this smart ideas .its inspired me so much.i can’t Cook but After i saw this i am more confident than before to organized my daughter’s Birthday Party ..many thanks to U ..hello from Vienna xxx

  9. I woke up to feed my bb and I so happened to come across your lovely video on you tube. Feel very inspired and can’t wait to try out some ideas 😉 thank you so much for sharing! Love, Jenny from Singapore

    • Hi Jenny, Thanks for leaving a lovely comment.

  10. Cute party! I’m in love with the painting of the tree with the colorful circles.. Where did you purchase this or is it a DiY project?
    Thanks so much!

    • Thanks Summer, It’s our “family tree” made with copies of marriage certificate, first house plans, kids school work, old love letters… in the background and then in the circles are pictures from books which again had some meaning to a member of the family eg: cooking things for me – I looked through books at a second hand store to find ones that had the style of pictures that I was after so I could cut them up. The rest is paint and glue.

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