1st birthday for son - help

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-09-2004
1st birthday for son - help
17
Wed, 02-08-2006 - 12:29pm
My son will be one on March 10th and we are having a birthday party for him on the 11th. We expect about 60 people - Yikes! I'm from a big family, youngest of 6. My husband is an only child but his aunts/uncles and cousins are like his bro/sis. so we had to invite them all. I bought invitations at the dollar store and gave most of them to my family to avoid stamps BUT what do I serve to eat. We are having it over lunch I was thinking pizzas from Costco maybe or BBQ? Any suggestions for economical party lunch for that many. And my bigger issue is what to get him without spending much. I have a 2 year old daughter and we don't really need toys but I feel like I have to get him something????

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2003
Fri, 02-10-2006 - 8:54am

I just read through the responses, youv'e gotten great food ideas.

I have a suggestion for a gift, when my son was one, we made a phota album for me, just a little inexpensive plastic one that the photos slip into, that we labelled people who love me, and we filled it full of pictures of me, Dh, and our family. I would suggeste labelling the pictures, Mom, Dad, Nana, Grandpa.... My son took his book to the babysitter's when ever he went until he was about 4.... So buy a disposable camera, or fire up your digital and snap away at your party......My son loved his!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 02-10-2006 - 9:06am

Oh, this reminds me that we've started an annual tradition of giving our sons flip books for their birthdays. They LOVE them. www.snapfish.com has a great tool you can use to build a flip book with your digital prints, including captions. I turned our pictures from the previous year into a story of sorts ("What I Did in 2005" and "2005: Reflections" were the two books's titles), using the captions and sequencing the photos. They each cost under $10, including shipping, and the kids absolutely adore them (and they were easy--just loaded the photos, placed them in the online tool, wrote the captions, entered payment info, and they did the rest). My oldest pretends to be "reading" because he's memorized all the captions and can recite them as he flips through the book. We'll keep them all in their keepsakes boxes and they'll have a pictorial record of every year of their lives (except the first few, since we just started this year) when they grow up.

Snapfish has other great photo gifts as well, as does www.mymagicmemories.com.

Avatar for cl_beckymk
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 02-10-2006 - 9:22am

What a great idea!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 02-10-2006 - 1:50pm

Not all the pictures in each album are of *just* that child. And we don't have pictures from every month or anything. Basically, it was some pictures from each birthday, a few cute candids I caught over the course of the year when one of them was doing something funny or sweet (like sitting in a large flower pot with dirt all over a face or covered in black mud mixed in the wading pool), and photos from our family vacations, major holidays, and so forth. So it didn't matter that there might be fewer pics of one child or another. It's basically just a chronicle of the year, and it doesn't matter that many pictures contain others as well. But the "story" in each one is told from the perspective of the birthday child. I wish I could show you the flipbooks I had made, because they turned out really great with just pictures that I already had.

It helps that I have and love my digital camera. It's simple to pop it out and snap a few photos here and there, and then download them all to the computer. At the end of the year, I sorted through them (I have my camera set to record the date--it mars the picture a bit, but it means I don't lose track of when pictures were taken, which seems more important to me than portrait quality) and picked out the best and put them together in order, then put in captions.

But you can indeed use prints--snapfish will allow you to mail them your prints, which they will scan and then put up online for you to manipulate. But, for your next Christmas or birthday, consider putting together your gift money to invest in a digital camera (used ones are fairly reasonably priced on ebay). We are SO happy to have ours--and it saves money in the long run, because we print only the photos that we really want printed, and leave the rest in digital format. Plus, they are easier to store and file this way, and easier to manipulate. And I get better pictures, because I can keep snapping until I get the perfect shot, and not have to worry about the cost of film and developing. This is one newfangled gadget I would not give up for anything (and I'm not usually a big fan of newfangled gadgets--I'm an old-fashioned girl who grows and cans her own veggies and makes meals from scratch). I'd like to have a digital camcorder as well, and am considering investing in one in the not too distant future. Dh loves to work with digital video, and makes the most amusing things. For ds's fifth birthday party, he filmed and designed an "episode" of Blue's Clues, starring him in the role of Stephen, and involving the kids in a hunt through the house for Blue's clues. He pasted his own talking image into the authentic Blue's Clues background, and animated things in the environment--it was really, really cool. And the kids were totally mesmerized! LOL

Anyway, I didn't mean to ramble on like that. I just think digital photography & videography is so cool. And while it might be expensive up front, it can save money in the long run if you use it creatively.

Blessings,

Heather

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2006
Fri, 02-10-2006 - 3:27pm
I would make it a potluck and ask family members to bring something with them. As far as birthday presents for a one year old, books are an idea. Guests will most likely bring a present with them, so no need to go overboard.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
Fri, 02-10-2006 - 3:47pm

"What a great idea!!! I love this idea! Now of course, it would help if baby #4 has pictures (he has the youngest child syndrome of less pictures of him doing stuff. LOL!)."

This was so funny to read because I can remember looking through my family's photo albums and seeing page after page of my older brother from birth through starting school. Pictures of me started at age 3, in some Christmas pictures. LOL! I can actually remember turning to my Mom and asking, "Mommy? Was I adopted?" She looked surprised by my question and swore that I wasn't, but she understood when I explained, "There's no baby pictures of me in any of these books!" LOL! :-D

Pat :-D

Avatar for cl_beckymk
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 02-10-2006 - 5:07pm

Yes, I am the youngest child so have that syndrome myself - tons of home movies with my sister & brother and oh about 3 with me in it as a baby (the camera broke and my parents never got a new one).

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