Best time for a first birthday party?

[BeeAnn]

Not sure where to post this so feel free to move it if necessary.

My DD will be 1 year old in mid-December and I am starting to think about her birthday party.  Problem is that I don't know what would be a good time for a birthday party as I don't really have any idea what kind of routine she will be on by that age! 

Can anyone give me an idea of when is the most likely time babies that age will be awake (and happy!) and also what sort of length of party would be good.  I did have a look at some of the sample routines but they all seem to vary so much!

I am happy to do finger foods for a meal or snack.

She is currently 8 months old with about a 3 hour A time so WU just before 7am, bedtime at 7pm with 1.5 hr naps at 10am and 2.30pm.  So I think quite a textbook routine - and she is a textbook / angel baby (with a textbook liking mum!) so I would expect her to be on quite a standard routine by that time.

Also - if anyone wants to throw in what they did and if it worked / didn't work that would be great because I am not sure what we should do at the moment!!

[*Ali*]

Well I think 12mo is a really tough time to predict a routine so far in advance.
DS1 was doing one 3hr nap at 12.30 and sleeping 8-8 at that age.
DS2 was still on 2 naps then though and didnt move to one nap until 15mo. He was sleeping 1.5hrs at 10.15 and 30-40 mins at 3.20. Then 7.30-6.30 (with some EW as early as 5) at night.
So complete opposites really.
Do you have commit to a time now?
How flexible is she usually? Does she handle OT well or would she fall apart if she missed a nap?
Maybe a morning party would be safest around 9.30am so that even if she usually does 2 naps still she could wait until afterwards? I think 1.5-2hrs would be the longest you would want to plan the party to last.
For both of mine we just did party buffet with a few family and friends at our house. We played some fun kiddie music and did dancing and balloons. They won't be up to any organised games like pass the parcel or musical bumps at that age.

[michaeljacknnugg]

I think we did ours after the second nap, so mid afternoon. I think! Between naps could be an option too?

We went to a small sensory play centre and it was lovely - shared the party with one of the antenatal group as we had mostly the same friends.

[We Three]

We did after the second nap too. Just my family...her grandparents and my siblings and her little cousins...I think there were 12 of us.  Finger foods, veggies/dip, sandwiches.  It was very low-key and all about 'her'.  At about 6pm I put her in her jammies and everyone held her, played with her, took lots of pictures. She was surrounded by love and we truly celebrated her.  In bed at her normal time, I think about 7:30 or so.  She was content, not overwhelmed or OT.

It was perfect. 

[Lindsay27]

We did ours at 3pm so I could fit 2 naps in before if I needed to, or have 1 long nap mid-day.  I think he had a morning nap and a short nap around 2:30pm before guests arrived.

[creations]

Can you send out "save the day" cards to people you want to invite and then send the invite proper, with time, venue etc closer to the time so you can work out the best time around her naps?

I had hopes for a little party at a sensory play centre, it looked super cool.  Problem was I didn't know the mums of the other babies all that well and his birthday is January before the mum and baby groups started the new term and right after Xmas. It just turned out too hard to invite people and be sure I'd have enough for the party to hire the place out etc.  So in the end I opted for just family instead.  I booked a table at a family friendly pub/restaurant for about 20 mins after nap wake up time and literally as soon as he woke we piled him in the car and drove there. Granny, Nana, a couple of great aunts, DP and me.  DS LOVED it! (he has always loved eating in restaurants) I took individual sugar free cakes for everyone and balloons.  When it got close to our regular wind down time we whizzed him back home and got him ready for bed.  TBH it was a couple of hours and all the guests were ready to go home by that point having had enough time for the meal, a chat and play with DS, and each other etc.  Granny came back to our house and visited with us a while after BT as we don't see her often.
And for his 2nd birthday I did get to hire a place and invite a bunch of kids - you still have to work it around naps even then!

[BeeAnn]

Thanks for the insight.  I will have a think but at the moment I am thinking that maybe half 12 or 3pm might be quite good.  Because then if she is on two naps (I think that is most likely) it should be in the middle of the two naps at half 12 right?  Or 3.30pm you might be able to squeeze two naps in before then.  Do you think people might think 3.30pm is too late and may run into dinner / bedtime?

It is more the venue that I think would need a time.  However, I will try to hold them off as long as possible! 

She does tend to melt down if she doesn't get enough sleep - but not usually till we try to get her to nap again and then all h*ll breaks loose!

I think we will need to hire somewhere as there are a few friends I would like to invite from my NCT group - and then I have to invite everyone from the group plus the other people we have play dates with - suddenly you are into 30+ people including the babies!

At the moment I am thinking of just hiring a ball pool and maybe some bigger toys like inflatable bricks, ride on ponies etc (and little cars for the toddlers) from a local toy library, and then taking along some of our toys too.  Plus cake and finger food.  Does that sound like it might be good?  I did think about hiring a big soft play and ball pool but think it may be overkill as not all the babies will be mobile.

[*Ali*]

I think that sounds great.  A big soft play might end up with you all split up and be intimidating if there were others there.
12 might be a problem if she's on one nap but would be fine on two naps.

[creations]

sounds like fun
I agree that a soft play place is not quite as suitable for a first birthday, although they have an area for under 4s that can still be overwhelming and too rough for 1yos, fine for a trip out but not quite as fine when it is your special day.  I did DS's 2nd birthday at soft play and it was great, there were a few babies (sibs of toddlers) and that was fine, the place did a good job of rounding them all up for pass the parcel and their private room for the food - but it's all rather loud and big for 1yos.

[Mama2Athena]

We had both my DS and DD's first birthday at a local park, both started at 12:30 PM.  Both were about 2 hours long.  I wanted it to have it at a time when I could invite lots of people and serve a proper meal (lunch).  I didn't really worry too much about whether my kids would be on 1 or 2 naps come their birthday parties, only because both kids are easily APOP for an earlier nap if needed.

It was really easy with my DD, because even though she started the 2-1, she still went down for her nap at 11 and we woke her around 12:15 to head out to the party.  She had a blast at her party, just "walking" around  and showing off her new skill.  By 3 PM, when the party had ended, she was exhausted, so we were able to put her down for another nap.

With my DS, it was a little trickier.  My brother got married the evening before, so we were out late (past 10 PM) so DS slept in the next day, so no time for an early nap.  Then he got fussy around noon while we were setting up.  One of my uncles had to walk him around in the stroller until he fell asleep.  He slept for a bit, but was awake for his cake and still had time to visit with his guests.

[Striker1s]

Hey, DD is going to be 1 year soon, so I want to make a party for her, but I don't know what time to choose, I need an idea. Recently started to read a book and there were written that numerology plays an important thing in the life of every person so if you want to make to them a gift or a little party use https://www.sunsigns.org/numerology-compatibility-test/ to see what time is the best and why? Now I am wondering what to do and if this will work for my DD?