Can you believe it? How has it already been 12 months? It seems like just yesterday since your baby was born, and already you’re planning their 1st birthday party! One thing’s for sure: your parents were right — they do grow up so fast. Now the question is, what do you do for the 1st birthday party, and how much will everything cost? We’ve got you covered. Here are some of our 1st birthday party ideas for parents on a budget.

Finding The Right Location

We know you want to make your child’s 1st birthday party as special as humanly possible. This usually involves finding the right event venue where you can host the event.

Hollywood Banquet Hall

Most 1st birthday parties aren’t going to be all-out bashes, so it’s better to find a location that can cater to the smaller events. There’s no need to pay extra for a huge location that’s entirely too big. Keep this in mind when it comes time to finding the right spot.

You’ll also want to make sure that there’s plenty of open space for the kids to play. That means finding a birthday venue that has an open dance floor.

Take Care Of The Entertainment Yourself

There’s no need to spend hundreds (or thousands) of dollars booking a DJ. One of the easiest 1st birthday party ideas to incorporate for your child’s party is to take care of the entertainment yourself.

Do you have a Spotify or another music streaming account? You can easily make your own music playlist for the party, or use one of a 100 kid’s birthday party playlists. When you control the playlist yourself, you can even incorporate your child’s favorite songs.

And if you’re looking to bring in something for entertainment such as a clown or magician, why not try tapping into your network of family or friends? You can rent a costume and have them dress up as your child’s favorite character, providing hours of entertainment for all the guests.

This method will help save you a ton of cash over hiring someone.

Start The Planning Process Early

Time can fly when you’re a parent, but if you’re trying to stretch your budget for your child’s 1st birthday party, you’ll want to begin planning as early as possible.

This will give you plenty of time to do comparison shopping, and it also allows you to buy your supplies incrementally instead of all at once.

Decorations are constantly going on sale, and you can find them at great bargain prices. You can save a lot of money by simply starting early and keeping an eye out for deals.

Do The Decorations Yourself

One of the biggest costs of hosting a 1st birthday party is the decorations.

By putting in a little extra time and effort, you can save yourself a lot of cash by both making and setting up the decorations yourself.

You’d be surprised what a little elbow grease and creativity can do for you. There are literally countless simple birthday party decoration ideas available for you to choose from. Pinterest, anyone?

Use Low-Cost Activities

Kids are fairly easy to entertain, especially at such a young age. You don’t have to go all out and spend a fortune to keep them happy and occupied for a few hours.

Instead, one of the simple 1st birthday party ideas is to embrace low-cost activities.

There are endless games you can play with the kids that will cost next to nothing. Here’s a list of classics that kids still adore:

  • Duck, Duck, Goose
  • Hot Potato
  • Charades
  • Simon Says

Bake The Cake Yourself

If you’re looking to save some extra money for your child’s 1st birthday party, look into baking the cake yourself.

Or you can skip the cake altogether and bake cupcakes for your guests. After all, who doesn’t love to have their own personal mini-cake? Even the baby “smash cake” can be a cupcake—perhaps a bit larger than the guests’.

Order Supplies Online

Perhaps one of the easiest 1st birthday party ideas to utilize is shopping for your supplies online.

Not everything you search for online may be cheaper, but it is a great way to shop around in the comfort of your own home.

Plus, if you use a service such as Amazon, you can add some of the supplies to your wish list and get a notification when they’re on sale. This is another one of the perks of starting your planning early.

We hope that this list of 1st birthday party tips helps you! They do grow up fast, so treasure your times together while they’re small. The 1st birthday is one of the most special of them all. 

If you’re still looking for the perfect event venue for your child’s 1st birthday party, we would love to host you. Check out our photo gallery, and if you have questions or would like to book with us, please contact us here.