I have seen some pretty amazing first birthday parties out there. Especially online - WHOA! Honestly, I'm impressed!
But at the same time I laugh, because that is so not me. Not in any sense. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with doing big birthday parties - I applaud you for the effort and creativity that go in behind it.
I'm just way too lazy for that. I'm also way too poor. And not creative at all.
What did we do for our kid's first birthdays?
We had a family BBQ each time. And I made the cake. Just really basic.
One of the reasons, as I said above, is that we don't have a lot of money to spend on extras. Which was why it was a family BBQ. Phil cooked the meat, I made the salads and cake. We just chilled out.
Growing up, we only had 3 birthday parties. At ages 7, 16, and 21. Mainly because there were four of us kids, and again, my parents didn't have a lot of money.
Sometimes I look at the big flash birthday parties that people have, and feel a bit bad that I didn't offer that for my kids. I know it's not necessary for a 1 year old to have a flash party - but even just having photos and memories would have been cool.
Either way you do it - there is no right or wrong.
A 1 year old will not remember their party. But they will have photos to look back on when they're older. So whichever way you do it - it's fine.
This piece originally appeared on Happy Mum Happy Child.