Ideas for Babies First Birthday Party

Ideas for babies first birthday party :
shared by Frank T. LaGrande from Oregon.

My submission is more of a birthday tradition than any particular suggestion but it's never too late to start. My youngest daughter was born in 1997 and the first year of her life was meticulously cataloged by my wife, an avid photographer.

For my daughter's first birthday I had this basic concept that I could string a ribbon between a couple of 2x4 posts that she could cut (with help) and metaphorically step into the new year (all of her presents waiting for her on the other side).

The 2x4's seemed a little plain sitting in the living room of our old duplex so I printed and pasted the pictures that best summed up my daughter's first year of life on each of the posts to make the event seem more meaningful. As with most family traditions, this one sort of took on a life of it's own. By the time my daughter turned two we were living a little better, but still in a rented townhouse with a dinky back yard.

The next door neighbor had a daughter about my daughter's age and she became her very first birthday party guest. This year she walked by her first birthday 2x4's on the way to those that featured pictures from her second year. With a little help from mom, she cut the ribbon and moved into her third year of life.

I can't remember which year it was that during daughter's annual procession it became obvious to us she was growing up, but it must've been age seven or eight.

She was so beautiful that day in her white party dress, her little friends dressed in similar summer attire. I looked at my wife, she looked at me and we just knew. The day my daughter get's married, she will walk down an isle of an ornate church, flanked by daddy's little 2xs4's every couple of pews, marking off each year of her life until I am forced to emerge from the puddle of father I have become long enough to give her away.

Today we're living better than we ever have. We own a nice home with a large lawn. It's a good thing. Time just sort of snuck up on me while I was busy doing other things.

My daughter will be 13 this July. As her life, accomplishments and snapshots get longer, the time I am blessed to be raising her grows shorter. In fewer years than I have behind us I'm likely to be taking that fateful trip up the isle.

This is one unintentional birthday tradition that I will be looking forward to sharing with my grandchildren.

If you're looking for ideas for babies first birthday party, give this tradition some consideration. It's really meant a lot to our family to see all those "growing up" photos from each birthday posted on the planks.

I also think the metaphor of "stepping into the next year" is pretty cool.

Categories: 1st Birthday Party Ideas