Simple First Birthday
This past Saturday on December 21, 2019 we celebrated Nate's first birthday. It is incredible to me that a year has passed so quickly. It seems just like yesterday that we were praying to come home from the hospital in time to celebrate Christmas as a family. Having had a child so close to Christmas, last year was exciting. This year, not so much.
The reason why I say that it was not exciting this year is that I did not realize how incredibly hard it would be to plan a birthday near the holidays. My mind raced to determine what day would we have his party on so it did not conflict with other holiday plans. I thought about how could I possibly find a party theme that would go well with my Christmas decorations. Then food. Goodness gracious, I have already had Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, and our family Christmas get together. How could I possibly think about cooking or food again? Lastly, what about cost? Christmas is literally tomorrow so we could not afford to spend a boatload of money right before the holidays. I was so over everything by the time Nate's birthday came around that my husband and I decided that simple and easy was the way to go this year. He wasn't going to remember it anyway so why stress right?
Well low stress was what we did and it worked out perfectly. Here are five things we did that helped us.
1. CHOOSE A DATE THAT WORKS FOR YOU - We picked a date that worked best for us (Nate's actual birthday 12/21) and tried not to worry about if most people could make it or not. We knew that we wouldn't find something that worked for everyone. We were glad for those who made it but totally understood that others couldn't make it due to family holiday obligations. We also made sure we told people no pressure when we invited them so they didn't feel stressed.
2. FACEBOOOK OR EVITE INVITATIONS - Once we picked a date we created a Facebook invite and sent out "invitations." Doing things snail mail or making cards to pass out is just way to time consuming for us. Anyone else like this or is it just us? In the past I have also used Evite. We also kept our invitations to a minimum because we did not want an overwhelming amount of people.
3. HANDY DANDY PINTERST, WALMART, AND CHICK-FIL-A - Thursday night, just two nights before the day of the party I sat down to plan the food. I used handy dandy Pinterest to find a spinach and artichoke dip recipe and hot chocolate station idea. Then used the Walmart app to order groceries that my hubby picked up Friday. I ordered stuff to make the dip, a veggie tray, and stuff to make a hot chocolate station. I also bought a pre-made cheese and meat tray because I knew I wanted to be lazy. In addition, I ordered basic plates, cups, and napkins that were Christmas colored since Christmas was our "theme." Lastly, I ordered a tray of chicken nuggets from Chick-Fil-A. All of which cost me roughly $120.
4. SIMPLE DECORATIONS - We said we were not going to do decorations. We already had the house decorated for Christmas and we did not want to take things down to put up stuff for a party theme. However, my mom insisted on bring a happy birthday banner that was primary colors from the dollar store that we hung up in front of where he was going to open his presents. We hung one above his high chair and attached a happy birthday balloon. We had THREE decorations and that was it. Low set up.
5. SPACE THINGS OUT/ DELEGATE TAKS - Cooking/ baking for the party was easy. Friday night I made the cupcakes. My sister came Saturday morning to frost them. Saturday I made the dip, veggie tray, and set up my hot chocolate station all of which took me about an hour to do. I had my sister and friend set up the three decorations. My husband set up the extra table and chairs and went to pick up the nuggets. He was home before people started arriving. In other words, I spaced out my baking and cooking and delegated tasks.
Having done these five simple things made Nate's first birthday a stress free day. The Monteros family was able to enjoy a day celebrating our sweet boy. We ate, we laughed, we sang, and opened presents. Nate loved his day and we wouldn't change a thing about our little guys low stress, simple birthday party. Look below for a few fun pictures of the day!
Click the arrow for more pictures! :)
We all had a great time! Here are a few shots from the day. Can you tell Nate loved his cupcake?