First-birthday Parties

When Lyla McCulloch turned 1, her parents, Lauren and Wyatt, threw a big party at their house.

Buzz Baby is a column about life with babies from the perspective of a first-time mother. If you have baby stories to share, leave a comment under this article or email [email protected].

This summer, my husband and I survived planning and pulling off our twins’ first birthday party.

Our original idea was to have a small, intimate gathering with family only. However, our list grew, and before we knew it, we were booking our neighborhood clubhouse, arranging for a snow-cone truck, setting up James Coney Island and sending out invitations to over 50 people.

The party was a success, and even though I wanted to pull out my hair setting it up, I don’t regret throwing a huge bash to celebrate their big milestone.

Let’s admit it. A first birthday party isn’t really for the 1 year old. It’s for the parents. It’s to celebrate more sleep-filled nights (most of the time), the end (for some) of buying formula and (hopefully) surviving a year without having to call 911.

Global programs manager Lauren McCulloch and her husband Wyatt, a commercial real estate broker, have two daughters, Lyla, 3, and Lexi, 11 months.

For Lyla’s first birthday, they decided to make it easy and intimate, so they invited only family. “Well, that ended up being about 50 people,” said Lauren. “It was a little hectic.”

That didn’t stop them though. The following year, they hosted a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse-themed party for Lyla’s second birthday. They even rented a gymnastics truck to park in front of their house to entertain the kids.

Lauren, who was nine months pregnant at the time, says she made the mistake of searching for party décor ideas on Pinterest. “By the time it was all over with, I had created 100 pink and white hot dog trays with a stencil, stationary and a hot glue gun. The red and white [hot dog trays] that you can buy in bulk on Amazon just weren’t good enough,” she said, laughing. “It was so silly, but it sure was fun.”

This September, they’ll host yet another birthday party for Lexi, who turns 1 in early October. Lyla’s birthday is in September. “We are just going to do a two-for-one-special and have one big joint party for both of them,” said Lauren. “We will have a bunch of family in town [for Lexi’s baptism that weekend], so they’ll be able to make it.”

Lauren says that doing the birthdays together will save her extended family a lot of back-and-forth travel, and it will also save her sanity in planning two parties in less than a month. 

The couple also says no more house parties. It’s at the neighborhood pool this time. “Lexi won’t know that she got ripped off until she’s older. I’m sure she will need therapy because I deprived her of such an important milestone,” said Lauren, laughing.

The menu for big first birthday parties often isn’t as simple as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Some parents, like Alex and Anthony Heins, hired caterer Taco Cart by Don Julio for their daughter Annabel’s first-birthday bash at their home in May. Fajitas normally aren’t on the menu for babies, but the adults enjoyed it.

The smash-cake session is usually the highlight of a first birthday party. A smash cake is a baby-sized version of the big cake, and parents often let the baby dig into it hands and face first after everyone sings Happy Birthday.

Dawn Persia, a mom of two, and her husband Mike, vice president of Scout Petroleum, threw a big party at their house when their daughter Pearce turned 1 last April.

They picked the theme, which was “hoppy hour,” as it was close to the Easter holiday. Custom invitations were mailed, and Dawn set up bunny decorations all over the house.

More than 40 family and friends attended. “The party had a great start. Pearce took a nap beforehand so she was happy and smiling and enjoying all the attention,” said Dawn.

When it was time for the smash cake, guests surrounded Pearce in her high chair on their back patio and started to sing Happy Birthday.

“Mike rushed out holding the cake with the burning sparkler candles. The cake slid right off the cake stand onto the deck,” said Dawn. “Everyone gasped, and my father-in-law quickly screamed, ‘3-second rule!’ and scooped up the destroyed cake and put it back onto the stand.” They placed the cake in front of Pearce, and she dug in.

Dawn says everyone continued to sing and laughed about the fallen cake, which is still a story they tell. “It made her birthday party so much more memorable than if it had all worked out as planned.”