For my son's first birthday party, we had a theme. It was "I can't believe we survived one year of parenting." I'm pretty sure we had cupcakes and then I took a long nap. The rest is kind of a blur. Clearly, I'm not a master party planner.
While you are more than welcome to steal my theme -- all you need is a messy house and a strong desire to eat carbs -- you're probably looking for ideas to make your little one's big day memorable for your guests. And what's interesting yet complicated about first birthdays is that the guests aren't usually the same age as the birthday boy or girl. In fact, you might be hitting a whole spectrum of age ranges.
Because of the special nature of hosting a kid's party for all ages, we asked parents who threw successful, wildly fun first birthday parties for their best ideas. With any of these 12 awesomely creative (and mostly easy) ideas, you too can throw a party your baby will never remember, but your guests certainly will!