Get your guests ready for the big show by sending them a "ticket to fun." Simply cut card-stock paper into rectangles the size of 3-by-5 index cards. Or, to simplify things, use a colored index card. Then, create a perforated ticket edge with a hole punch. Be imaginative when writing out the party information: "This ticket admits you to one afternoon of fun with ringmaster Johnny and his Little People pals!" Or, "The past year has been a three-ring circus for us! Please come celebrate Claire's 1st birthday under our big top at 18 Valley View Drive."
Turn your house into a big top that would make Barnum and Bailey proud! If you want an outdoor party, consider renting an outdoor tent and decorating it with streamers, paper chains, posters of animals and other decorations that give it a big top look. To create the same mood in one of your rooms, fasten bed sheets to the ceiling at each corner, letting the middle drop slightly to look like the inside of a tent. Hang signs that read "Just Clownin' Around" and "Step Right Up and Join the Fun!" Use cardboard boxes to make circus cages, and put your child's stuffed animals inside. (You can also include a note on your invitations asking guests to bring along their favorite stuffed animal.)
For a table centerpiece, use the Little People Circus Train or the Little People Big Top Train. Keep the rest of your toys within easy reach to keep your youngest guests occupied during the party.
Finally, before you put on that bright red nose and rainbow wig, remember that lots of toddlers are afraid of clowns. A clown's hat-or a ringmasters tux and top hat-is probably costume enough.
As the parent of a 1-year-old, you're still a few years away from having to develop the structured games that older children expect at their birthday parties. In fact, most kids this young are happy enough playing with the birthday child's cast-off wrapping paper!
That said, a few simple activities that parents and their children can do together add to the day's enjoyment. One idea is to arrange a treasure hunt for your guests. Ask them to find the Little People figures and return them to their playsets, for example. Or hide plastic treasures in your sandbox and give your guests shovels to find them.
Another idea for a treasure hunt is a bit more involved, but it's worth the effort. Before the party, make a clown's face out of a cardboard box. Using plenty of primary colors, draw a clown, cutting out a circle for the mouth. When your guests arrive, send them on a mission to retrieve a bunch of beanbags that you have hidden throughout the house. Once they have found them all, they can take turns throwing them through the clown's mouth. Even the babies will enjoy tossing the bags at a brightly colored face.
Since the guest of honor won't remember this day years from now, make a special effort to record the party. Beyond taking plenty of pictures, consider videotaping the festivities. While the tape is rolling, ask your guests to tell you one special memory about your child's first year. You can also buy an inexpensive tablecloth and ask your guests to write a message to your child using fabric markers.
Keep the food simple for your youngest guests. A menu that includes cut-up slices of pizza, cheese, fruit and juice will keep them happy-at least until dessert. And when that time comes, these ice cream clowns will be a bigger hit than Bozo himself!
Ingredients:
4 ice cream cones
1 pint ice cream, any flavor
4 paper cupcake liners
Tubes of frosting with decorator tips
4 maraschino cherries
How to make them:
Placed rounded scoops of ice cream onto the center of paper cupcake liners placed on individual plates.
Top ice cream balls with an up-side down cone ot make clown hats.
Freeze them until firm.
Decorate one ice cream clown with frosting to look like a clown.
Top the cone with a cherry.
Put them back in the freezer and decorate the reamining ice cream clowns one at a time. Keep them in the freezer until serving time.
Serves 4. (Note: For children 2 and younger, cut up the cherry before they dig in.)
There's no need to get elaborate with goody bags for kids this young. Since peanuts and popcorn aren't appropriate, give them small boxes of animal crackers. You can also include a mini stuffed animal in the bags, a brightly colored teething toy, a Little People board book or maybe even a Little People figure.
Reprinted from "Baby Birthday Parties" with permission of its author, Penny Warner, and its publisher, Meadowbrook Press (1999.)
