First Birthday Party Ideas to Make Your Baby's First Birthday a Success!

It's time for first birthday party ideas already? Can you believe it's only been a year since you brought your little bundle of joy home? This is the beginning of a lifelong tradition for you Mom. Planning your child's birthday party will become a yearly event as the years begin to fly by.

First Birthday Party Themes

First thing to do is pick out a theme. What's your child's favorite cartoon character or book character? How about a favorite stuffed animal? There are so many themes to choose from that are perfect for a 1st birthday party.

Sesame Street gives us lots of ideas that are great kids party themes.

• Abby Cadabby
• The Entire Sesame Street Gang
• Elmo

How about Winnie the Pooh? Many party supply stores have an entire aisle dedicated to First birthday party themes. Among them you will find:

• 1st Birthday Princess
• All Star
• Jungle
• Sweet Pea
• The Big 1

Once you look around at what's available, you are sure to find one design you really like.

When you have picked the theme you want to use for the big first birthday bash it's time to write out the guest list. There are lots of first birthday invitations to choose from. You may decide to pick one that matches your theme or you may want something more personalized to celebrate this auspicious occasion. If you choose a photo invitations you can bet most guests will save it as a keepsake. Every time they look through their photo album, your baby's first birthday party invitation will bring back some fun memories for them. If you want something off the shelf but your party theme invitations are not what you were looking for you can purchase packaged invitations at your local stationary or office supply store, and you can fill in all the important party information. Fill them out, write out the envelopes, stamp them and mail them out.

Now it's time to think about decorations as the special party date gets near. Of course, what's a party without some balloons and streamers? But there are many other wonderful decorations for you to choose from. How about something rather adventurous like a photographic life size stand up. Or one of those giant inflatable toys you can rent?

Party Favors For A First Birthday

You can have your baby's picture printed on a personalized candy bar wrapper or right on a cookie. There are even company's who will print up Tee shirts with your child's picture on them. Now, that can be a rather expensive party favor, but it is a very special favor for a very special birthday.

Send a picture of your guests with your Thank you card. It is such a lovely and personal touch, the recipient will certainly appreciate it.You can buy a placard, a party book or a stuffed animal for your party guests to sign. It's a wonderful keepsake you and your child can read over and over in the years to come. It also helps to remind you of everyone who attended your party. This way you know who to send a Thank You card to.

Birthday Party Centerpieces

If you have a lot of tables you should consider party centerpieces. You can keep them along the same theme as your main party theme, or you can use flowers or candles. If it's a very large party you should assign seats. The tables can be set with colors that match your party theme or character party supplies.

Whatever kind of party theme you decide to have for your baby's first birthday it will be a memorable and special occasion for you and your child. Remember to take lots of pictures of all your guests and of the Special First Birthday Baby! This is just the first of many birthday parties you will have for your child, but it is the one you will always remember.

Check out Party Ideas Parade for all your party supplies and party ideas! Find more kids party themes at Birthday Party Ideas for Kids. Ms. Party Ideas can answer all your party questions and enjoys swapping party ideas with you.

Starting a Cake Decorating Business - The Birthday Cake Niche

In a previous article in this series - Start Your Own Cake Decorating Business at Home, Part 1 - we looked at the importance of focusing on a niche and working it thoroughly to maximise its potential. Let's now have a closer look at a specific niche - Childrens' Birthday Cakes - and examine the opportunities it presents you with.

Market Research Let's do the numbers - say your child is in an average sized class of 30 children at their primary/elementary school. Most of those children will have at least one brother or sister, giving you access to a potential market of a minimum of 60 children, and based on the fact that every child has a birthday once a year, that's an average of more than one birthday a week! Of course not every child has a birthday cake, and of those who do, a lot will be made by their mother or another family member, but plenty of people do buy cakes and they do want something a little different from the fairly standard shop bought ones that are available. Remember that this is just one class of children - if you have 2 children, the numbers are doubled. Then there's your own friends and family, sports teams etc, and you can see that the availability of potential clients is huge, just from your own immediate circle. Word of mouth will spread your reputation much wider than this relatively narrow network, so you can easily see yourself getting quickly to the point where you will have to turn down work.

Talk to people Now that you have identified a potentially huge market, you need to do some simple research and find out exactly what the prospects are in your area. The best way to do this is to talk to people. When you are picking up your kids, or delivering them to birthday parties, ask other parents what they do for birthday cakes. And, most importantly, compile this information in a notebook so you can get a realistic picture of your local market's potential. You will need to ask: Who makes their children's birthday cakes? Do they have one every year? If they buy them, where do they get them from? How much do they pay? Would they pay more for a unique, personalised cake for their child? What type of cake do their children like?, and any other questions you consider relevant. The point is to give you a clear understanding of what proportion of the local population are likely to use your services, and also to get an indication of the sort of prices you will be able to charge.

Children's tastes are pretty obvious It is useful in this niche to keep abreast of trends in children's entertainment, for popular film, television, and toy characters are by far the most common themes for birthday cakes. It is easy enough to find this out, you will know from what your own children like (and assume that their friends will all like much the same thing - they are fairly tribal creatures), and from your observations of things like character schoolbags, t-shirts, sweatshirts etc that you see in the schoolyard, you will get a fairly good understanding of their preferences.

Of course, there are several perennial favourites - princess doll birthday cakes were common when we were young and they are still one of the most popular themes for little girls' birthdays, as are horse themed cakes, and pirate ships are always popular with boys. Train cakes never go out of fashion and are a great fun way to exercise your creativity with candy decorations, and there are a number of characters that have remained popular for years - Elmo, SpongeBob Squarepants, Winnie the Pooh, Thomas the Tank Engine, and a variety of Disney characters - all are a standard part of the repertoire. And don't forget the range of number cakes appropriate to the age of the child. The important thing here is that you can practise your skills at producing these character and theme cakes so you are ready to meet the inevitable demand for them.

Don't forget variety Certain characters will be popular among a group of children who all go to each others' birthday parties. If you get several orders for a Spider-Man cake within a few months and you make exactly the same one for all of them, you can be sure that the children (and their parents!) will notice this. They want a different one from their friends', which will enable them to claim theirs is 'better', so you need to vary your design for each one. Some will just want a Spider-Man picture on the cake, some will want a flat cake in the shape of Spider-Man, and others will expect a full 3 dimensional Spider-Man action figure style. Discuss that with them and their parents, and make the most of this opportunity to extend your artistic abilities. And don't forget to charge accordingly!

Check out Andy's blog for more information on children's birthday cakes. Andy is a freelance writer who researches and writes online about Starting a Cake Decorating Business