First Birthday Ideas Close to Christmas
Your baby's first birthday is a special occasion. However, when your child has a birthday close to Christmas, it can be somewhat challenging finding birthday activities, decorations and gifts that stand out amid the glow of the holiday season. If your baby's first birthday is close to Christmas, create a unique and memorable occasion by incorporating the joyful spirit of the season with the celebration of your child's first year of life. Does this Spark an idea?
Activities
Create a unique birthday-holiday photo opportunity. Take a trip to your local mall or department store to visit Santa. Bring a birthday party hat with you. Tell Santa that today is your child's birthday and ask him if he will wear the birthday hat for a photo with your child. At home, display the birthday Santa photo in a birthday-themed photo frame.
Invite other parents and their babies on a birthday-holiday outing. Take in a children's Christmas concert, play or puppet show at your local library or children's theater. Or take your wee one to see a children's Christmas movie. Another great option is a drive to see Christmas lights displays.
Decorations
For a baby's first birthday party close to Christmas, decorate for the birthday party with traditional holiday colors such as red, green and gold. For example, twist red and green streamers together to hang on your walls. Attach clumps of gold balloons to the streamers.
Decorate your yard with a birthday snowman. While your one-year-old may be a little too young to play out in the cold, she can watch from a window while you build the snowman. Dress the snowman in traditional holiday gear such as a scarf and gloves, but add a birthday party hat and tie a birthday balloon to the snowman's hand.
Treats
Incorporate the flavors of holiday foods into birthday treats. Instead of the traditional birthday cake with butter cream frosting, make a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. Mix up a batch of rice cereal treats with green or red food coloring added to the melted marshmallow. For unique birthday-holiday cupcakes, follow the Betty Crocker website's directions for "Snowman Cupcakes" using white cake mix, white frosting, large marshmallows for the snowmen bodies and pretzel sticks for the snowmen arms (see the resource section below).
Give traditional holiday treats a birthday spin. Make frosted sugar cookies using birthday-themed cookie cutters. Decorate gingerbread men with frosting birthday designs such as party hats and "1st Birthday" on the tummies. Bake a delicious apple pie and top with birthday cake sprinkles. Serve hot chocolate (lukewarm for babies) or warm apple cider in birthday party cups.
Birthday Gifts
Because your baby's birthday is close to Christmas, she will likely receive Christmas gifts in addition to birthday presents. To help her birthday stand out, focus birthday gift giving on birthday-specific items such as a birthday-themed teddy bear (for ages one and up), birthday bib, birthday-themed baby clothes and a birthday blanket.
For the blanket, follow the Martha Stewart website's project idea for making a baby blanket from soft microfleece fabric. Instructions include sewing together two pieces of microfleece fabric then embellishing with appliques (see the resource section below). Shop fabric stores for sew-on birthday-themed appliques such as birthday cakes, birthday candles, birthday balloons, etc.
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