Are you looking to plan an adorable first birthday party for your little one? You’re in the right place! This sweet one first birthday theme will make your heart burst with joy.
Are you getting ready to throw your little one’s very first birthday bash?
Planning your little one’s first birthday party is so much fun and there are lots of amazing details that make them special.
They may not remember it when they’re grown, but the memories you create will last a lifetime!
As for me, I absolutely LOVE planning parties!
It is incredibly fun to curate the perfect collections of birthday decor, activities, and food so I never miss an opportunity to plan a fun get-together for close family and friends.
And, of course, I wanted everything to be perfect for our baby’s first birthday party.
She was the sweetest little baby, so “She’s a Sweet One” only seemed fitting, and who doesn’t love a good excuse to eat some donuts?
I was on a pretty tight budget, so it was not as extravagant as some other first birthday ideas. But it turned out amazing, and as an added bonus, we had leftover sweets for days!
From donut-themed decorations to a dessert table filled with delicious sweet treats, we have all the information you need to plan your own big bash.
This post is all about planning a sweet one first birthday party.
Our “She’s a Sweet One” First Birthday
Planning the Party Theme
When thinking about the 1st birthday theme we wanted to do for our little girl, we were focused on a couple of important things.
- Something relatively easy and inexpensive, AND
- DONUTS!
I loved the idea of using donuts as the main birthday food attraction rather than a traditional cake. It just seemed so fun and a little bit more unique.
Plus, when we had our party, donut themes were very trendy!
After wavering back and forth between “She’s a Sweet One” and “Donut Grow Up,” I landed on a combination of the two.
We chose “She’s a Sweet One” as the main theme and then included a number of donut-themed elements, including a donut grow-up balloon banner.
Sweet One 1st Birthday Decorations
Recreate this sweet one first birthday idea:
I didn’t have a very big budget in the first year to pull off this birthday party, so most of the decorations were items I already owned or could buy relatively cheaply on Amazon.
Honestly, the balloons were probably the most expensive decorations because the price of helium had skyrocketed at the time of our party.
I, unfortunately, couldn’t find the exact purple, pink, and blue balloons we used behind the high chair anymore.
But, I did find this other donut balloon set that is also super cute.
[RELATED: Adorable Rapunzel Themed Birthday Party For the Best Tangled Day Ever!]
The Party Table Decor
I wanted to be sure the party supplies such as plates, napkins, and cups fit in with the rest of the party theme but didn’t want anything too cheesy.
I like to throw parties so already had the drink pitchers on hand from many years ago.
But if you don’t have a set, I found these ones on Amazon for a reasonable price that I like even better!
I love how they have built-in chalk labels so your party guests easily know what is in each pitcher.
Recreate this sweet one-themed table setup:
The Food Selection
I had so much fun picking out the variety of themed treats for this birthday party.
But, the real showstopper was the sweets table!
After all, that’s exactly what the theme of the party was all about.
The party was held in the afternoon between lunch and dinner so I didn’t have to plan a major meal.
I did still put out some basic crockpot mac and cheese along with some little bite-sized appetizers to be sure I had something for people who didn’t want so much sugar.
Donut Tower
The donuts were the main event at our sweet one first birthday party.
We purchased these from a local bakery that does custom sprinkles.
I then used a basic tiered cupcake stand like this to display the donuts.
I loved being able to match the sprinkles perfectly to the pink & purple color scheme of our daughter’s party.
Smash Cake
Being on a budget, I decided to purchase an affordable sweet one cake topper and make the smash cake myself.
I can be fairly artistic when I try so I knew I could create something pretty enough to be displayed without going overboard and spending a ton of money on something that was just going to get smashed by the birthday girl.
Of course, I inevitably procrastinated making the cake (because that’s what I do) and I was working on this at midnight the night before the party.
Thankfully, my sister-in-law was in town to help with anything we needed.
To make the cake, I bought a couple of 6-inch cake pans from Amazon.
I then made two 6-inch cakes and stacked them together with some frosting to give the cake a little bit of height.
After that, I frosted the cake with some basic vanilla frosting and used cream cheese icing dyed with pastel colors to pipe the different floral designs onto the cake.
It certainly was not perfect, but it was good enough for what we needed it for and our baby girl loved it.
1st Birthday Rice Krispy Treats
In order to make the number 1-shaped Rice Krispy treats, I used this Number One Cookie Cutter from Amazon.
Words of Wisdom: Be careful not to make the treats too thick because they were a bit difficult to cut out.
After I had the shapes cut out, I dyed some almond bark pink by using just a couple of drops of red food coloring and dipped the ends of the numbers to make the treats look a little bit fancier.
Recreate these sweet one party food ideas:
The Donut 1st Birthday Outfit
Of course, for any sweet one first birthday party, we needed an adorable first birthday outfit.
We found the perfect pink tutu dress with the number “one” written on it with an illustrated donut.
It was the perfect fit for our theme and was really affordable.
The Invitations
I used Paperless Post to send out our party invites.
It’s a good idea to send out invites about 4-6 weeks in advance of your party.
This way, friends and family members will have time to plan and will hopefully be able to attend your party.
I much prefer to send out invites via email and it makes it simple for guests to RSVP and for you to keep track of who is coming.
Here is a link to the Etsy Listing we used for our invitations.
The Party Favors
Everyone has differing opinions regarding party favors.
Should we? Shouldn’t we?
Our main focus was to make sure everyone had a wonderful time at our event.
For budgetary reasons, we decided to forgo the official party favors.
However, no one had to feel too left out because we made sure there were plenty of leftover sweets from the party that our guests could take home with them.
We encouraged them to grab whatever they wanted before they left – and as usual, they did not disappoint!
Concluding thoughts
And there you have it.
Celebrating your first baby’s birthday doesn’t have to cost a lot of money or be overly complicated.
Our simple, yet adorable party was perfect for our little one and all of our guests had a great time.
If you’re looking for some affordable and fun first birthday party ideas, I hope this post has given you some inspiration.
And if you know any other moms who might be planning their child’s first birthday soon, please share this post with them!
If you liked this, be sure to check out our latest Frozen-themed birthday party for our 4-year-old.
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