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Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Stephanie Worsop: How big is too big for a first birthday party?

Stephanie Arthur-Worsop
By Stephanie Arthur-Worsop
News Director, Rotorua Daily Post·Rotorua Daily Post·
1 Nov, 2020 12:00 AM3 mins to read

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Our son's upcoming first birthday party has escalated from lowkey to extravagant. Photo / Getty Images

Our son's upcoming first birthday party has escalated from lowkey to extravagant. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

In just under a month's time I will officially be the mother of a 1-year-old.

My goodness that's gone fast.

I feel like it was just the other week we were bringing our son home from the hospital, with every milestone ahead of us.

We were totally in love but also daunted at the prospect of having to learn how to care for this tiny, fragile human.

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Now, 12 months later, we have this smiley little boy who loves to play outside with the dog, who's ticklish, who is learning how to say every word other than "mum" and loves to zoom his trucks along the wooden floor.

It has been incredible watching the transformation but it also means I am now faced with the mammoth task of planning his first birthday party.

Before having my own kid, I never understood the parents who went all out for first birthdays, especially when the child in question wouldn't even remember it!

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I figured all a first birthday needed was a couple of balloons, some fairy bread and a present or two.

And for parents clearly saner than I, that's exactly all that's needed.

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But surely when you're planning your first child's first birthday, it's perfectly normal to go a bit overboard, right?

I hope so because I've become "that" parent who is planning an extravagant do for a 1-year-old.

I've justified it because the reality is, while you want your child to have fun on the day, it's not really a first birthday party, it's a celebration for Mum and Dad, to pat ourselves on the back and say "hey, we survived!"

Believe it or not, it wasn't always our plan to throw a big party.

When my husband and I first talked about our son's upcoming birthday, we decided we were going to do something super low key with just the three of us.

Then, upon hearing our plans, my parents said we should invite a few close relatives so we relented and decided we would instead host a mid-afternoon barbecue.

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And that, my friends, is where the slippery slope began.

Because as soon as you decide to invite a few family members, you're inevitably faced with the guest-list dilemma.

You can't invite aunts and uncles on one side and not the other. And if you invite one set of great grandparents, it would be rude not to invite all of them.

Before long, you're questioning whether you need to invite that odd step cousin-in-law who the dog always barks at.

And with that, what was meant to be a tame first birthday barbecue quickly turns into a 40-person soiree with outdoor games, a bouncy castle and food galore.

I can't blame anyone but myself for this predicament because I tend to go from zero to 100 the minute I decide to host an event.

I have managed to rein myself in on a couple of things. For example, I've told myself we don't need a face painter or performer and I've talked myself out of doing multiple charcuterie and grazing boards.

But I've already told everyone there would be a bouncy castle for the kids so that's a done deal and I'm starting to wonder whether we need to hire a venue as I don't know where everybody is going to park down our quiet cul-de-sac.

Perhaps somebody should just come and take my credit card off me now before I do any real damage.

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