Need ideas for my son's 1st birthday party?

Exciting! He will only be 1, once... :) Besides, this is also the celebration of your first year of motherhood, right?

If it will be during the summer, a park would be nice, bbq with friends and family a few games, etc. We took a picture of our son and framed it, so everyone could sign it... it was fun! And yes, he might not remember but I bet he will love to see the pictures and video of him eating his first cake!!

You need to tailor the party to the ages of the other kids that are going to be there.

If you've got a bunch of friends with 4-7 year olds, then you need to have 4-7 year old games for them to play like pin the tail on the donkey, etc.

If the kids are 3 & under, though - then just keep it simple, and realize that you're going to be lucky to have a coherent stretch of dinner/cake/presents. The 'theme' isn't going to matter (though everyone knows rocket ships are cooler than anything).

If it's just the two of and your baby... and you're just here trying to figure out what kind of plates you & your husband are going to eat cake off of as your baby hobbles around on the floor, then gag me with a spoon right now ;P

I don't want to sound all "bah humbug", just realistic: I've got to agree with Billy. Of all birthdays, the first is the least important, in the sense that your child won't remember it. (Long term he probably won't remember his second either, though at least he'll remember it for a while).

Any of those themes are good, though you just might want to save them for when your son knows what is going on. So do whatever you enjoy. Your son will enjoy it regardless!

I'm also a believer in not tailoring parties to older children. Keep it simple, sweet, and all about the adorable one year old!

Only try to realize the truth, that a FIRST birthday party is solely about you. Don't fool yourself into thinking "Oh they'll look at the pictures of it and have good memories." Yeah no. He's one year old. So I guess do whatever would make YOU happy for the party.

Billys right. Kid wont care. Party is about you. Bright colors and lots of noise, wee.

My kid was waddling around on his first birthday, and was just confused about what the hell presents were. Couldn't open them, his cousins did it for him. He didn't enjoy them for another 5-6 months when he entered the sponge phase. Hell, he just stared at his cake for awhile until he reached out and realized it was edible. Your kid will be the same.

One thing he did really enjoy though, when he was that young was his ball room. We got him a tent with a ton of plastic balls in it and he just loved them.

cover your home with playful photos of him - it's his birthday, it's a special day, so make that day all about him :)

circus!!!