The Birthday Girl

By Published On: July 13th, 2015

In just a little over a week, our baby will […]

birthdaygirlIn just a little over a week, our baby will be 1 entire year old. It feels like some big prank—there’s no way she can be that big already!—but nope, it’s for real. Still, it crept up on me somehow, and now here I am with no time to order invitations. And man, I love invitations.
But here’s the good news: We don’t really need invitations anyway. As it happens, lots of far-flung family will be in town, and we’re celebrating a very special 50th wedding anniversary that will now incorporate a first birthday. At first, I was against the idea just because they seem like two very different events, but it makes sense, really. We’ll have all the people, the happy party vibe and the desserts, and honestly, she doesn’t care one way or the other! I’m pretty sure her great-grandparents will be happy to share the spotlight, too.
So, in addition to a champagne fountain, live music and even a photographer to capture the sweetness of a couple married for 50 years, we’re going to have a smash cake. It’s the highlight of every first birthday, and it’ll probably be a highlight of this anniversary/birthday bash, too. Babies smashing cake is always a blast, right?
One thing is for sure—this will be the easiest birthday party we’ve ever thrown. It’s not even at our house! We’re fighting to bring drinks and, you know, feel useful in some way. At this point, I’m turning my energy into dreaming up gift ideas for the birthday girl.
So far, I don’t have much. She’s going to be 1. She doesn’t care about clothes. She puts everything in her mouth—books, crayons, you name it. She hates shoes and hats. She has a playroom stocked with all kinds of appropriate—and totally age-inappropriate—stuff, and when she can scootch her way in, her older brothers’ and sister’s rooms are even better.
We have stackable toys, ride-on toys, musical toys, sorting toys, bath toys and pretty much every other toy an almost-1-year-old might play with for a minute before dropping it for a much more interesting shoe or mesh colander. We have big wooden puzzles and three different kinds of blocks and board books and stuffed animals, and really, we have enough for a toy shop … I am not even kidding.
Whatever we end up getting her, I already know how to wrap it. She adores pulling things apart these days—the laundry from the dryer, garbage bags from their tidy little box, toys from their bin—you name it. We’ll stuff her gifts into bags and be extra generous with the tissue paper.
So, a 50th anniversary/first birthday party, an out-of-town family, a smash cake, a few professional photographs and lots of tissue paper … it sounds perfectly memorable to me.