keepsake ideas for first birthday party

[CNYMom]

I'm actually looking for some keepsake ideas for my daughter first birthday party. I have 5 months to go but I like to have all my ducks in a row! I'm doing a butterfly and daisy theme.
Some things I will be doing is:

1. decorating a cake stand at a pottery store, they fire and glaze it. I'm going to decorate it with balloons and maybe "Happy Birthday" so that all of our children can use it for thier birthdays, I'll just pull it out for each one.

2. I'm going to also decorate a dress,onesie or t-shirt for her with " My 1st Birthday"

AND 3. a party hat, out of heavy duty cardstock,with pom-poms around it (not sure what color(s) ) and then put something on the front of it.

4. and I'm also going to have all her guests sign her scrapbook.

Does anyone have any other ideas/suggestions?
What do you think about my ideas?

TIA ~ Diona

[vonda]

For DD #1's first birthday, I had quilt squares that all the guests decorated. I also did one square with her hand and footprints (I actually did those a couple of months later). One day, I am either going to put them into a quilt or I am going to have someone make one for me. I have thought about using some material from some of her first clothes for other squares and having pictures from her first party transferred to squares. The only regret I have is we never did a square for her at that time, although I am going to do one for her before I have the quilt made, and my dh's parents didn't do one and his father has since passed away.

ETA: I love your ideas.

[Katie's Momma]

I like your ideas as well!

For our daughter's first birthday, we asked guests to not bring a gift, but instead bring something that we could put into her memory box. It was such a great idea and she has some really neat memorabilia! Some of the things that were brought:

a newspaper from that day
A list of the top 10 songs and movies that week
a package of canada's olympic hockey team cards
a grocery receipt
various sealed letters for her to open when she is older
some paper money (here in Canada our one and two dollars are now coins and no longer bills)
a shooter glass with her name on it!

[ibmommy]

my daughters first bday was polka dots and we had a huge family party for her.. my husband brought home a HUGE 6ft x 3ft (roughly) vinyl banner that said HAPPY 1st BDAY and had polka dots all over it with her head peeking out of one of them. i designed it. now it is rolled up in her closet for her to have... it was really cute!

great idea on the quest book!!

i also kept all her cards, videotaped it and scrapbooked about 12 pages LOL

[CNYMom]

Originally Posted by ibmommy

my daughters first bday was polka dots and we had a huge family party for her.. my husband brought home a HUGE 6ft x 3ft (roughly) vinyl banner that said HAPPY 1st BDAY and had polka dots all over it with her head peeking out of one of them. i designed it. now it is rolled up in her closet for her to have... it was really cute!

The banner - did you order it from a company? I've found some companies online that I may order from, to have it personalized

[ibmommy]

do you have a kinkos??? that is where we got ours done.

any sign or banner company can do that for you. if you need some help or can't find a place let me know.

[CNYMom]

YES, we have one. Can I ask how much they charged you?

[CNYMom]

nevermind I just called.

vinyl - $7.00 square foot
paper -$8.00 square foot
$9.95 for them to scan a picture of it too.

[Caryl]

So many great ideas in this thread!

Remember to measure her height and start a wall chart to mark for each birthday. I love these growth charts:
http://www.sensationalbeginnings.com...=&GEN8=&GEN9=1
I have one for Charon that has a huge sunflower; very cute! I found this one through StorkNet's Mall, at Sensational Beginnings.

You might want to do handprints on her first birthday. You can find directions in our Crafts for Kids cubby, here.

Have fun with your plans!

[OldColonyTam]

Not sure if this has already been mentioned (gotta go thru these posts quickly as it's gettin' late! LOL)...

We had an 8 x 10" photo mat laid out for all the guests to sign & write a birthday message for Bria (we actually put a friend in charge of making sure EVERYONE signed it). We later used the mat to frame a snapshot from the party of her eating her cake while wearing her birthday tiara. It's been a great keepsake & has hung in her room ever since.