The first birthdays are an opportunity to structure (as far as possible) the way in which these parties will be celebrated throughout the childhood of our children. The decisions we make on these first occasions will set a precedent in our environment of the style we want to give them.
Our beliefs regarding consumerism, family reunions, social relationships with other children, celebration methodology ... will have the opportunity to serve as a model for our child in something that we hope will leave a mark and try to repeat it for himself (although it often happens the opposite and our son, far from repeating what we have offered him, acts exactly the other way around). Let's review some aspects of birthday parties in the age range of one to three.
- Birthdays should not be parental social obligations. We must separate our interests from those of the child. When it comes to inviting other children, the most natural thing is to choose those who have shared time with him, whether they are family members (his age), nursery schoolmates, parkmates or neighbors. The children of our coworkers or our friends will be strangers to our kid (unless they coincide on other occasions).
- A child of these ages will not be able to pay attention to more than five or six classmates, so it is not worth having large parties.
- Gifts. It would be interesting to put a low price (5 euros?) And oriented to the playful aspect: dolls, small toys, a video, a homemade cake ... Things that you can share with the guests during the party and that are not excessive. Clothes or footwear are not significant yet and will not generate a very pleasant response.
- Candies. The thing about the bags of goodies I think is disproportionate. Perhaps an alternative could be the typical piñata, although the rules would be that everything that is collected, is distributed, is not going to be a pitched battle to take more sweets. By the way, a very interesting option would be to change the industrial goodies by the proposal of homemade jelly beans from Mireia
- As for the preparations, as long as we can integrate our son into the elaboration, he will feel more linked to the celebration and more proud when he shows it to the guests.
In conclusion, birthday parties should be an opportunity to establish social relationships with friends and family, striving to prepare a decoration and a snack that will have a good afternoon, but all thought from the perspective of the child. It is also important on these occasions to polish excessive behaviors such as greed towards gifts or the dictatorial attitude resulting from the attention you receive that day.
