Celebrate a child’s first birthday with a roar-some monster party! These party ideas for a 1st birthday are perfect for an at-home celebration or a virtual birthday party. A child’s first birthday is an important milestone you will want to remember forever. Along with party decorations and birthday gift ideas, we’ve included some birthday food suggestions and monster-themed activities. When you are party planning, a monster theme is gender neutral—perfect for boys and girls. Little ones have already seen cute monsters on Sesame Street and in Disney movies, so this theme is familiar and adorable. Make your little monster feel so special and loved with a monstrously fun party!
1st Birthday Party Ideas
Monster Party Decorations
Celebrate a baby’s 1st birthday with colorful monster decorations! Decorate the room with balloons. You can also cut out eyes and a mouth from construction paper and tape them to the balloons to create little mini monsters. Create larger monsters from poster board and construction paper. You can paint the poster board, cut it into a monster head shape and then tape facial features onto the board. These larger monsters can be taped to the wall or displayed on a food table. They also make great background decorations for a baby’s 1st birthday photo! The best thing about a monster-themed party is that anything can be a monster. Turn a cardboard box into a larger-than-life monster. Turn buckets into monster faces and glue curly pipe cleaners to the top for crazy hair! If you are having a virtual birthday party, these colorful decorations will stand out in the background and show up well on screen. Have monstrous fun decorating your space.
1st Birthday Party Gift Ideas
Make a child’s first birthday extra special with thoughtful birthday gifts. We’ve compiled a list of 1st birthday gifts for boys and girls—some generic and some monster-themed. Delight little ones with party gifts they can enjoy and treasure.
- Open This Name Book: This interactive, personalized book helps kids learn their names and features a cast of hilarious monsters!
- Inflatable pool: One-year olds will love splashing in their own shallow pool!
- Baby instrument: Mini instruments made for babies and toddlers are perfect for little hands to play.
- Monster plush toy set: Delight the birthday boy or girl with soft plush toys that make adorable one-year-old gift ideas!
- Personalized Growth Chart: Delight parent and child with a colorful growth chart that features the child’s name!
- Wooden Toy Puzzle: Putting the shapes in the correct spot can help develop a baby’s hand-eye coordination and motor skills.
- Rocking Horse: A traditional toy that never goes out of style! This fun toy helps children learn balance and coordination.
- Noise machine: Babies often have trouble sleeping. Soothe little ones with a noise machine that helps both parent and child get a peaceful night’s rest.
- Personalized birthday books: Spark a child’s imagination with personalized children’s books that feature the child’s name and photo! If you want to raise a little reader, custom books are especially engaging and special.
- Monster pajamas: Keep your little one comfy with monster-themed pajamas that are perfect for a monster birthday party!
Monster Party Foods
Guests are going to be monstrously hungry! These birthday party food ideas are all monster-themed and fun for kids.
Monster Birthday Cake
First up and most important is the birthday cake. Create a small smash cake for the child that looks like a monster. Pipe frosting in spikes to look like crazy monster hair. Use fondant to make an eye and a mouth. Attach them to the cake using buttercream. Make sure to refrigerate so the frosting sets, keeping your decorated cake together. Little ones will love digging their fingers into a fun and colorful monster birthday cake! If you are having a virtual birthday party, you can show the first bite on camera for friends and family to witness.
Monster Fruit Bowl
This easy appetizer will look like a monster is gobbling up the fruit! Cut a watermelon in half, dig out the inside, and cut the edge to look like teeth. Put a blueberry over a lemon slice and attach it to the watermelon using a toothpick. Do the same on the other side and you have monster eyes! Stick fruit kabobs into the head for hair, and fill the “mouth” with fruit that spills onto a plate. Kids will love this hilarious treat!
Spaghetti Monster
Look out for the slippery tentacles…it’s the spaghetti monster! This birthday party entrée turns a classic Italian favorite into a monstrous meal. To make your dish of spaghetti look like a monster, you’ll need to make eyes. Glue googly eyes onto toothpicks. Stick a toothpick into each meatball. Suddenly your dish transforms into a silly wide-eyed monster!
Green Monster Smoothie
Blend up your favorite greens to make a smoothie for babies! This smoothie is a monster green color, perfect for the party theme, and contains hidden veggies. Surprise kids with a birthday treat that’s healthy!
Monster-Themed Birthday Activities
If you have guests at your party, monster-themed activities for kids are perfect to play!
Monster Dance Off
Play some fun tunes and dance to the music! Kids and parents can have a dance off and vote for the winner. To make this dance off more fun, try to dance like a monster. Maybe you have jiggly arms. Maybe you can only move by crawling on the ground. Get creative with your monster moves and have fun dancing
Monster Mash Balloon Bash
For this birthday party activity, put little treats or prizes into balloons and then blow them up. Kids will run around popping balloons to the “Monster Mash” song and discover the fun prizes inside.
Contact Paper Monster
Cut a piece of contact paper into a head shape. Then tape it to your wall sticky side out. Cut out monster eyes and a mouth and stick it to the contact paper. Then give the child a bowl with construction paper squares. Your baby will love decorating the monster head with colorful pieces of paper. This one-year-old activity yields a colorful monster collage that is easy to make and clean up!
Finger Painting Fun
Finger painting is a creative activity for kids of all ages. Your one-year-old will love the colors and textures. For this birthday party, try making a finger paint monster! Parents, draw an outline of a monster face so you know where to put the paint. Then help the child dip their fist into paint and color in the face. Try dipping the child’s fingers into the paint and holding down on the paper one by one, to make teeth for the mouth!
A child’s 1st birthday deserves and colorful celebration to remember! Try some of these birthday party ideas for your little monster and capture every moment.
Resources:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/138415388519687226/
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/g32150292/activities-for-one-year-olds/?slide=11
