1st birthdays are they necessary? A post on how did we celebrate our Bubu's first birthday!
I think you should go with what fit's you. If I go with what I observe with my Bubu I see he can understand and sense so much.
I have heard a lot of my Indian friends giving advice on not celebrating the initial few birthdays. Have you ever heard the advice "Kids at 1 or 2 don't know it's their birthday" or "Infants don't know what's a birthday so don't even bother to celebrate it" or "it's not worth it coz the birthday kid is cranky". I do not know how true that is. Disclaimer: I think you should go with what fit's you so if you are someone who doesn't want to celebrate no judgements, I am sharing my experience.
If I go with what I observe with my Bubu I see he can understand and sense so much. He may not know it's his birthday but he definitely enjoyed it. One of the biggest helper was we literally centered his birthday to celebrate him. And in return he did not fuss or cry but really enjoyed - laughing and cheering and making it look like we have the best baby on earth. Here are a few pointers I vouch for, that worked for us:
1) Do what your Bubu feels comfortable on the day of the event
All the guests with love and good intentions would love to hold the Birthday Bubu. They will pull her/his cheeks or toss her/his hair in appreciation. However if my Bubu was not happy being touched or held by the guests at the party, we respected that and gently discouraged the guest trying to do so. It's not being disrespectful to the guest but asking the guest to honor what your Bubu likes so he is not overwhelmed by so many requests.
Do not compromise on their schedule like feeding times, diaper changes etc. If it's in the middle of a show you booked or in middle of greeting your guest walking into the party continue on your Bubu schedule to keep him/her happy, that will save you a big meltdown.
2) Personalize the birthday
You do not need to have a traditional Birthday party. You can be out of the box and just celebrate with close family by doing something your Bubu likes at that age. Eg: Go on a hike if s/he likes outdoors, go to the aquarium/zoo/farm if s/he likes animals, go ride a train if they like vehicles, etc.
However if you still want to celebrate with a traditional birthday with cake+balloons and the whole shebang, you can still add the personalization to that, like we did. For Bubu's 1st Birthday, all the elements of the birthday were planned as per what Bubu liked at that point of time. The decor was yellow + lemons theme. As I noticed since he was 4 months old, Bubu naturally gets drawn towards/attracted to yellow and he loves to teeth on lemons. We had a mango flavored cake as Bubu loves mangoes. And we hired a Bubble Artist as Bubu loves bubbles. Incorporating current obsessions of our Bubu really paid off in our case as our Bubu loved his birthday. He didn't cry or fuss, he was enjoying and laughing. It was a hit!
Also not to forget, we celebrated our Bubu's first birthday in India. The biggest reason was we wanted both the grandparents to attend it. It's a milestone the grandparents are really excited about, then anyone else we know. It just made sense to us and made the birthday even more special and memorable to our family.
My two cents are go for it. It's a beautiful milestone to celebrate. And most importantly make your Bubu feel special and loved by adding a little extra touch on the special day. Out of the box or traditional what birthday will you gift your Bubu?
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