Very Unique 1st Birthday

If you think parties are the only way to celebrate your child’s first birthday, think again? I thought of sharing my first birthday ideas with you. A year can fly by. It just feels like yesterday that I held my newborn bundle in my arms, and here we were making plans for the most significant milestone of our lives – baby Noor’s first birthday celebration.

I genuinely believe that “The moment a child is born, the mother is also born…” so our baby’s first birthday celebration, a once-in-a-lifetime affair, was also a self-pat on the back for making it through the first year of parenthood. We wanted to celebrate and make this day memorable for the years to come.

As a couple, we avoid getting caught up in the commercialized hype and material things as much as possible. We detest how various media channels are always trying to sell us their ideas of making a one-year-old happy. It’s as if the concepts of love and fun are not good enough; they need to be improved and perfected by doling out money and more money till they burn giant holes in your pocket and psyche.

So, we decided to make this day special, not by having a party, but by taking our first family vacation to our daughter’s first birthday celebration in the lap of nature. Noor’s birthday falls in June, a time when a natural spectacle fills up the night sky. We wanted to witness this extraordinary phenomenon, as thousands of fireflies (Juganū in Hindi and Kājavā in Marathi), light up the night sky in a quaint tribal village, some 1000 m above sea level in the Western Ghats.

Village Purushwadi, located in Akole block of District, Ahmednagar, is situated 220 km from Mumbai & Pune, en route to Nasik. This tribal village is inhabited by the ‘Hindu Mahadev Koli’ tribe and is adopted by Grassroutes to strengthen the local self-development initiative. Grassroutes’ encourages responsible holidays in India’s villages where local communities welcome you to partake in their lives. We wanted our baby to experience the abundance of nature, and as parents, we wanted to challenge ourselves to camp out & trek with a one-year-old baby.

The drive to Purushwadi was eventful; we stopped by to have a birthday breakfast of waffles, pancakes and chocolate milkshake. We made several stops to nurse & feed, change poopy diapers and enjoy the vistas on the way. We also managed to steal a couple of shots of the queen of our heart, to mark the 12th month of the year that passed (Queen being the 12th rank in the deck); got it!

We arrived at the campsite by mid-day, to a traditional welcome and savoured some black tea with groundnuts. After fixing our bags in our allotted tent and freshening up, we instinctively checked our cell phones, only to realize there was no network and our cell phones were out of reach. The feeling of being far away in the wild intensified.

We then trekked to our host house to enjoy an organic vegetarian meal prepared by the local women in their homes. After a sumptuous dinner, the highlight of the afternoon was Noor interacting with fellow campers and giving them toothy smiles. She was the youngest member of the group and the centre of attention for young campers, who took turns to hold her and take her around while we lazed under the tree canopy, gazing into oblivion and breathing in lungs full of oxygen.

In the evening, we went for a not-so-strenuous sunset-trek to a dam nearby, Noor was safely wrapped in our arms, enjoying unlimited ripe mangoes and karvandas. We decided to rest a bit while enjoying the sunset view on our way back. After making our peace with nature, we reached back to the campsite, just in time for the traditional dinner of Puranpoli and amti and some khichdi that our host graciously prepared for baby Noor.

Our baby was drowsy and dreamy at the end of the day; she fussed a little but dozed off soon. At about 10 pm, we wrapped her in a blanket and took off for a night walk around the village to witness the dance of the fireflies. We sat around for an hour or more, to gaze at this luminously beautiful display of love, in order to find the right mate…!

The next morning, we woke up early, to enjoy the sunrise and then soon after breakfast, we spent the day walking in the lush green village, chasing butterflies, plucking mangoes, grinding rice, segregating tomatoes and simply relaxing at the campsite, till it was time to leave for home. Noor’s first birthday celebration was a nice getaway from Mumbai’s hustle-bustle and we came back re-energized.

We realized that Noor’s was an acknowledgement of how blessed we were to reach the first birthday milestone and even though we spent the last year being sleep-deprived, the fact that our child is healthy and beautiful, is all that matters.

How to Celebrate Your Baby’s First Birthday?

It’s a historic occasion and your little munchkin’s first birthday celebration brings you immense joy, and you definitely want to share it with your family and friends. You’re probably planning a magical evening complete with glitter and balloons. So, here we bring you some ideas on how you can celebrate your baby’s first birthday with a grand celebration.

Unique Celebration Ideas

1. Decide Baby’s Dress

On your baby’s first birthday celebration, he/she should appear stylish and adorable, preferably in theme-appropriate clothing or costume. Make sure to shop the best for your baby.

2. Accessories For The Party

List all the accessories you’ll need to keep the party going, from simple decorations to any additional parts of the event.

3. The 1st Birthday Cake

This will be your baby’s first birthday celebration so make the cake unique — it might be based on a favourite cartoon character of your child’s, a picture-cake of your family’s experiences dating back to his first month, or anything else that reflects the essence of his big day.

4. Angel-Themed Party

For parents, every child is their most beautiful angel. Make them a fairy princess or prince charming for the day on their first birthday to honour their angelic goodness. Turn your house into a tropical paradise with glitzy costumes and decorations.

5. Pink-Themed Party

While pink is appropriate for both boys and girls, the softness it brings to the table makes it an excellent theme for a baby’s birthday party, especially for the very first birthday. Begin with a strawberry cake and stick to pastel colours for the rest of the party.

6. Wonderland Theme

To plan this out properly, you’d have to spend a lot of money but if you do it, this will be a one-of-a-kind party. The strangeness of the wonderland can be brilliantly translated into the party setting, adding to the gala time that everyone will adore.

7. Minions Theme

The adorable minions from the film ‘Despicable Me’ have taken the world by storm since it was released. With a minion cake, surprise your little one and their friends at the birthday party.

Without Party Ideas

You may always concentrate on having a good time celebrating 1st birthday of your baby. Here are some suggestions that you can use at any time.

1. Plan Out A Vacation

Visit a baby-friendly location, such as a hill station or a seaside resort. Allow your child to experience the grass kissing his feet or the water falling on his palm. Let your child casually explore the beach while playing in the sand.

2. Zoo Exploration

Allow your child to take pleasure in observing animals. It’s the ideal moment to get your kid out of the house and introduce them to animals. Take a birthday photo with an animal and save it as a memento for later use.

3. Photo Session For Some Extra Fun

It’s all about creating memories because your child won’t be a baby for long. It’s fun to keep such candid images with you for the future. There are professional baby photographers who know how to make your child feel at ease. You can have a lot of fun with a few lights and some useful props. You can also take a photo with the infant to commemorate the event.

4. Celebrate At An Orphanage

If you’re looking for a unique way for celebrating 1st birthday without throwing a party, visiting an orphanage would be the best option. You can always share a slice or two of the cake with underprivileged children. In this manner, your child will be able to interact with children his age and will have a great time with them.

5. Order A Special Cake

Bring in a personalised cake to end the day on a high note. It’ll suffice if it’s a little one. Simply play a birthday song, get the cake, and watch your child attempt to blow out the candle. It would be entertaining, and you could record everything on your phone.

6. Take A Day Trip

For the day, get in the car and go to a nearby city. Visit a children’s museum or go to a bouncy castle park. Changing the scenery for the day and turning it into a trip will make your youngster feel unique because this family-friendly day excursion is all about him or her.

7. Plan Out A Movie Night

Keep an eye out for family-friendly films that are coming out in theatres or that are available for streaming or download. As a result, you’ll be able to celebrate your kid’s first birthday celebration with a movie. Make it even more special if you’re having a movie night at home. Your home movie night can become an occasion with a little extra preparation like popcorn and movie snacks.

So, what are your plans for turning one – a big bash, a small intimate affair or somewhere in between? Let us know!

All the images in this post are copyrighted by Out of Focus Picture

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