First birthday party activities

games to play

Bowling

Materials needed:

• 6 water bottles
• Water
• 8"-12" light weight ball

Fill up 6 water bottles with a bit of water to help give them stability. Line three up in one row, then put two in the next row, and one in the front. Have the children line up a few feet away. The child gets two (or three) turns to try to knock down the bottles.

Child art

Materials needed:

• Several pieces of white or light colored paper
• Several colored pencils or crayons
• A table or a hard surface for everyone to use
• A timer or a watch with a second hand

Everyone sits in a circle and gets a piece of paper to use. Everyone can share the colored pencils or crayons. Each person gets 30 seconds to draw the birthday child. At the end of the 30 seconds, the papers get rotated to the next person to the right. After each person has gotten their original drawing back, the pictures should be complete and everyone can marvel at their works of art.

Fill the bowl

• A couple hundred cotton balls
• A large plastic spoon or ladle
• Two large bowls
• A timer or a watch with a second hand
• A blindfold for the adults

Fill one bowl with the cotton balls and give the child the spoon. Give the child one minute to move the cotton balls from one bowl to the other using the spoon. Whoever transfers the most cotton balls into the bowl wins. Optional: the adults can have fun trying to do as well as the children while wearing a blindfold.

Name that date

Materials needed:

• Several pictures of the birthday child from birth to present date
• Several sticky notes
• Several pens

This is a fun game to play with the adults. Each person tries to guess what date each picture happened. They write their guess and their name on a sticky note and stick it to the picture. Whoever gets the closest to the actual date on the most pictures is the winner.

Drink the juice

Materials needed:

• A bottle for each person, including a rubber nipple
• Juice to fill each bottle

Each person tries to drink the juice from the bottle as quickly as possible. You might be surprised that the one year old will probably be able to beat everyone.

You are special

Materials needed:

• A picture of the birthday child with a large light colored matting (a 3" matting works well)
• Pens or markers

Have the guests write a message for the child on the mat. They could answer the questions "You are special because..." or "I love you because..." and sign their name at the end.