Birthday Party Planning (And A Free Planning Printable!)

My baby boy is almost one! We are 12 days away from Man Cub's first birthday, and only 8 days away from his first birthday celebration. I hover somewhere between wanting to cry my eyes out because his first year of life has gone by so fast and running around like a crazy person, trying to pull everything together for his party.

And that, my friends, is the goal.

I love planning birthday parties for my wee ones, but the first birthday party is an especially big deal for me. Bruce loves to tease me about the amount of effort I put into first birthday parties, but here is a little secret- planning first birthday parties for my babies is 100% therapy for me. I know full well that they will remember nothing about the big day, but the planning and preparing gives me something to focus on so I don't spend their entire birthday month as a big sobbing mess. I get excited about the party and it helps me not to dwell on baby-hood coming to an end. It probably sounds crazy, but for me, it does the trick.

Planning Man Cub's first birthday has been such a blast already. The girls are old enough to enjoy giving suggestions and even help with prep work. I love that party planning is becoming more of a group effort and that my girls seem to enjoy it as much as I do. We have some fun stuff planned for Man Cub's Monster Mash First Birthday Bash and I can't wait to share pictures and details after the big day.

For now, I'll just share my party planning "worksheet". It helps me to keep my thoughts and ideas organized, keep track of RSVPs and have all my party info in one place. Plus, pretty printables make me happy. Ü

I currently have my party planning printable available in three colour options- an orange/blue/green combo, a pink/aqua/purple combo and grey tones. Something for everyone. Click on the image below to go to the download page. Enjoy!