If you’re planning a first birthday party, you might want to do a “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” theme. It’s a classic and it’s gender neutral, but you can also throw in boy or girl-specific details if you want to go with pink or blue. These are some ideas for planning a party that you and your guests will really enjoy.
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Twinkle Twinkle Little Star party invitations.
Start the party off with themed invitations that you can personalize with your party details. You can get these on Etsy or Zazzle, and download them to send via email, or have them printed for you.
If you want a different color, most of the designers will be able to help you with a simple change, so don’t be afraid to contact people to see if they can alter a design for you. Be aware that for extensive changes people might need to charge a design fee to cover their time! These are some of the invitations that we have on the Artisan Shopping Directory shop on Zazzle, and they can all be changed to match custom colors.
Twinkle Twinkle party decorations.
This is a really easy party theme to DIY when it comes to decorations. For this kind of party you can use colors like gold, white, light pink, light or dark blue, and silver. Anything that reminds people of shiny stars, clouds, and the sky will work.
For welcoming guests, put a sign up that has twinkle LED lights around it, or create an entryway with gauze fabric that has the lights entwined in it.
Put flickering LED candles around the room with glittery gold stars made from glitter cardstock and a star-shaped paper punch (you can DIY this one) scattered around them. For safety reasons, don’t use real candles!
Hang gold stars on transparent fishing line and hang them from the ceiling in the main party room, or over the birthday cake.
Make white clouds from posterboard and hang them on the walls around the room.
Use star-patterned tablecloths and placemats, or stick with solid colors and add the glitter stars scattered on them.
Make glittery centerpieces with stars and moons using floral picks with stars on them (See them here on Amazon #ad)
Hang strings of LED lights around the room and place them on tables.
Twinkle Twinkle baby outfits and decor.
There are a lot of Twinkle Twinkle themed baby outfits that would be really cute…You can get bodysuits or t-shirts that are themed, and also get shirts for mom and dad to match.
Decorate the baby’s highchair for the cake cutting (or smashing) photos with a white sheet hung on the wall with star stickers attached to it.
Put twinkle lights on the highchair behind the baby to create a twinkling effect. Put the lights on the back of the chair where the baby won’t notice them, or you’re going to spend the entire time redirecting the guest of honor’s attention.
Twinkle Twinkle party food.
Have a themed birthday cake, and maybe an additional smash cake, with fondant star designs that you DIY yourself. It’s easy to upgrade a grocery store cake with fondant star cutouts, even if you’re a beginner.
If you want to do cupcakes instead, you can make your own star toppers with a paper punch, gold paper, and toothpicks, and place those on store-bought cupcakes (a fast way to decorate for time-crunched parents) or use star-shaped sprinkles (get them on Amazon #ad).
Make star-shaped cookies and ice them with white icing and sprinkle star sprinkles on them.
Order themed cake pops that match the rest of your decor, like these from our shop on Zazzle. They go with the rest of the invitation designs that we have, and it’s a fun way to treat your guests to something unexpected.
Serve cotton candy, which you can get in bags, or hire a local cotton candy vendor if you’re lucky enough to have one near you. I used to do wafer paper for a cotton candy company in Boston called Le Petit Pouf, and you can have them come to your party and make cotton candy for your guests. Check in your area to see if there’s anything like that, because people love it.
Make “Milky Way” milkshakes by swirling some blue food coloring into a milkshake, or serve ice cream with chopped-up Milky Way candy bars mixed into it.
Cupcake wrappers can be printed and used to carry the star theme through the dessert table. You can get these printables from Greengate Images.
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Twinkle Twinkle party games and activities.
Let guests make their own star wands using glitter cardstock, wooden dowels, ribbons, stickers, and duct tape (because that works for everything, and it’s silver.) Set up a craft area where people can make their own or help their younger kids make one, but avoid glue and loose glitter! Glue takes too long to dry, and loose glitter will be all over your house for the next year.
Have a glow-in-the-dark dance party where you add glow-in-the-dark stars to the room and give guests glow sticks, then put on the baby tunes.
Set up a “star hunt” where kids can do an Easter egg hunt style scavenger hunt to find as many stars as they can.
Have a coloring station where kids can color star-themed printable sheets with crayons (avoid markers unless you have an adult monitoring the kids!)
Twinkle Twinkle party favors.
Give people customized chocolates with the party theme on them and a thank you message.
Board books of the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star poem for younger guests would be something fun to send people home with. Eric Carle wrote one that also includes other nursery rhymes, and there are a lot of choices on Amazon (#ad)
As a 70’s kid, I recommend pop rocks. Get them on Amazon (#ad) and give your adult guests a throwback to their youth. (Yes, pop rocks were first sold in 1976!)
Give your guests a craft pack to take home that includes star-shaped paper punches, stickers, and glitter paper to play with. (These are all Amazon links #ad) Again, avoid loose glitter, because your guests will never forgive you for that.
Star-shaped sunglasses are always a hit with every age! Have guests wear them and take a selfie on the way out of the party using the star backdrop that I mentioned above in the baby outfits section. You can get them here on Amazon (#ad)
For another article with more first birthday party theme suggestions, click here.
These are all ideas that are very do-able with things that you can get at local stores, or online, and this is a party theme that you can do a lot of DIY with. Let us know if you had a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star party and any ideas that you had to make it special!