32 Creative & Memorable First Birthday Themes

Celebrate your not-so-little one’s first year of life with a “big one” fishing-themed birthday! Lean into the theme with fishing-inspired favors like play fishing poles or goodie bags packed with gummy fish candies.

Lean into the beautiful chaos of your first year of parenthood with a Wild One birthday party theme. Stock up on plenty of jungle and safari-themed decor, stay on theme by having banana cream pie or banana bread-flavored cupcakes on the menu, and send your guests home with a cute wild animal stuffie.

Have a little Mr. Or Miss Wonderful on your hands? Celebrate everything you love about your baby with a Onderful themed party! Put together a menu based on all of your little one’s favorite foods (be sure to offer adult and baby-friendly versions of each!), and send guests home with chocolate coin favors as a fun nod to Sharktank’s Mr. Wonderful.

Celebrate your baby’s first trip around the sun with an out-of-this-world first birthday party theme! Decorate your venue with rockets, planets, and shooting-stars (and maybe an alien or two, if you’re feeling playful) and dare your guests to try freeze-dried astronaut ice cream. Astronaut food also makes for great on-theme favors.

You can never go wrong with a Mickey or Minnie Mouse-themed birthday party. Set the tone with one of Minted’s Disney invitations — all of which can be customized for a first birthday. Lean into the theme by serving little wedges of cheese and hot dogs (which are one of Mickey’s favorite foods) and gifting your guests a pair of mouse ears.

Is your little one’s cow or piglet imitation getting better by the day? Celebrate their love of animals with a fun farm-themed party! Serve up a menu of Americana-inspired food like grilled cheese or barbeque, have plenty of lemonade on hand, and send your guests off with a thank you full of local treats from your nearest farmers market.

The cake is obviously the star of the show with this fun first birthday party theme! Keep your menu fun and simple with pizza, sprinkle-rimmed drinks, and lots of sweets. Then, pack a bottle of fun sprinkles in the same color as your invitation and decor into your party favors.

This sweet first birthday party theme is perfect for a summer celebration. Fill your menu with a melon-inspired fruit salad, warm-weather friendly BBQ fare, and watermelon drinks for all to enjoy. Then, stock sweet goodie bags with watermelon candies for your guests to savor long after the party is over.

Throw a celebration the Mad Hatter would be proud of with a menu full of tea-party treats, playfully decorated cakes, and fruit-filled lemonade. In addition to decorating your space with the Queen of Heart’s playing cards, toadstools, and more, send your guests back to the real world with flower seeds to plant in their gardens, a cute vintage teacup, or personalized playing cards.

If you have a spring baby to celebrate, lean into the sights of the season for your birthday party theme! Go all-out with pretty florals and lots of decor featuring baby animals like ducklings and bunnies. Serve up dishes that make the most of seasonal ingredients and send guests home with an Easter basket-inspired party favor.

There are tons of fun puns you can use to riff on a donut theme — think “Donut Grow Up” or “Donut Miss the Party!” — but the key to pulling off a donut theme is the same: Plenty of donut-inspired decor, a tower of different flavors of donuts for guests to snack on, and plenty of milk on hand to wash everything down (bonus points if it's served in a sprinkle-rimmed glass).

Celebrate your winter baby with a party that looks straight out of a snowglobe. Go all-out with snow and ice inspired decor, set up a hot cocoa bar for guests to enjoy, and give out cozy beanies for party favors that are as useful as they are cute. You can also celebrate a winter-themed birthday with Disney Frozen.

Winnie the Pooh is a classic first birthday party theme, and for good reason! Decorate your venue with balloons and details inspired by the Hundred Acre Wood and lay out a spread that would make Pooh drool (don’t forget honey-infused treats!). For favors, send guests home with a little pot of local honey or a sweet plush Pooh.

Incorporate your family’s love of adventure into your child’s first birthday party with this sweet theme. Whether you host your party at a local park or at home, have camping-inspired snacks on hand like easy sandwiches and give guests a s’more making kit to take home with them.

There are a few directions you can go with a “sweet one” first birthday theme. If you opt to go for fruity, like the fun invitation shown here, pair fruit-inspired decor with a menu of fruit salad, spinach and strawberry salad, tarts, and more. Or, you could go for all things sugary sweet, and feature a candy bar where guests can build a bag of treats to take home instead of traditional party favors.

Share your favorite Sunday activity with your friends and family with a football-themed first birthday party. Set out a buffet full of chips, dip, buffalo wings, and cupcakes decorated with super-cute football toppers. Send guests home with soft, kid-friendly footballs for them to practice their passes with.

A garden party is a picture-perfect theme to celebrate your little one’s first year of life! In addition to stocking your venue with plenty of beautiful flowers, have mini bouquets on hand for guests to take home to enjoy long after the party is over. For the menu, go for seasonal-inspired dishes and incorporate edible flowers into your cake and beverages.

If you’ve been eyeing up unicorn cakes on Pinterest for years, this is your chance to make it happen! Go for maximum fun and color with your decor (a rainbow balloon arch will make for super cute photos), and give all of your guests packs of rainbow stickers or a unicorn-horn headband to take home. You can also really lean into the theme by arranging fruit, snacks, and other sweet treats by color on a big buffet table.

Fore! Celebrate your special kiddo for the miracle they are with a hole in one themed first birthday party. You’ll need plenty of golf-decor — bonus points if you can set up a mini putting green for the adults to enjoy at your venue — and lots of sweet tea and lemonade. Send your littlest guests home with cookies shaped like golf balls and clubs, or a mini visor to wear next time they hit the green with dad.

From bumble-bee and floral decor to sweets dripping in honey, you can’t go wrong with this buzzing birthday party theme! In addition to a beehive-inspired cake, serve up sandwiches made with honey-roasted ham or turkey, lemonade and sweet tea. For a sweet party favor, give your guests a piece of honeycomb candy to enjoy at home.

If swim lessons are your baby’s favorite time of the week, then throw an under-the-sea themed first birthday party! Hang blue and green streamers, get out the seashells, and decorate with fish and dolphin balloons. Go for a nautical-inspired menu by cutting sandwiches into the shape of starfish and serving up blue and green jello for the kiddos. For favors, pack bags full of sea shell shaped chocolates or fill them with gold chocolate coins and necklaces inspired by a pirate’s treasure trove.

Celebrate your little prince or princess with a fairytale themed first birthday party. Give your gifts crowns and candy necklaces or rings as a party favors as they arrive so they can join in on the royal fun and offer up a feast fit for a king of tea sandwiches, scones, and a towering cake.

Whether your favorite book to read to your little one is Peter Rabbit or you just think bunnies are super cute, you can’t go wrong with this sweet theme. Stock up on bunny and meadow-inspired decor, serve up plenty of crunchy veggies for guests to munch on, and thank them for celebrating with you by gifting them a chocolate bunny as a party favor.

Now this is a theme that is just as fun for the adults as it is for the little ones! Get everyone in the fiesta spirit with a taco bar and a station full of both kid and adult friendly margaritas (just make sure they’re clearly labeled!). Say thank you with a party favor featuring Mexican handicrafts or pastries.

Gather all of your friends and family to celebrate your baby’s milestone birthday with an Island style luau. Give your guests a lei as they arrive, and pack a party favor full of beach essentials — like a blow up beach ball and a mini bottle of sunscreen — for them to take home. To give your party an authentic flair, serve pineapple roasted pork sliders on Hawaiian rolls and have a tropical inspired beverage bar where guests can stay hydrated.

Take inspiration from the wonderful world your child has just begun to discover with this travel-inspired birthday party theme. Create a buffet with foods inspired by different destinations for guests to sample, and wish them bon voyage! with personalized luggage tag party favors.

Giddyup! Celebrate your baby’s first birthday with a wild-west themed party complete with line dancing and cowboy hats. Put together a menu of classic party food like hotdogs, hamburgers, and bbq and pack personalized sheriff badges into favor bags for each of your guests.

A baseball-themed celebration is a great idea for Spring and Summer birthdays. Bring ballpark classics home (or to your venue) with a menu of hotdogs, nachos, peanuts, and kettle corn, and thank all of your guests for coming with a cute customized baseball party favor.

This is the perfect theme if your baby considers your pet to be their sibling. Decorate with cats, dogs, and paw-prints, and be sure to whip up a big batch of puppy chow (which, for the uninitiated, is a delicious treat of chex cereal coated in chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar). You can send your guests home with doggy bags of puppy chow as favors or with plush cats and dogs.

We know the first year of life can feel like a circus, so celebrate the wild ride with an under the big top themed birthday party! Go over the top with red-and-white streamer decor, plenty of balloons, and face painting stations. For your menu, go for big top classics like fresh-popped popcorn, candy apples, and funnel-cake inspired cupcakes, and send your guests home with a big puff of cotton candy as a favor.

Take inspiration from your favorite lullaby with a first birthday party inspired by the night sky. Get creative with your menu by cutting up as many snacks as possible into the shape of stars and moons — deviled eggs, fruit like melons and pineapple, and finger sandwiches all work well for this. When it comes time to say goodbye to your guests, send them off with a packet of glow-in-the-dark stars to stick up at home or a book like Goodnight Moon.

Gather everyone you love together for a sophisticated tea party to celebrate your little one! In addition to having plenty of types of tea on hand for guests to try, lay out special treats like French macaroons and beautifully crafted tarts, eclairs, and amuse-bouches from your local patisserie. Thank your guests for attending by sending them home with a sachet of tea and toy tea set for the little ones.