How to throw a winter-white first birthday party

Take pictures of your birthday babe, the cakes and decorations before the other pint-sized guests arrive. And remember, when it comes to a one-year-old’s party, short but sweet, and only a handful of guests, is perfect.

For coffee filter garland: Dip coffee filters in diluted blue food colouring. Lay flat to dry. String with needle and thread. Hold in place with a small piece of tape under filter.

For office label garland: Stick a circular office label onto sewing thread and attach another label to the back, at various intervals.

For T-shirt garland: Cut bottom hem off white T-shirt, then cut three 1-in.-wide strips from across bottom. Snip each loop to form long strips. Knot all three together, braid, then knot again. 

For cotton ball garland: String cotton balls using a needle and thread.

1. Gather silver-coloured thick scrapbook paper, tissue paper, pompoms, rhinestone stickers and feathers.

2. Download our party hat template and follow directions. (Print on regular paper, cut out and trace on scrapbook paper.) 

3. Attach decorative items with glue gun and let dry. Be sure to make the guest of honour’s hat extra special.

1. Prepare white cake batter using a mix or your favourite recipe. Stir 10 to 15 drops of blue liquid food colouring into batter until combined. Bake in a parchment–lined 9 x 13-in cake pan according to directions. Let cool completely, then refrigerate until cake is firm to the touch, 6 hours or overnight.

2. Use a serrated knife to slice the dome off the top of cake to make it flat. Using 2 3/4-in. and 1 1/4-in. round cookie cutters, cut circles from cake. (You will have 8 or 9 of each size.)

3. Place each larger round on a small paper plate (you may need to cut plate to fit on platter), then top with smaller round. (Use icing to stick plate and pieces together.) Use a palette knife to frost mini cakes with white icing of your choice.

4. Adorn cakes with assorted white decorations, like snowflake sprinkles, coarse sugar, white candies or shredded coconut.

1. Trace the number 1 on cardboard and cut out. 2. Arrange and glue pearl candies onto cardboard number with Tacky Glue. Let dry overnight. 3. Use a glue gun to attach skewer to back and let dry.

Keep hands busy with a sensory box of age-appropriate materials. Put everything in a plastic storage bin or separate items into smaller bowls. We used shredded paper, candy sprinkles (sparkling and pearlized sugar), cotton balls, white rice, coarse salt and fake snow with candy sprinkles. 

Tip: To make fake snow, combine 4 parts rice cereal with 1 part vegetable oil and adjust for desired consistency. Add some candy sprinkles for a truly frosty look. No snowsuits or mittens required for this romp in the snow!

Send guests home with a wintry blizzard in a jar. Clean out an empty baby food jar and fill with glitz—we suggest teeny beads, glitter and sparkles. Add water and secure lid tightly (or glue for extra security). To decorate, attach ribbon below lid with glue gun. Spray-paint lid to finish or skip this step—tots will shake it either way. 

[widgets_on_pages]