I'm glad you brought this up Newbie! I have a friend at work who's daughter's first birthday is coming up in November. She asked me the other day what MY ideas were!? I figured I would do a cake to match her theme but I guess she wants to do it backwards! I really like the princess theme--I've seen several cute cakes with a wand, crown, etc. I don't care for character cakes as much. And I think the smash cake is a MUST!!!
Annalisa---a smash cake is a smaller cake made for the birthday girl/boy for them to enjoy on their own, and usually SMASH it up!
I like the princess idea too - but does 1 year seems a little too young? I know there are so many cute ideas out there, but the princess theme may prove irresistable..
My friend actually plans to base her theme on the CAKE! How funny is that. So the pressure is really on and and I need ALL your inspiration out there!!
I like the princess theme, too, but personally I think that works better once the child is old enough to pretend. My 2yo wasn't quite old enough for it at her 2nd birthday, but now she has a "princess hat" and prances around sometimes saying she looks "just like a princess," so her next party will either be that or a tea party.
What about something like Anne Geddes does? Some buttercream or royal flowers with baby faces in them?
Or rubber ducky/bubble bath theme? Most babies love baths.
Does she have a song that she likes to sing, like Twinkle Twinkle or the Itsy Bitsy Spider? Or favorite nursery rhyme?
Hope I've been able to help.
Ali
Ali, those are some great ideas!! I think Sesame St. would be cute. They do have baby princesses too. That would be cute for a 1 yr old. Hmmm... what about any kind of educational program she likes to watch. Dragon Tales, Bear in the Big Blue House etc...
My daughter's first birthday will be in December and I decided to do Teddy Bears as her theme. Teddy Bears are always cute and adorable.
I did Elmo for my first born and it was very fitting. If I put the "Best of Elmo" video on (starting at around 8 months) her eyes were GLUED to the screen. My husband and I would purposely lean in front of her so she couldn't see the screen, and she would never make a sound...she would just gently try to "push" us out of the way. It was always very funny to us and to company that we'd have over. We always had to demonstrate her addiction to Elmo. And I was shocked it started that young. My second daughter who turns 1 in December could care less what is on TV....she wouldn't know Elmo if she tripped over him. My first daughter, the exact opposite.
I made my niece's little girl her first b-day cake...I made a 3 tier white trimmed in light pink....I used columns to raise the top tier which held the mini teddybear smash cake...he was pink and white too... and he was chocolate cake....ugh..what a mess.... the other cakes were yellow chocolate and white.....double layers buttercreme filled...
I should have pictures here somewhere...I'll post it if I can fine one...
good luck deciding what to do.
I think you need to find out about the child. What does she like? Do they have a nickname they call her? I did one for a lady who called her daughter their little ladybug. For my own daughters I did Elmo for one because she loved Elmo and the second I made a cake with a giant monkey holding a banana. Of course she started walking at 9 mos. and loved bananas! She was our little monkey! Try to make it personal.
My dd's 1st bday cake was Elmo.
I never heard of a smash cake until joining this board. The best part of a baby bday party is watching her destroy part of the cake. 
I agree with Rexy, you need to personalize this. We could all come up with a MILLION ideas but you and the mommy are going to be the only ones that can decide. If she's going to plan the party around the cake then why don't you look through websites with party supplies and go from there with your idea? Nothing like picking a theme and cake design and then not being able to find stuff to match it for the party?!
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