How is my baby one already? Even though we’re now living in London, I just had to plan a sweet New York theme first birthday party for my American boy Jaxon.
It was a very sweet, simple, budget-friendly event to celebrate our boy and catch up with friends and family we hadn’t seen for a while!
Unfortunately, my husband came down with a horrendous virus and ended up missing the party. I didn’t get as many photos as I would have liked but apart from that it was lovely. Read on for tips on planning your own New York-themed party.
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VENUE
We’d been living in London for less than two months so decided to have the party in Surrey where most of our friends and family live. I would have loved to do the party outside but as it’s February in England, that wasn’t an option, so we hired a local hall.
ENTERTAINMENT
The children at Jaxon’s party had an age range of 3 months – 6 years so I needed something to keep the older ones entertained.
We covered and painted boxes to look like NYC skyscrapers. It was very simple and only took me about an hour but the kids loved knocking them over and stacking them up. This was my “Concrete Jungle.”
Honestly, I left it last minute and could not find an Instagram-able bouncy house so I decided on this one the “Inflatable Jungle.” The kids loved it and it wore them all out for bedtime! That’s a win-win in my opinion.
DECORATIONS
I chose a sage green a gold theme for the party. I feel like these neutral colours represent the city and Central Park (our happy place!)
Freddie and I had fun painting these yellow New York City taxis together. We cut them out of a cardboard box and used poster paint to decorate them.
The balloon arch was a bargain and looked amazing. My brother kindly blew it up for me, the only issue was, that the biggest balloons wouldn’t fit in the car. As I was setting up on my own, I didn’t get time to reattach them before the party started!
I’ve linked everything below the picture.
Products featured: Balloon Arch | Personalised Banner | Table Cloths | Cup Cake Toppers | Mini Empire State Building | Plates and Napkin Set
FOOD
At English kids’ parties, you would expect a little buffet, veggie sticks, sausage rolls, sandwiches, crisps (chips) etc. Maybe some chicken nuggets and chips (fries!)
At New York kids’ parties you get take-out pizza and a piece of cake. Not a veggie in sight!
I decided to do a mix of both. All the prep could be done the night before and ordering the pizza meant no one had to be in the kitchen organizing food! Of course, we had a selection of beer, wine and prosecco!
My mum makes the most delicious cakes so she had that job and I just got simple cake toppers and a number 1 candle. Again, linked below.
Products featured: Table Cloths | Cup Cake Toppers | Cake Topper | Number 1 Candle | Plates and Napkin Set
FAVOURS
I didn’t take a photo but I ordered these gift bags from Amazon and filled them with kid/baby-appropriate snacks! They went down well with everyone.
SHOP THE PARTY
Linking everything again below for your convenience.
Thanks for reading this post on planning a New York theme first birthday party. I hope we’ve given you some inspiration.
Happy Planning,
