Birthday Themes Gone Wild (But Why I Wouldn’t Change It)
I’m in a Facebook group that is very centered around grandmillennial aesthetics. Think gingham, monograms, and perfectly curated homes and kids. I came across a post the other day that stopped me. It was a mom looking for a theme for her child’s first birthday party. She said she wanted something unique because she was tired of the “overused” ones like “___ is ONE in a melon” or “___ is a hole in ONE.” And listen, I get it. The girl is trying to reinvent the wheel. But the reality is, if you go to enough birthday parties, you’re bound to run into the same themes over and over which is totally okay. There are only so many ways to turn “one” into a pun. It got me thinking about my own kids’ birthday party themes. Their first birthdays? Those were all my vision. Classic. Coordinated. You guessed it… grandmillennial. However, once they got older, the themes started to go completely off the rails.
In 2023, my son was turning 2 and my daughter was turning 4. We were having a combined birthday party at Urban South, so I needed a gender-neutral theme. Unfortunately, my “baby frat party” idea was vetoed. So I did what any reasonable, possibly unhinged mom would do: I looked in their closets. They both had giraffe outfits I had bought on clearance, so naturally… we had a giraffe party. At a brewery. Did it make sense? Nope. Did I make a very punny invitation that said, “Heads up! We have a 2- and 4-year-old?” Sure did.
And we rocked that giraffe theme. The colors were light brown, tan, and yellow. The cake, cookies, and cake pops were giraffe print. The kids did giraffe arts and crafts. Years later, we still get great feedback about that party. Then there was the infamous hamburger party that my daughter insisted on. So what did we do? We all went to Shake Shack, I brought in the cutest hamburger cake from Robert’s, and we had the best hamburger party ever. It was easy, fun, and definitely memorable (not only for us, but also for all the Shake Shack workers and patrons who joined in on the birthday song).
Now my son’s birthday is coming up and I should have known better than to ask him for a theme because you truly never know what is going to come out of his mouth. I told him, “Give me your top three choices,” just in case he picked something that would be very difficult to draw on a cake or find coordinating plates, banners, and napkins for. Sure enough, his choices were: electric eel, chicken, and fishing pole. I sent the list to a friend, who is a cookie cake goddess and fully understands how Novak kid birthdays roll. Cue last year’s cake request: “You’re killing me, Smalls” instead of “Happy Birthday.” I told her, “Just pick whichever one is easiest.” Without hesitation yet with lots of laughs she came back with, “I’ll do all three.” Bless her. Honestly, I cannot wait to see this electric eel, chicken, and fishing pole birthday cake. Not because it’s a one-of-a-kind theme (although I’m sure it is), but because I know exactly how happy he is going to be when he sees it.
Listen, I totally understand the Pinterest girl in the Facebook group wanting the picture-perfect, unique theme for her kids’ parties. In this household, we definitely have the unique part down. Pinterest-worthy? Maybe not. Memorable? Absolutely. Because the best themes aren’t always the ones that look perfect in a picture. Sometimes they’re the ones that perfectly capture who your kids were at that exact moment.
