Unique 1st Birthday Party Themes | Backyard Beach

We celebrated our daughter’s first birthday with a backyard beach themed party! We didn’t have a pool but wanted to celebrate her milestone first birthday with a summer theme, so we pulled together some water activities and used her sandbox to create a beach-inspired party from our backyard! We were blessed with great weather and enjoyed many friends and family to celebrate her special day. It was a great time of year for a picnic styled event with grilled burgers and hot dogs, cupcakes and jello, a sandbox, baby pool, slip n slide, and water balloons. We couldn’t have pulled it off without the help of many family and friends and are so grateful for the precious memories they helped us build and shared with us.

Below are some of the highlights that made the summer first birthday party come together into a fun evening of celebrating. The kids and the adults had a blast with this unique birthday party theme!

To create our “mini beach”, we blew up the baby pool and placed it next to the sandbox under a beach umbrella.

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We also setup the slip n slide down the hill on our side yard to add to the water fun. Even our just-turned-one year old daughter took a turn on the slide (though I don’t think she would have noted it as a highlight of the day)! The youngest kids had a blast in the little pool and several of the older ones crowded around the sandbox at one point. Also (not pictured), my brother showed up with water balloons that were a huge hit all-around!

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For general decorations, we strung balloons all along the side railing of our deck to create a festive look from the road. We also hung a few around our daughter’s highchair and strung a “Happy 1st Birthday” banner over her chair. We also had a few beach balls floating around.

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Instead of just using an ice chest to stash drinks for the event, we filled a small baby pool with ice  to keep everything chilled, cute, and accessible.

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For some fun beach-themed desserts, my mom made blue jello cups filled with small gummy sharks that were a huge hit! I also purchased cupcakes with blue icing from the local bakery and topped them with one or two swedish fish. (As a perk the bakery threw in a free smash cake that my daughter found especially intriguing to squeeze between her fingers!)

1st birthday party decorations at home

1st birthday decorations at home

All of the pieces came together into a fun and relaxed party with a beach feel, picnic style dinner, and many fun memories with family and friends. Even without a pool, kids went home wet and sandy and adults lounged near an umbrella (at times perhaps catching a few rays). It was our farm-country spin on a summer party at the shore!


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Unique 1st Birthday Party Themes | Backyard Beach