Learn how you can put together a great celebration with a little effort.

Is the first birthday coming up? Where, how, when and with whom should they be celebrated? Good planning is double the fun! Here you'll find everything for the party - from the invitation and gift ideas to the delicious cake. This is how to turn the child's first birthday into a relaxed and memorable event.

Your little precious one doesn't have specific expectations of the party yet. Of course, for you it is something special and you are free to plan the celebration according to your own wishes. Focus on the fact that the child’s birthday is to be celebrated. No one knows your baby better than you. How many guests and how much fuss can he/she handle? Resting and napping hour times determines the timing of the celebration.

In order not to stress everyone out, it is advisable to have the party in a small circle, with the closest family and friends. You can also divide the birthday and invite guests in the morning or afternoon. You can also divide them in several days. Will young children be coming? It's best to have one guest per age, so that everyone doesn’t get too tired and you can really enjoy the day.

Happy Birthday, my little sunshine - Easy invitations

Invitations for the baby's birthday don't take much effort. There are beautiful cards on the market, which you can make more personal by adding a recent photo of the baby. Dinner cards, postcards with a photo or photo invitations for the guest welcoming can also be made quickly and easily online. Do you like to let your creativity run wild? Go ahead! You can easily cut out lovely shapes out of cardboard, like butterflies, cars or hearts.

You can decorate the invitations with colourful stamps. A footprint or handprint is also perfect. Simply brush paint on the hand or foot and press it onto the paper. An equally beautiful and simple idea: Hang a card made of coloured cardboard in a bottle filled with candy. All that's missing is the text of the invitation with date, time, location - done! Save a copy for the photo album as a personal memento.

Nothing has to be perfect, as long as it's fun - The decoration

The party must have the right decoration. Paper plates and glasses for parties, as well as tablecloths, and you can find everything at Lidl. Never mind the little decorations, here less is more. But streamers on the highchair and edible decorations are sure to draw children's attention. If you want, you can even have a specific theme. E.g. Birthday party ideas could be:

- Zoo

- Farm

- Cars

- Circus

- Fairies

- Bears

- Prince / Princess

The theme can then be repeated on garlands, balloons, garlands with flags, lights or paper hats.

Great fun for little explorers – Don’t forget about gifts

Who doesn’t like gifts? Make arrangements with guests in advance about what is useful and age-appropriate. Not everyone has good ideas for the right gift. You can dare to express specific wishes. You will find suggestions and ideas at any Lidl store, where you can always find new, fantastic offers on baby and children's toys.

The most exciting thing for the child celebrating is the unboxing. Most of the time more than the gift itself. Don't be discouraged, most one-year olds don't understand the meaning of the gift yet. As long as it's colourful and makes noise. Too much unboxing will tire it out. Divide the unboxing time in smaller periods through the celebration. You can gather the guests' gifts and let the baby open one every hour. Then the guests will be present at the opening to see the reaction to the gift. The new toy doesn't have to end up in the nursery right away. He/ She will be happier if you give it to him/her to play with days or even weeks after the birthday.

Wonderful, colourful and delicious - The birthday cake for the big day

Small but delicious. Whether you make it yourself or resort to frozen cake - you'll find everything you need at your nearest Lidl store. Even muffins are fine, as they're a sure success using a ready-made mix. A classic value for children's birthdays is the Parrot Cake.

For one cake tin, you will need:

- 200 g butter

- 300 g sugar.

- 300 g flour

- 4 eggs

- 1 packet of baking powder

- 1/4 l sour cream

- Red fruit jelly powder, cocoa powder, vanilla pudding powder or pastry colours for colouring

Beat butter, sugar, flour, eggs, baking powder and cream until smooth. Depending on what proportion you want the colours to be in, divide the mixture into several bowls. Colour each section with the jelly, cocoa or vanilla powder or pastry colours. Butter the pan and pour spoonfuls of the mixtures into the bowls. Then bake in the oven for about 20 minutes at 200 degrees. For the icing, simply smear the cake with sugar icing and put on top colourful marshmallows that everybody loves!