We all know how it is with the first year birthday of a baby or maybe even a baby shower. You generally just haven’t seen enough of your child’s personality, preferences or actual body to make an accurate judge as to what kind of party theme would be appropriate for them so we lean towards traditional gender neutral kids birthday parties. On the upside, unless you plan on taking lots of video and photos, your child is unlikely to remember their first birthday party, which makes you wonder- isn’t the first birthday party for a child (or even baby shower) just for you, the parent?
Well, I’m Nancy Arnold and I’ve been designing for all sorts of gender-specific and neutral things when it comes to parties, from kids birthday invitations to custom banners, and more. And I’d like to look at a couple different spins on gender-neutral birthday parties. We’ve all seen those drab and dull parties, afraid to add some strong colors and images because it might be taken for one gender or another. And those are okay, but wouldn’t you much rather have a real birthday theme to draw from while also being gender-neutral? I mean, this kind of thing can be incredibly crucial in situations like having joint parties, or parties for your twins/triplets of different genders or even if you just don’t want to be reaffirming the way a certain gendered child is supposed to act.
The truth is, a child just hasn’t developed an understanding of who they are by that first birthday party, and this can especially be the case for gender and personality traits. But that’s okay, because you can devise gender neutral kids birthday parties just as effectively as a gendered one and still make it awesome. So here are just a few ideas to get you started.
Try out a literal block party like this pin.
Combine Elements
When most people think of gender neutral, they figure they can’t have anything that would ‘clearly’ lean to one gender or the other, so they avoid blues and pinks and things like barbies and monster trucks. But there are other ways to show neutrality, by giving equal weight to both sides. Rather than removing everything you might gender, instead add some boy and girl-gendered stuff together and in the same amount. Have a Bratz banner and Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle plates and napkins? Go for it. The simple act of showing both sides causes the neutrality while also providing you with effective images to focus on for developing the overall theme.
This idea has been such a hit in the past that many kids continue to do it when they are old enough to pick their own ideas; one year I designed a custom banner for a friend that took Star Wars characters and added Hannah Montana onto the banner with those characters. I had a lot of fun with that one, and the girl was so excited to see it because she loves both of those.
Create your own if you can’t find what you want like this pin.
Let the Rainbow Go
Now this one has a tendency of getting out of hand fast, but in many cases focusing on just different colors and shapes can not only be neutral but provide stimulation for your young child. People tend to go a little overboard at times and just litter everything with every possible color they could think of. Instead consider just taking the main colors of the rainbow and interweaving those colors with just plain white so you aren’t overloading people’s senses. This gives you the opportunity to avoid pink and blue if you want to since you have plenty other colors and it still lets you have a lot of fun by combining various shapes and colors together. Best of all, you can create a cake composed of rainbow layers of color in the actual cake. Plus your kid will love it, since these are exactly the kinds of things that will stimulate your young child. Essentially you are having a big wooden block party with some extra color thrown in.
Just one of many ideas found with this pin.
The Non-gender world
Even though our society is very gendered, there are still things out there that you can take advantage of for not being tailored to one specific sex. One of my best friends decided to go with a Dr Seuss party for their first one year party for their child, and guess what? Dr Seuss is actually an incredibly great idea for gender neutral kids birthday parties and isn’t the only one either. Instead of that My Little Pony theme go for a Little Einstein’s theme which has a mix of boys and girls (and can be educational). Even areas that aren’t dependent on brands can work too for instance, have you ever considered a beach theme very specific to gender or even certain types of animals? Going with a theme like those allows you to direct your attention and creativity for the party, which can’t be gained in the same way you would with bland or dull colors, or even the multi-colored suggestion above.
Really, there are plenty of ideas out there that you can stay gender neutral with, it’s just a matter of looking for them. Have an idea of your own for gender neutral kids birthday parties? Please feel free to share them with us!
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