How to stop your baby's birthday party from being forgettable.

There is nothing personal about unicorns, giraffes and one in-a-mellons.

Yes, adding a name to anything brings context to whom is it for, but how many 'Lilly's' and 'George's' are there just in a 3 mile radius to your current location? I'm guessing more than 1. So how can you personalise your party beyond the superficial personalisation of having just a name on every balloon, plate and party popper?

Now don't get me wrong, I love a themed party and especially one where the photo opportunities are endless due to cuteness overload, but when everybody has the same idea it does quickly gets repetitive for your guests, and when things get repetitive, how are you supposed to remember which baby had elephants and which baby had bears?

A friend of mine recently asked me to create a sign for her daughter's first birthday party. She wanted the sign to be a welcome sign, but not necessarily say the words 'welcome to', as this would make the sign feel single use, dating the artwork rather than future proofing it. We decided that the text would be "Tillie turns one!" along with a gorgeous hand drawn portrait of Tillie, personalising the event with love, fine detail and a touch of nostalgia.

Rather than buying a single use sign that was superficially personal, my friend invested in a one of a kind piece that can be framed and gifted to Tillie when she's old enough. Whether Tillie will remember what her first birthday party was like is questionable, but at least she has something to hold on to from it, as do her parents, who are more than happy to look after her special gift for a little while longer.

Tillie turns one - hand drawn sign

So perhaps if you are someone whose friendship group all started to have babies at the same time, plant the seeds of bespoke artwork before you forget which balloon bonanza baby birthday party you preferred!