• One-year birthdays are a chance for starting important traditions.Birthday Baby eating her cake image by Photoeyes from Fotolia.com
  
  Your 1 year old will not remember gifts given at her birthday when she is grown. She is not picky about the types of gifts she receives, and she is easily satisfied with time spent with those who love and care for her. Start a tradition now of providing your child with the gifts of time, love and memories, and she will cherish these throughout her life.
  
  

Family Traditions

• Give the gift of tradition, rather than material possessions. Traditions begun during a child's first birthday and continued each year provide a child with a sense of belonging, as well as a sense of security and love. In a few years, your 1 year old will know that she can look forward to the traditions that come with her birthday celebration. (Reference 1)
  
  Sing her the birthday song at the breakfast table to start the day off on a happy note. Make her favorite meals all day, and a homemade cake of her choosing. Take her to the park to play, perhaps inviting family and friends for a picnic where everyone brings their own lunches and you provide the cake and ice cream.
  
  

Extended Family

• Encouraging relationships between your child and her extended family members will prove to be a blessing to your child later in life. For instance, fostering a closeness between your child and her aunt or uncle will provide her with an important mentor throughout her life. Start now, if you haven't already, by supporting the relationship that extended family members have with your child. This may be accomplished by having each person begin traditions with your child. Time spent alone with her, and together with other family members, is the most important gift that they will give your child throughout her life.
  
  

Gifts of Memories

• One year olds will not remember the gifts that are given to them now when they are older. The toys and clothes will be long gone by the time they are adults. It is worthwhile to preserve memories for them to carry with them throughout their lives.
  
  Framed photographs of them with family members are gifts that can be hung in their rooms and treasured throughout their lives. A scrapbook is another idea. Create a scrapbook of her time with immediate and extended family throughout the first year off her life and give that to her as a birthday gift for her to cherish. Beginning a video library will provide entertainment and enjoyment to your child forever. Get long distance friends and family in on this and have everyone create for your child the gift of home videos for her birthday year after year, beginning with her first birthday. This way, she can get to know important people that she does not see often.