First Birthday - Trenton,NJ

At this age, he won't notice or understand so just do something low key at home.
It's mainly for YOU. :)
You can put up a few decorations, have a little food, invite some family & have him demolish a cupcake in his high chair. He'll love it.
Take pictures! :)

Updated

At this age, he won't notice or understand so just do something low key at home.
It's mainly for YOU. :)
You can put up a few decorations, have a little food, invite some family & have him demolish a cupcake in his high chair. He'll love it.
Take pictures! :)

His birthday should look like whatever you, your family and friends will enjoy. He won't care what you do.

Plan for you and your family to enjoy yourselves. Your son will not care about or understand birthdays till he is at least 3 or 4. At this age, it is a time for the parents to celebrate. So don't go crazy for him, do something you and your family will enjoy.

Keep it low key, small lunch or dinner with immediate family and God parents. Make it early so he doesn't get over tired. Make the cake or cupcakes yourself and let him have at for a minute. Eat lunch/dinner, open gifts (if not too many), serve the cake and party ends!

Take lots of pictures.

I agree with the other posters that the first birthday party is much more for the parents than the child... they won't remember it. So whatever kind of party makes YOU happy is fine, but you don't want it to be too overwhelming for your baby either!
We had a medium size party in our home for our twin's first -- our kids grandparents, aunts, uncles, their sitter and our closest friends with their kids (there were maybe 25 adults & 3 other kids their age there). And we did do a theme, but it was a cheap easy one -- balloons! I made simple cupcakes with different colored frosting and strung ribbon from each one and tied it together to look like a bunch of balloons... We got a zillion balloons and hung them all over (from the Dollar Store!) and a little ballpit for the kids to play in (which was part of their birthday gift). Just bought a ton of lunch meat and rolls and condiments and different sides and set it out for a lunch. They loved smashing and eating their cupcakes while everyone laughed and snapped photos! They enjoyed ripping into their gifts, but at that age attention spans are short and they don't remember much of it.
For their second birthday we did only us & grandparents and MUCH more low-key, but i think the first is a fun milestone to celebrate :)

Your son will not be aware that it is his birthday, or what a birthday is. A first birthday party is like a baby shower or an engagement party. It is for adults and photo opportunites. That said, depending on your child's temperament, he may or may not enjoy having a bunch of people cooing over him. You should plan it with nap time in mind. Bringing him out for a little while and sitting him on your lap while someone brings over a cake and you blow out the candles with someone taking pictures will make a nice addition to the photo album. Dress him up in something cute but comfortable. If he gets grouchy or tired, put him down for a nap and attend to your guests. As far as "what it looks like", feel free to decorate it either with cute kid decorations (balloons, steamers, etc.) or more sophisticated adult decorations (flower arrangements, etc.). If you are going to invite children, be aware of the ages of the kids who will be coming and be accommodating of them and their parents (always ask about allergies when planning to serve food). In general, plan the party for your guests' enjoyment and comfort as well as your own and don't keep your one year old awake during his naptime. Snap lots of photos. Have fun!

My son's first was really for my husband and I. We made it a celebration for making it to the one year mark without going insane or having some sorta meltdown! Our son was clueless so we had a party for our friends and family member and their kids to come and play, eat and have a good time. We had a candy buffet for the kids and food buffet for the adults, played a few games, talked about our crazy kids, danced and cut the cake. Nothing was structured,it was complete mayhem but it was a happy celebration of his first year and ours! It was great.
Just have fun with it!

Keep it small, don't worry about a theme or tons of money. He won't get it! Too much can overwhelm a little child, who has no idea what a birthday is anyway. Don't have a zillion kids - just a few relatives or family friends. Get ready for some pictures of his face covered with icing, and opening just a few gifts. Don't overdo the gifts especially if you have guests. The birthday boy may like his first gift and not want to open anything else (thereby hurting the feelings of the others), or he may be uninterested in the first gift (thereby hurting the feelings of the first one)! He's only 1 so don't expect too much. I think people who hire a reptile lady and rent a bounce house and have 25 kids wind up with a big debt and a crying screaming overstimulated frightened 1 year old!

If you like a few decorations just for the pictures, great. But your kid will only care about the candles (cool looking!) and some icing, just get a few cupcakes or an ice cream cake, whatever you think he will enjoy. Balloons are okay as long as nothing pops and scares him and as long as he is watched all the time so he doesn't get into a piece of a broken balloon.

For my son's 1st birthday, we got him a climbing gym from Little Tykes and one other thing. He was thrilled and we took lots of video of him climbing on the gym, plus us singing Happy Birthday and him plunging his fingers into the piece of cake. Great fun, simple, all about him and not all about entertaining a crowd.

In general, I would suggest you keep all your son's parties manageable. We followed the "1 year rule" - which is you get 1 friend for every 1 year of life. Five year birthday = 5 kids. 7 year birthday = 7 kids. They had so much more fun than the big crowds of 20 kids some of the other families had. You can do much more with them and not go broke. And our son learned to open a few gifts and say thank you, rather than put aside 25 gifts until later or (worse) make everyone sit there while he opened 25 gifts and got greedy.

I'd say until your child is 3 or 4, he won't really care about other kids at a party, and the other kids won't understand why he gets presents and they don't. It can get ugly before age 4!

Have fun!