1st birthday shirts
Infant sizing, a character the parents chose, and a garment that exists to be photographed.
Characters for this age What size to buy
A first-birthday shirt is not really children’s apparel, and buying it as though it were is the usual mistake. It is an infant garment, sized in months rather than years, and it is bought for a single afternoon during which it will be photographed a great deal and then put away. Nobody wearing it has an opinion about it.
That changes what matters. Fit is about the neck opening and the nappy, not the chest. The character is whichever one the family has already decided is theirs, which at this age almost always comes from books or from a nursery rather than from television. And the printed-number shirt — usually just ONE — is entirely reasonable here in a way it stops being later, because this shirt was never going to be worn twice.
What size to buy at 1
| US size | 12–18M or 18–24M |
|---|---|
| Garment chest | roughly 19–20 in |
| Sizing system | Infant sizing, labelled in months rather than years |
Sizes vary between licensees. Where a listing publishes its own measurements, those are the ones to trust. Our full US size guide covers toddler 2T through adult 3XL.
What matters at 1
- Infant sizes run in months, not years, and 12–18M is not the same as 12M. Read which convention the listing uses before ordering.
- Look for a lap-shoulder or envelope neck. A plain crew neck has to go over a head that is large relative to the body, and at this age that is a struggle rather than a detail.
- Bodysuits and T-shirts are different garments at the same nominal size. A bodysuit fastens under the nappy and will not ride up in photographs; a tee will.
- A printed number is fine at one year old. It is the only birthday where the shirt has no second outing to lose.
Characters a 1-year-old is likely to recognise
All characters →20 characters, from the franchises we judge a child of this age is likely to know. Ordered alphabetically. This is a judgement about recognition, not a recommendation of one shirt over another.
Common questions
What size shirt does a 1-year-old wear?
12–18M or 18–24M, with a garment chest of roughly 19–20 in. US children's sizes are labelled by age rather than measurement, so where build and age disagree, measure a shirt that already fits and compare it against the listing.
Should a first birthday shirt have the age printed on it?
At this age it is a reasonable choice. The shirt is worn for one afternoon and photographed, so it losing its meaning the following week costs nothing.
How far ahead should you order?
At least a week, and longer if a specific size is essential. Licensed children’s apparel goes out of stock by individual size rather than by product, and the common sizes are the ones that go first.
Other ages
Birthday shirts →1st birthday shirts · 2nd birthday shirts · 3rd birthday shirts · 4th birthday shirts · 5th birthday shirts · 6th birthday shirts
Price and availability are taken from Amazon at the time shown and can change. The price on Amazon at the time of purchase applies. Prices shown are amazon.com in US dollars. Links redirect international readers to their local Amazon, where pricing, sizing and availability are shown in local terms.
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