S/O first birthday parties

PipSqueak0313

I'm trying to decide how to do ds's 1st birthday.

My dd's 22nd birthday is 3 weeks prior to ds2's first birthday and my mom is planning to come (6ish hour drive) between the two dates instead of for one and not the other.  (I might try talking dd about this one)

My dad has already said he's coming up the weekend of ds2's birthday.

My brother and his wife are unreliable for attending any family get-togethers (unless it's on her side of the family)

My husband's sisters live in states that would require them to fly in or drive 12+ so I'm not sure if they would attend.

Dh feels a bit self conscience about inviting people outside of the family to celebrate anything with us -- feels like it's just an excuse to try getting presents from people which is why he refused a friend's offer for a baby shower even though I wanted one.

I want to have a party for ds2 but my house is too small for more than the immediate family and I don't want to rent someplace/plan a large party and then have dh change it to just immediate family......

Thoughts on how to go from here?

mrsapril2010

Try a library most are free.

SarahRae85

The only party I ever held was at a Pizza Hut. It was just for family, but our apartment was too small and neither side would have been comfortable in the other's house, so we chose Pizza Hut because reserving their "party area" was free and if we ended up not using it, they just opened it up to their guests. No loss to them or us. Other places might have a similar situation. I know many restaurants have party rooms that are usually little to no cost to reserve, since when unused they just fill it up with other customers.

As for your husband, I know it's considered "rude" to mention gifts on invitations, but I assume you don't really want/need a lot of presents for LO, so perhaps a request that guests not bring presents? You can still open presents from family that would have gotten it anyway (such as yourself). Beyond that... I don't know.