2 year old bday parties

alyssa7

Charlie will be 2 at the end of December so I'm starting to think about what to do for his party. Last year we did the Little Gym. It turned out really well and I think the price was decent but I don't want to do it again two years in a row.

I'd like to have a party at our home but we have quite a bit of people on the list (our friends, not Charlie's friends). I counted 26 adults (including DH and I and grandparents) plus 20 kids including Charlie.

If you had a party at your home for a 2 year old, what kind of activities would you do? Or if you had a party at an indoor place, where was it? I looked into Pump it Up and it looks a bit more spendy than the little gym and I'm not sure if they would let us bring our own food (Charlie has a severe nut allergy and I don't let him eat food that I haven't read the labels).

Thanks in advance for any tips, suggestions, etc.

SweetieP

Ryan's parties were in my home until he turned 4.  We typically had about 25-30 people including kids and adults.  At 2, we had a mickey mouse party and I basically just had toys out for the kids to play with (a big frog tent, the train table, and a few other toys...everything else was put away).  It was a little crowded but honestly, it's only for 2 hours and they're not going to remember it.  That said, groupon has a lot of deals on parties and I've done that for Ryan's 4th (and upcoming 5th) birthday.  He's a January baby so the weather is always so iffy.  I sort of feel like once they hit 4, I didn't want 15 four year olds in my home.   My daughter's parties will probably always be at home because 1) she's got a May birthday and 2) she doesn't have as many playmates to invite.    With Ryan I was part of a mom's group and we were friends with the local Sacties.  We don't have that with Natalie.

amyfelice

we did it at Play Cafe but they don't let you bring your own food and I think it was too expensive.Otherwise it was great but I wish I had done it in the house  or at a park, since it was early September. 

Also to Donna, you never know, if she goes to preschool she may have her own friends too. That's mainly who we invited to DD's party.  

SportyMrs.23

We are having Lilly's 2nd birthday party in a couple weeks at our house.  I'm so stoked for it because Lilly is obsessed with petting zoos and all animals really and so we hired a company to come out to our home and they are bringing a large petting zoo for all the kids (and adults) to pet, play with and feed (They will be here for 2 hours and they set up and clean up everything)!  There is going to be goats, a pot belly pig, an alpaca, a tortoise, a baby emu, bunnies, chickens, goats and some others I can't remember.  I know that it's going to be a huge hit with Lilly! 

lunabeam

We just did DS's birthday party yesterday, but it was outside at a park. We also had a rather large guest list; it was around 40 adults and 15 kids. We were crossing our fingers that the weather would be good...last weekend was rainy and so is today, so we lucked out!

There's no way our house could handle that many people. I did consider doing an indoor gym thing, but I thought I should save it for next year when the kids are bigger and can do more independent climbing.

Had the weather report looked iffy for this year, I would have looked into renting a room at the local community center. They let you bring in your own food, toys, whatever, and then you can rent chairs and stuff from them.

December birthdays are hard, and I'm anticipating the same kind of issues with this little one due in Feb!