2nd birthdays ... any advice?

[EmmysMama]

DH brought up DD1's birthday last night ... it is a LOT closer than I realized!

Last year we had a big party and it was just generally not worth it ... long story, big cleanup, MIL fights, and people showing up with so-and-so's cousin's neighbor's friend's 3 kids in addition to their own.

I don't want to have it at our house this time, or have nearly so many people. People like to invite themselves in this neighborhood! Plus I could do without the cleanup. Where do you have a party for a 2yo? How many people do you invite?

I'd like to just have her cousin (same age), a friend (same age), a neighbor (3) and another cousin (3). That would be 3 2yos and 2 3yos. Does 5 sound all right? She plays well with all of them, they all know each other, and they've played together before though not all at the same time.

As far as where, DH suggested Chuck E. Cheese, but I don't think a 2yo would get a lot out of it. DD is more on the 3yos' level but the other 2 aren't. Maybe McDonald's? I'm okay with junk on her birthday. I also thought maybe a kids' gym or something, one of those places with the inflatable bounce houses and slides?

ETA: I also thought about the zoo, aquarium, etc, but their party packages are outrageous and have something like 20-guest minimums.

[butterfly_mommy]

We had DS 2nd birthday at a city run indoor playground (we have a very small house). In terms of children there was only his one friend (3) and his cousins (6,8,9,13) the adults were just close friends and family about 16 in total so about 21 people including kids and adults. I took up anyones offer to bring food and I made cupcakes. It was a fun simple party.

[busymama77]

For DS's 2nd bday, we did it at home. Had family, close friends and three of DS's friends over - a totaly of 20 people, I guess it was and our house was fairly small. It was Elmo themed. Had footlong sandwiches, chips, fruit, veggies and cake and a friend of mine dressed up as Elmo to entertain the kids. It was simple and a lot of fun.

[gbailey]

For DD's 1st birthday we took her to the zoo and she had a blast. This year we'll be doing the same thing except we're inviting two other children and the parents to join us to see the sea lions be fed, check out the children's zoo, anything else and have lunch. The food in the zoo is so freaking expensive so I'm going to bring lunch for everyone or try to arrange for a pizza or bring a long sub already cut up. I'm going to send each child home with a goody bag with crayons, a coloring book and a small board book.

[slgt]

We just had DD's 2nd birthday. We treated it like a small dinner party, but with families with kids. We invited 4 other families, and ended up with 8 adults & 7 kids, including us.

We just had everyone over to our house at 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon, and we kept the food simple - made a few pizzas, cut-up veggies & dip, some chicken kabobs, and hummus & pita. Cake & sugar cookies for dessert - and we are still eating leftovers (of everything except the pizza & cake)! The kids ranged in age from 19 mos.-5 years, and the parents were all good friends of ours and somewhat knew one another. The adults took turns checking in on the kids and moderating, and it all worked really well. We didn't plan any activities - too wide an age range.

The kids were thrilled to romp, and everyone left around 6:30 or so - just the right time, and only one kid was starting to melt down. We definitely kept it laid back - like I said, just had a party that happened to have a bunch of kids & birthday cake.

DD had a blast, and we had fun, too.