We take a cake to school/daycare (lolly bag as well is a bit OTT I think) on the birthday. We don't have a friends party every year, they have tended to be odd years so far - that might change this year as it is her first year of school and will be 6, she might want one this year. Even so, friends parties aren't big - if she's turning 6 she would be allowed to invite 6 people.

As for a family party, we might have a dinner, but not a party if that makes sense? So we might have a nice dinner (with something that she particularly likes) with family and a cake afterwards. My family is a few hours away, so this might be over 2 nights (ie one per family). Until now, grandparents/aunts/cousins have been invited to the friends party, but i think we are at the age where they shouldn't come (unless they offer to help out).

So there could be a number of cakes involved, but they are likely to be spread out over a while (my family are a couple of hours away so we might not see them for a few weeks after the birthday)