Birthday party ideas for 3yo (not at our home)

Hi all. I've started thinking about my son's birthday party as I think I should get as much planning done before bub arrives. My hubby has already said he'd prefer not to have it at home this year as his party has quite a few guests (so probably up to 15 kids around his age).

I'm looking for ideas on where we might be able to have his party.

Things I DON'T want to do are:
Maccas/fast food party
Play centre party

Things I like the idea of:
Animal farm (but I think I want to wait another year)
Reptile party (but I think my hubby would have a heart attack as he's got a phobia of snakes and even lizards, lol)
Cooking party (looking into this one locally but I think they start at 4yo...)

I'm making it hard aren't I? Lol

We hired a local "venue" part of community centre where they hold 3 year old activity group. It was perfect and had an outdoor play area as well. A kitchen to heat stuff and some little table and chairs.

It was rather cheap I think was $150 for the day (9-5) and just had to clean up after and sweep floors. We had dips,, cheese, fairy bread, party pies, sausage rolls, pinwheels etc etc.
We had about 50 people there! was busy but ok

If you want more details PM, SMS, FB or call me.

Miniature train park? Friends had it at a community centre/playgroup/nieghbourhood house and it was great.

We are hiring a 'Neighbourhood House Community Centre' this year and having the party there. The kids will play games and eat food etc but we thought about having an entertainer, face painter, magician type thing which could be an option for you?

Altona miniature railway is awesome too.

Feeb stole my idea, lol! ;) Our community centre does the same thing.

We've seen a few fab kids parties in local parks (just passing through). I particularly liked the pirate theme with a walk-the-plank obstacle course, pinata, treasure hunt/lolly grab run by daddy dressed as a pirate, pirate-themed games/crafts, face painting etc. You could change the theme and games depending on what your DS is into. We loved how the parents were dressed up too! You could do some simple no bake cooking too - ice patty cakes, roll chocolate balls (I'm sure there are better ideas out there).

Best of all is: NO clean up! ;)

A gf ofmine went to a gymnastic place and they did kids gymnastics

What about a picnic - But you'd need to find a nice park that has a bit of shelter, some toilets and some play equipment for the kids :)

Thanks for the suggestion, but the party was 6 months ago, lol. We ended up having a gymnastics party and it was fantastic. I couldn't recommend the lady that did it highly enough :)