We did a party for ds who just turned 3 and that was his first 'party' as such - usually we just have dinner with close family and often a playdate with mum's group kids to celebrate all their birthdays cos they're all within 2 weeks). Our playgroup allows members to use the centre on a saturday so it was perfect - as you said there is outside & toys inside as a contingency. For us it was basically playgroup on a different day because there were only a few extras on top of pg kids.

I don't think parties are necessary to make a birthday special & I don't think you HAVE to have one. We did this year because 1. He hadn't had one before 2. He had a big change this year with dd being born and I wanted to make his birthday a bit special 3. We could use playgroup (so I didn't have to spend time cleaning and tidying) 4. Our playgroup session is 2 mother's groups combined and so half have known him since he was 10 weeks old and the others since he was 8 months and I know all the mums really well as well as the kids.

In your situation I probably wouldn't be having a party (and I'm guessing that will be us for the next couple of years).

Your local playgroup may not hire out the centre because of insurance - we only let members use ours bevause they have to be playgroup victoria members and the insurance covers them. If you're a member though it might be ok.

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