My son will be celebrating his first birthday soon and I was trying to find a place to have the party. Many of my friends and family have children of all ages that will be coming and I kind of rather not have the party at home. My house isn't big enough for all these people. I know Chuck e. cheese would be fun for kids, but do you think that he is to little. They do have a play area for babies. I want to have a party that is fun for everyone but I don't want it to be overwhelming for my baby, and at least at chuckie cheese everybody can spread out. What do you think?

Chuckie Cheese is a nice place, but the one thing I do not like about it, personally is the noise level. You can barely hear yourself think, let alone hold a conversation with some one. It is a great place for kids to have fun but if you want to socalize with family and friends, it sucks.
I am having the same problem as you with the first birthday thing. My house is too small but the our backyard is pretty big so I am thinking about renting a tent (in case of rain).

How about a park??

I live in Ohio, so the weather here is way to cold for the park or anything outdoors this time of year. Last year, the day he was born March 31 we had a snow storm. Your probably right about the noise level at chuckie cheese, although I was reading on the internet that you get a discount for doing it during the weekdays which is great and maybe the added bonus is it might not be as loud because there won't be as many people.

I've known a few people that have used a banquet room, or conference room at a restuarant...and it seemed to work well for them. They brought in some smaller toy's and games for the kids to play with, plus they were out of the way of other's in the restuarant...and it wasn't extremely noisy. Maybe that's an idea. My DS will be 1 this June, so we'll be lucky enough to have his outside.

I had my son's 1st birthday party at our house. I think he was overwhelmed by everyone and cried most of the time. I had his 2nd birthday at our place last month and I had taken him to the doctor the day before to make sure he was not sick or anything cause I wanted the party to go well. He didn't want to take his nap earlier (which he needed badly) so he ended up crying his whole entire party again! Sigh.. Maybe next year when he is 3 we will do chuck e cheese but I think 1 year is too young for anything like that.

I was going to suggest a park also lol, but how bout a vfw hall or american legion hall, or a firehouse, o if anyone lives in a place with a clubhouse. my dd bday in november, so same problem here. my ds is july so we are ok there. good luck

My DS's birthday is June 10. It is right around the time when it is not too hot and not cool. Perfect for outside unless it rains. I know there are a few places around here that are a similar idea as Chuckie Cheese but on a smaller scale. They are like a Mcdonalds Playland and you can rent them out. Is there a nearby family member that has a big enough house and would be willing to hold the party, if you promised to help get their house ready and take care of everything and clean up afterward?

Do they have a Gymboree out there? That's where we are thinking of having our DS' birthday party. He will be 1 on May 2nd. A little to cool to have something outside here in Jersey. Plus, I didn't want to have anything at home. There you go for 1 1/2 hours and the kids have fun. They sing songs and play games. It's really simple.

Or my girlfriend is having her DS's 1st birthday at the fire house near her home and Gymboree is coming there to them. I think she also has a face painter and magician.