My Sons birthday is coming up in a little over a month.

I wonder if I should have his first not just family/family friends birthday at a resturant or at the house.

First the choices are limited in our town, the bowling alley is off the list because we had a huge storm recently and they had MILLIONs of dollars worth of damage to their roof. Maybe by the time of the party they would be fixed. So maybe that is not totally ruled out. There is a pizza place with some childrens climbing things (like McDonalds but you have to pay to get in). It is NOT Chucky Cheese (sadly not even close). There is also a theme resturant in town with a token room (but I think that is more a family idea because I am not sure I would want to just have parents drop off their kids). Then finally McDonalds. McDonalds has a play area but it is open to the public and the store that had a separate party area remodeled with no more playarea, the party would be either Friday night or Saturday afternoon both times the play area would be extremely busy with kids.

My son is wanting the not chucky cheese pizza place. Last year when he was invited to a party there I called to get prices since I feel that the gift for the child should atleast be the cost of the meal (I do this with Weddings also). If I remember correctly it ended up being between $5-$8 a head depending on if they ate hotdogs or pizza. I think you also supply the cake.

Now why do I NOT want to have it at our home.
#1 My house is a MESS!!! I am talking call social Services! Just Joking!! There is not decaying food, and we do not have pets. But we have been in a state of major construction for about two years now. So I dont want to have to use my personal injury protection insurance followinf a childs birthday party if you know what I mean.

#2 My furnature is trash!! Also there is a major lack of furnature. Since we were remodeling we have old hand me down furnature, it is covered in spills and every so often I vaccum the sheetrock or wood shavings off and wash the sheet I have covering it. We figured no point in buying new furnature until the construction is done. The down side is they are hand me downs and are structurally falling apart since we were not planning on keeping them this long. I dont want to buy new stuff until the construction is done, and technically we need the furnature money right now to finish the construction.

#3. Post party cleanup...Need I say more.

#4. Lingering guests, when my son was four his sister was up to visit her family for the summer; she wanted to be at his party so we planned an early one so she could be here. Two days before the party she desides she wants to have her grandmother drive her home early and leaves, we still have the party since it is too late to cancel and it is just my husbands friends children. Well one of the friends wife and 5 children including infant stayed 4 and a half hours after everyone else left. I finally had enough and told my husband to entertain her & watch her children while I took a nap at 7 pm since I had been up super early getting everything ready for the 1pm party.

I know it seems crazy to pay $8+ a person for a birthday party but it is way cheaper than hiring a cleaning crew, storage unit, and new furnature.

What would you do?? My Son wants to invite atleast three boys from his class and I want his two cousins.