Hi all - just starting to think about organising my little boy's 4th birthday party, and am well and truly stuck for venue ideas - having self-catered the past three I am desperate for a break and a hassle free one this year!

Trouble is getting the balance between size of venue and cost - the place I would most like is small, and enforces a maximum of 20 kids and 25 adults, which means excluding a lot of siblings, and restricting to one parent each - which is no good because I wanted a more social event. The bigger places are a fortune, and tend not to do private hire and I'm not so keen on letting 4 year olds loose among school age kids anyway!

My boy's not keen on animals or craft either - needs to be an active event. Any ideas or suggestions as I am getting desperate now!

Sorry no ideas other than the usual kids kingdom/monkey bizness etc. what about mega play in rayleigh? they enforce number much tighter than the southend ones.

Other than that timbuktoo is usually quiet?

Have you looked at the land of make beleive?

How about Marsh Farm or Barleylands. No clearing up to do afterwards as well!

The RSPB run birthday parties in Wat Tyler Park in Basildon. You can choose a theme of pirates, woodland explorers or rainforest and all the activities are outside and active, with food and cake in their discovey centre.

It's pretty resonable at about £6 a head. Think they limit kids at 30 and don't know of an adult limit!

Their contact is se.education@rspb.org.uk