Birthday party for 3 year old

[Ifitistobesaid]

My daughter is turning 3 soon and has started saying she wants a party with all her friends from nursery. I was hoping to avoid a party for another year but don’t think I can without disappointing her now. We are also going to a party for one of her nursery pals a couple of weeks before hers so think she’d be very aware if she doesn’t have one. We’ve celebrated with family the past couple of years but as her cousins are teenagers it would basically be an adults party.

So my question is: who do people
usually invite to toddler birthday parties? I have reserved a local softplay who can do all the catering and was planning to invite the kids in her room at nursery (around 15) even though I only know some of the parents vaguely. I was also going to invite the 10 or so families on our NCT group. I’m sure some won’t be able to come so expect maybe 10-15 on the day.

Is this too many for a toddler party? Or is it weird to invite kids if I don’t know their parents? I think going smaller would be harder to organise in some ways hence casting the net wide. We don’t have room to entertain at home unfortunately.

I think it’s fine to invite the children from nursery even if you don’t know the parents. They probably won’t all be able to make it anyway.
Do you have sole use of the venue? Some parents may be put off from soft play if they think it will be too crowded, or concerned about older kids being too rough.
obviously depends on size of venue and how easy it is to keep an eye on them.

Thanks. Yes sole use of the venue and it’s a softplay cafe so not too big or overwhelming.
All the kids will be 2 or 3.

I did soft play parties at that age. Make sure you have a definite list though so people don’t try and sneak siblings in as part of the party and you end up paying for them.