Sounds as if we'll never find a day that will suit everyone unless we plan hugely in advance. Maybe we should simply aim for an early pre-Christmas bash - maybe even mid/late November?
Willow2, know what you mean when your mumsnet name gets "hijacked". Someone registered as earlygirl, and posted hundreds of times at the end of the summer - all day and night, and on a great many threads. Late one night we were both posting on the same thread, and people were getting us mixed up. She admitted she hadn't realised our names were so similar, and offered to change hers as I had "first claim" to the name. Don't know what she did (or who she posts as now), but she no longer posts under her original name.....which makes me happy. I especially didn't like it when she took a strong stance on things which caused strong reactions, and people then thought it was me!