DD only had one ‘friend’ at her 2nd birthday party recently - as in a similarly aged daughter of a friend I made at a baby group. I’ve made maybe 2 other ‘mum friends’ but one has just moved away and the other was at a wedding that weekend.
We have a couple of friends with older children and DD’s cousins who again are quite a bit older, who did all come, and we got a bouncy castle mainly to keep them all entertained in the garden as just easier than having them all in the house. So there were more kids there, but only one other little toddler.
DD had a good time and she likes the older kids being around, but it was a long and tiring day for her and was definitely more for our benefit. The next day her dad and I just took her to the seaside for a walk on the beach, picnic and an ice cream and I think she probably got far more out of that.
These things can be hard because they throw up the difference of expectations versus reality, if you’re anything like me you may have had some kind of picture of making a load of ‘NCT friends’ or whatever the equivalent is, spending the newborn days in cafes together and all the kids growing up together etc. But our mat leave was in lockdown and that didn’t happen, and even though I know that’s not really the norm for most people anyway, I do sometimes feel like I’ve somehow failed at this mum ideal and/ or that DD is going to
miss out. So on her birthday it sort of shows it up for a bit, but then I give myself a shake and remind myself she’s two and doesn’t care in the slightest. And she thinks anyone her own age is a ‘baby’ anyway whereas she is apparently a ‘big big girl’ 😂
3 friends and a bit of cake sounds perfect. Let them run around with a couple of balloons, or get some bubble machines, they’ll have a ball. I agree that meeting in a park might be easier and save you money, but if you like the place you’ve hired and think YOU will enjoy it then don’t worry too much.