Birthdays with friends + family + godparents?

[bryony77]

Just wondering how different people approach their DC birthdays when there are all these different groups to 'accommodate'. We have 2 sets of parents plus an aunt & uncle from family, then 3 friends who are godparents (plus their partners and, in one case, DCs) and of course, DD's friends.

In the first couple of years it was easy to do one party for everyone - essentially an adults party with a few children who were happy to play - but now she's almost 3, it seems right to make it more a children's party which won't really suit family and godparents.

What do you do? Is it usual to have 2 celebrations - eg the party and then a get-together at home for family etc?? Even mixing family and godparents seems a bit artificial given that godparents are our friends rather than anything to do with our (small) families

my ds is 3 in a few months and im thinking of doing a party at home. It will be a few friends he likes to play with their parents my db's and my parents. I cant count on ds' paternal family being included as 2 or them havent seen ds since his last birthday which was only for a few hours and others a lot longer. Ds's godparents are his auntie and uncles so i dont have that to worry about. Friends of mine will probably pop in at some point

so far we've been doing a soft play party (or similar) with dd's little friends and cousins which normally runs say 12ish til 2ish. then we go back to our house and do a tea party buffet type do for family for around 4pm. those family are welcome to come to the play gym too, but mostly it's a bit boring for grandparents so they just come to the house around 3ish. works quite well so far.

we do them all separately I'm afraid

one party for dd's friends (and their mums) and her cousin (so SIL & BIL too). Hats, cake, candles, bubble machine running round garden screaming. If presents are given none are opened else dd is sick with excitement.

then each set of grandparents comes for tea/lunch another day and we do the presents but no cake / hats etc

if she had godparents and they had kids I'd invite them to the former; if not I'd invite them separately.

mostly this is due to the fact that both sets of PIL are awkward with each other and I don't think it's fair to inflict them on our (or dd's) friends. Ruddynorah's plan sounds good though.

Yes, it can be a pain. On one or two birthdays I have catered for three separate parties and just finished up frazzled and grumpy.
Now I'm older and lazier I try to avoid that by having bigger parties (pool, discos etc) that adults can tag along to. Or if we do have a couple of separate get-togethers, I just try to keep things more simple and low-key so the birthday doesn't turn in to a ridiculous extravaganza lasting a fortnight!

we tend to do separate parties (or gatherings). The DSs usually have a party at home for their school friends and I quite often do a Sunday afternoon cake and wine type thing for the grandparents/godparents etc.

DS2's birthday is Bank holiday weekend so usually do a BBQ or something like that - on Sat we are going to a fireworks and concert thing with my Mum , sister and DS2's godmother.

I think it works ok like that - the chldren wouldn't want the rellies at their school friends' party (nor would rellies want to come ) and it's a good excuse to have a glass of wine and some cake on a Sunday afternoon