K's birthday party

The boys' birthdays are coming up! Happily, X won't need a birthday to-do this year or next year. But K is excited for a party with his friends.

Last year we did his birthday at the indoor playspace near our house. It was a little pricey, but super-easy -- I had pizza delivered and picked up an ice cream cake, snacks, and candles at the supermarket, stopped by Target for some goody bag stuff, and we were done. I went into labor two days later, so the ease more than justified the price.

This year, I'm tempted to do another out-of-the-house party. Since it's March, it has to be indoors. K generally doesn't like any kind of structured activity or art, so that rules out most party venues. He likes to run around and play video games. There's a nicer indoor playspace we could go to that charges the same amount, so that's an option. He loves Lanes and Games, a bowling alley with an arcade, but I feel like it would be repeating the party we just went to for another little girl in his class. The logical, and less expensive, choice would be a party at home, I guess. But the thought of having all those little kids in our house...

I guess we could make it work. K has asked for a "Megaman, Mario, Robot and Donkey Kong party," which may be challenging for decoration, but we can have some fun with it. We can have the kids decorate their own cupcakes, or maybe even have them decorate a "Mario castle" (essentially a gingerbread house -- I may still be able to pick up a kit on sale, and save it until the party). We can set up toy stations, and a craft station where kids could make robot heads out of cardboard boxes, tinfoil, and pipe cleaners. Maybe we could even have an obstacle course in the living room. We can still keep the refreshments simple -- pizza, snacks, cupcakes. We can give out fake mustaches and antennae as party favors. This could work. I'll need to set a ground rule in advance of no actual video games at the party, though -- I can see all the kids fighting over who gets to play, or staring at the TV instead of playing with each other, and other parents may be more screentime-averse than we are. (We do have some fun Wii games for kids, though -- how funny would it be to see a bunch of 4 and 5-year olds playing Rock Band?)                                               

We're going to a party at one of K's friend's houses this weekend. I will monitor the situation and make a decision.