A first birthday to remember

This may seem a little premature, but we're starting to think about Ethan's first birthday party as it lands on the first Bank Holiday Monday in May and if we want to book somewhere, we'll probably need to do so fast.

As we're the first of our friends to have had a baby, I haven't been to many children's birthday parties before and there will probably only be a few children there (friends he makes at nursery) as we don't know many people with children. 

I guess some of the practical things are obvious; try to plan activities to keep the babies entertained but be aware they'll only have short attention spans, provide baby friendly food (but not too much) and food for adults (who'll eat more than you think) and be sure to make up a party bag for any of Ethan's friends who attend. Oh, and get a kick ass cake!

Source

The only thing is, I have no idea what to do for him. In four months, he may be crawling/starting to walk, but I'm guessing his mobility will still be limited so it'll be too early for any big soft play centres or bouncy castles and the kind. I don't think our house is really big enough to have a lot of people around, particularly if there's little ones playing on the floor. We'd like to invite all our family and friends to come, if they can make it, and just want it to be a celebration of our wonderful little boy.

So, I'm thinking we'd need to go somewhere for a lunch or buffet, where we can either hire a room or have a section cornered off for us. The thing is, I have no ideas where.

I do have ideas, however, for themes. The possibilities are endless! He loves dinosaurs (well, WE love dinosaurs so he has lots of dinosaur related things!) and I quite like the idea of having a fancy dress theme. Nothing too overboard, but perhaps we could have a big box full of dressing up bits and pieces like wigs, hats and props so we can take some fun snaps of everyone being a little bit silly.

As I say, we need to think about where to go so we can get things booked but I don't know where to start.

What did you do for your little one's first birthday? Can you recommend somewhere or do you have a great idea on how to keep everyone entertained?