There's a rule someone came up with to determine how many kids to invite to your child's birthday party: take your kid's age, add one, and that's how many they can invite. So my four year old can invite five kids.

Except that there are five kids on our block alone that he wants to invite. That doesn't include his everyday pals or school friends.

Last year, we had just around 5 kids, and between their parents and other family, probably 20 adults. It was a little chaotic.

We recently went to one of his friend's birthday parties. It was at their home, from 11:00 to 1:00. There were probably 10 kids around the age of 4, plus all their parents. They served a light brunch, played pin the tail on the donkey, served the cake, and we were out. It was all very orderly.

I asked my husband why their birthday party was so calm, while ours were always so rowdy.

"They have an end time," he said. "And they didn't serve alcohol."

(Oh, we don't serve alcohol to the kids, silly. Just the parents.)

We're faced with the additional challenge of having two boys with birthdays one week apart. Do we have a combo family birthday, and then separate friend birthday parties? Luckily, we don't have to worry about that this year. My soon-to-be-one year old only has one friend to invite.

For the four year old, we like the idea of having his party outside of our house. We went to a great party at Bladium recently: pizza, a bouncy castle, organized soccer with some of the teenage coaches, and cake. Then we have to decide: do we invite all the kids from school? (I think he already has.)

What do you all do? Where's your favorite place to have a birthday party?

- Amazing Moms birthday party ideas