I have two daughters who have many acquaintances/friends since they attend different schools and because we participate in varying activities. Both of their birthdays are in August so we decided on a joint party for their 2nd and 4th birthdays (in the past we have only had family). We did not want to exclude any child that we knew as we know that this can be hurtful, so we invited everybody. Also, I think that if I asked a 4 year old who to invite she may only request children that might be more outgoing, etc and forget the shy children (which she herself can be). The two year would not have a clue who to invite! Now that we had so many kids that we wanted to include we needed to come up with something that everyone will enjoy and that was still not 'over the top'.  We wanted an 'old fashioned' birthday party. We live in a very small town (about 7 blocks long and 3 blocks wide) and so we decided on a simple parade through town since we live in the town.  Our invitations asked that everyone come for cake and ice cream and that they bring their wagons for a parade.  The party did have a moon bounce (that was their birthday gift from us) and we had a friend painting faces, but the biggest focus was on decorating the wagons and bicyles and strollers with the balloons and streamers that we provided.  We did parade through town marching straight on through a few small rain showers.  Both kids and parents alike werehaving a good time.  I had several adults, especialy men, come up to me and tell me how much fun the parade was and how much they loved a parade as a child and this was truly special.  August is coming up soon and we are gearing up for our 2nd annual 'Parade Through Middleburg'.  I espcially liked this party because we included everybody and I think that is an important lesson for my girls. (I had a few mothers come up and thank me for including their child-usually a shy one.) We did not offer goodie bags for the kids and I hoped that the kids and parents felt that the decorating of their wagons was enough. I do confess that the girls received many gifts, but we did not open them at the party and when we did we discussed each child that gave them the gift and what we liked about him or her, etc. I considered having a 'no gifts' policy but if I were to receive an invitation that says this it would bother me some as we want to give this child something from us that we picked out especially for him or her.  Also, it is another good lesson for my girls to know that gving is just as fun as getting (which it truly is!).  I even considered asking that guests bring a donation for a specified charity or a book for a local school, but this could cause some issues as it may seem as if we take issue with gift giving all together and are trying to out do others on another level, if you will.  We will probably do this, however, when the girls are older and they can select a charity and be truly involved in making this decision and the charity.  I think the lesson impact would be stronger and more appropriate.