Birthday Party Suggestion

I don't know if you want a place like Chuck E Cheese where they take care of everything, but Kid's Kingdom play area in Madison is really fun for kids 2-3. If you aren't having a lot of kids, you might check out there. When I took my 3yr old to chuck e cheese, all she wanted to do was go on the slide anyway. she was not interested in the games at all.

If you are looking to have a party at your home, get two of those little mowers from the dollar store that blow the bubbles out as you push them around the yard and make your own bubble stuff. (it's easy: 2 1/2 quarts of water, 1/2 cup light corn syrup, and 1 cup liquid dawn (or whatever dish soap you use so long as you don't use dishwasher liquid) ) You will have an endless supply of bubbles and the children will run around playing in the back yard instead of spilling kool-aid on the carpet. Add cake and Ice Cream, let your little one open presents (if that is how you traditionally celebrate) and the party will be over shortly. (if you can't find the bubble mowers, a dollars worth of plastic straws are just as good bubble blowers as any bubble stuff wand. You just have to make sure the little ones only dip the straws instead of trying to drink the bubble stuff.)
If that is not what you were looking for I have a whole book of little projects for children of all ages that help in a bind.
Let me know

A.

Are you planning to have many other same-age children there or mainly adult friends and family?

You may want to look into the children's museum to see what they've got available.

Not sure how much you plan to spend or what type of party you envision, but if it's nice weather, the local parks are sometimes just as good if not better than Chucky Cheese.

Have you ever been to kids space on Airport road. We took our 3 kids and my friend took her 3 kids and we had a blast. Our children are ages 1-6 and everyone but the 1 yr old (b'day was apr 2). But our 2 yr old loved it. It is outside. Only one entrance/exit. Tall gate, picnic tables. We had a blast!

Sci-Quest is a fun place. It's hands-on science for kids. They also have am IMAX theater. http://www.sci-quest.org/home/

Kids Kingdom in Madison is great park to have a birthday party. http://www.madisonrecreation.org/kk/

A girlfriend just had two events for her two year old that were fun. The best was renting a moonbounce for the backyard (if you have one). The little kid moonbounce rents for $75-175 around here. The rental company puts it up and takes it down. (And yes, it was ok for us adults to use it too!!)

The second thing she did was rent out a church play room. Her church had a ball pit and she got pizza for the kids. I don't know if any of the churches have anything like that around here, but I know they probably have a gym big enough to rent a ball pit or moonbounce. Good luck!