Joint birthday ideas?

My younger son will be 2 on 12 March and my older one 4 on 11 April. While they are younger and not bothered, we intend to have joint birthday parties for them. I think we will lean towards having it in late March or early April in hopes of warmer weather (she says as the next snow storm lurks - waiting to pounce). 

I know I want to make some cupcakes from either here:

http://www.hellocupcakebook.com/ (I have the book)

or here: http://www.bakerella.com/

But beyond that I have no ideas about what to do. They are both Cars fans and they also love trains. Any ideas or web site or anything to recommend. My life is a little complicated these days but I really don't want to slack on the boys' birthdays.

I've been thinking about this since yesterday and I still can't come up with an idea.

My brother was born a week before my birthday, so we always had a shared birthday as kids. Because it was late June/early July it was always outside and nothing specifically was planned, it was just everyone coming around, eating food and cake and giving us gifts. We would always get our own cakes, though.

My friend just did an Igloo party for her little boy whose birthday is in January. They set up a big tent, put carpets down to keep bums warm and  decorated the inside to look like an igloo. So everyone was in their coats (because it was obviously really cold) but the kids all loved it. They thought it was an adventure. They were all given warm things to eat and drink.

I do joint Birthday parties with my friends every year, we are about 20 girls, all with kids, and I do not want to go to 20 parties in a 3 month period!

We usually rent a local church hall, and use their playgroup toys. We had a party for Noah and his friend Harry about two weeks ago and we rented a bouncy castle, and for food all we did was Pizza, crisps, veggies & Hummus and cups of ice cream. It was easy! We usually get one big cake, but this year the boys wanted their own cakes, so Harry had Spongebob and Noah had Lightning McQueen. We DID NOT do party bags, as they are a palaver and IMO the kids didn't miss them as long as they got cake to take home.

If the weather is nice, I would have the party at a facility so you don't have to do any work. Unfortunately for me, I have a January baby and am now having a March baby!!! Never again!!! Good luck!!!

I dont have children, but I was an event planner in my past life in America and take this as a challenge!    First things first: Are you planning to host the party at your home?  Or are you looking for a venue suggestion?

My son's birthday is coming up too and I've been digging around for ideas. I came across this blog that has some really cute ideas....http://partyperfectblog.blogspot.com

I particularly like the construction theme...http://partyperfectblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/dig-in-dirta-construction-party.html

I like that most of the 'themes' are really simple and can be recreated with things that are easily found.

One thing my mother always did for us when I was growing up was a treasure hunt. Along the way you would gather the items that nowadays you find in the gift bags kids get at the end of the party. The last clue always led you to where the cake was hidden, and then we'd do the lighting and blowing out the candles and eating bit.

My mom's most memorable cake was a circus theme for my little sister. Mom made the construction paper big-top herself, along with little clowns etc. She lit the candles and after about 5 seconds the big-top caught on fire and there was much excitement to say the least.

When my own were little I tried to re-create the treasure hunt thing. I used to write a rhyme of some sort and there was a picture of some place in the house they would recognize (I normally drew it for a laugh but I'm sure a photo could be easier) and that was where the next 'clue' was hidden. The hunt ended with them finding the cake/treasure and even if it only lasted a few minutes the kids seemed to be really excited just running from one point to the next and giggling over the bad drawings and silly poems. It wasn't a competition, and I just made the hiding places suit their ages. It also wore them out, which can be a bonus.

http://shimandsons.typepad.com/ (ftp://http://shimandsons.typepad.com/)

She has some great ideas through her blog for birthday ideas.  I love the robot valentines she just did and can see those working as party bags. 

I baked sugar cookies and decorated them with their names for my daughter's party bags. Added stickers, make your own card kit and a few other sweets. 

I know my mom (long time teacher/ mother/ grandmother) recommends having the number of guests as the child's age plus one.

Thanks for all the ideas and links everyone!

I'm going to have a look at them all and think some more. Thinking is just a little hard these days!

I should point out that my almost 4 year old has a language comprehension delay... so I can't let the games get to complex for him. He'll just be buzzing so much off the excitement anyway!

I dont have children, but I was an event planner in my past life in America and take this as a challenge!    First things first: Are you planning to host the party at your home?  Or are you looking for a venue suggestion?

I think we'll host it here. Our indoor space is pretty good - open plan LR/DR and sunroom. Plus, on the off chance the weather is good, we have a huge backyard. Right now I'm thinking 20 March or 3 April as potential dates.