Well, speaking as a Mom who had a daughter with an eighth birthday in June . . . .

Water parks are great, unless you have cold weather, or someone who's afraid of water.

Chuck E. Cheese is nice, but usually requires Advils post-party.

Roller skating, inevitably, involves injury in groups of eight year olds.

Inflatables in the back yard are fun, but defeat the purpose of moving the entire party mess AWAY from the house. You still have cake, loot bag, and clean-up duty.

Bowling, to me, is the best option. It's self-contained, requires no special skills for those party goers who have no coordination, fun, and noisy (but within tolerable levels).

As well, you can have cake and loot bags prepared and ready there, eliminating the mess. You come home to a house free from party detritus (almost a birthday party for you)!

I actually booked the local bowling alley, but they had a water leak and we had to default to McDonalds. It was fine - kids are so hyped to be at a party, I'm not sure they really cared where we were.

te "and always TAKE THE LITTLE ONES HOME YOURSELF!!" ach