Party Planning for Birthday in December

Planning a birthday party for December is soooo hard. Zach's birthday is Dec 12th. He will be 9 years old this year-I can't believe it! You never know what kind of weather you will get in December in Mississippi. You might get storms and tornados,snow and ice, rain and gloom-you just never know. I remember some years where I've been able to wear shorts and flip flops in December. Every year I say we're going to have a big celebration in the middle of summer for his birthday-but for a kid that's just not the same as a party on your birthday. Not to mention that there aren't many fun places for kid birthday parties in our town. We've done McDonald's twice---had a few parties at our house. Last year we had a bowling themed birthday party. There's an arcade type game place but the party rooms are small and it's not that private. There's a roller skating place a few blocks from our house but again,the party rooms are small and it's not private and the noise-let's just say overwheming! The closest kid party places like Chuck-E-Cheese and a "bouncy house" party place are like over an hour's drive-that's not fair to ask everyone to drive that far for pizza,cake,and ice cream,you know. I try to find a way to have his parties away from the house,so I don't have to stress about having a spotless house on top of the normal "hostess" stresses. And it's 2 weeks before Christmas! Every year I say I'm not going to stress about anything. This year I think I'm in the right frame of mind to actually keep that promise to myself. I've learned to just not care about certain things. I'm thinking about doing a small party for kid friends somewhere around town and then maybe having a small party with grandparents at our house. Can't go wrong with two parties,right?