Unlike childhood birthday parties of yesteryear, which revolved around a birthday cake and a small gathering of mostly family and a friend or two, today's parties require a bit more. Generally, all of your child's acquaintances from school are invited to the party, which should at the very least have a theme if not an exotic locale. What is a parent to do when faced with the monolithic task of planning the party of the century for their toddler, without the time or even energy to begin thinking about doing so? Fear not, Austin offers plenty of kiddie-party options.

If your kid is under the age of 10, Kiddie Acres makes a fun spot for birthday celebrating. Located on Howard Lane in Northern Austin, Kiddie Acres is a small amusement park with only age appropriate rides, all seemingly vintage and well maintained and colorful. The park includes a mini ferris wheel, boats, planes, cars, a carousel, a train, as well as a real pony ride. They sell packages of tickets that you can dispense to your guests and provide large picnic tables where you can set up the cake and lemonade.

If your party occurs in the heat of the summer, you could consider some of the excellent indoor options. Pump It Up, located in central Austin, boasts a wide variety of inflatables. Kids are ushered from room to room to try out all of the offerings before returning to a party room you can serve the requisite pizza and cake.

In the same vein, Inflatable Wonderland in Lakeline Mall provides a smaller scale selection of inflatables. While the party is less intimate, the space provides discounts during the week for the budget conscious as well as inflatables appropriate for kids under 3. Picnic tables are available to accomdate cake serving and present collection.

The Austin Park and Pizza also rents out private rooms for parties. Your room overlooks the arcade area, and included with the package are armbands for your guests that give them access to their arcade, laser tag, and outdoor attractions, including bumper boats, a teacup ride, and miniature golf. Guests can also help themselves to all-you-can eat pizza, salad, and dessert.

For a less pizza intensive gathering, RadiJazz Playnasium in the Lincoln Village Shopping Center is a good choice. The indoor playscape features a riverscape, volcano, lavascape, and a lounge area where you can prepare your party and later enjoy cake.

If you prefer a more active birthday, the Crenshaw Athletic Club on Fairview Drive can be rented for several hours, with facilitators leading children through age appropriate activities in the gym, such as an obstacle course, trampolines, swinging on ropes across a pool filled with balls, and other similar activities. A small cottage can be used to host the cake eating and includes bathrooms and a small jungle gym outdoors. There is even a handy tree for stringing up the ubiquitous piñata.

If you are willing to go a bit further afield, the Little Buckaroo Ranch, located about 30 minutes outside of Austin on Hamilton Pool Road, offers a variety of party themes, pony riding, painting a pony, barnyard buddies, and a square dance party. Party participants can ride miniature ponies, pet farm animals, and then dig into cake. The ranch chuckwagon offers hot dogs, chips, punch and bottled water.

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Although Austin's weather can make Christmas seem like the 4th of July, a sure-fire way to get into the spirit is to visit the annual Trail of Lights Festival. A holiday tradition for decades, this dazzling display of holiday decorations and lights is mounted in Zilker Park in Austin Texas every December, draws thousands of visitors, and along with the lighting of the tree at the State Capitol, is one of Austin's most beloved holiday customs.

The tradition dates back to 1965, when Yule Fest, as it was then called, debuted with a candlelight walk, a live nativity scene, Yule Log, and the first lighting display created for the event. This original display, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," has been a highlight of every festival since the very first one. Two years later, the now-famous Zilker Tree made its debut. Touted as the largest man-made tree in the world, it is 155 feet tall, and 180 feet in diameter, with almost 3,500 bulbs hung on streamers strung from Austin's historical Moonlight Tower. The lighting of this tree on the first Sunday in December has marked the beginning of the holiday season since 1967, and since 1987, the winner of a children’s tree-coloring contest has done the honors.

The festival has continued to grow and expand, and in 1992 was renamed The Trail of Lights. Today, the Trail of Lights is over a mile long, and features over 40 elaborate scenes constructed of lights. Santa's House allows children to take pictures with Santa, but if the line is too long, they can "mail" him a wish list at the pretend Post Office. Holiday and winter themes abound, and the spectacular displays include, penguins, Mother Goose, and the King of Winter. Entertainment stages, refreshment stands, and bonfires lend to the air of festivity.

A unique tradition takes place on the Saturday following the lighting of the Zilker Tree. The Trail of Lights 5K Run allows entrants to preview the displays, on a 3.2 mile run that starts under the Zilker Tree, winds through the south side of Zilker Park, goes through the Trail of Lights and finish back at the Zilker Tree. Only registered participants are allowed access to the Trail for this event, and they also received a coveted tee-shirt commemorating the experience.

Entertainment is scheduled throughout all the days of the Trail of Lights festival, and provides family-friendly holiday enjoyment for all. A wide variety of local talent is featured, including dancers, musicians, storytellers, choirs, comedians, and theatre troupes.

This is one of Austin's premier all-ages activity, where you will find teenagers, kids, toddlers in strollers and babies in slings enjoying the glittering displays along with adults of all ages. Because it is so popular, the crowds can get large, but the holiday cheer in the air encourages courtesy and a real feeling of community. The festival is free and open to the public from 7 to 10 p.m. – check the website for specific dates, an entertainment schedule, and parking information.

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Austin families are lucky indeed to have a facility such as the Austin Children’s Museum. With 7,000 square feet of interactive and educational permanent exhibits, inventive traveling features, story-times and public events, this museum serves as a hub of Austin’s family community. Upon entering, kids are delighted to board a scaled down Austin Metro bus. Sitting in the driver’s seat or holding a strap in the passenger section, this exhibit is cleverly planned to distract the kiddos as the adult pays admission and learns about the day’s events. Other permanent exhibits include the dairy cow, an oversized milk-cow statue with a looping video about dairy farming, with a doll-house sized barn and toy cows to play with. The Rising Star Ranch provides a wonderfully varied sensory experience especially designed for the under-two set, while the Tinkerer’s Workshop allows older kids to experience creating their own structures by inventing, designing, building and testing their ideas. This being Austin, music is emphasized in the amazing Austin Kiddie Limits. Fun for all ages (including adults), this room is a kid-oriented interactive version of the acclaimed live music television show Austin City Limits. With toy instruments, cowboy hats and other costume pieces, a stage and a video monitor, kids can play along with their favorite Austin musicians including Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Miss Lavelle White, Asleep at the Wheel, Kelly Willis, Flaco Jimenez, and Toni Price. The best part is that the kids can see themselves on the video monitor, making it a real rock-star experience. Their program offerings include something for every age group. Baby Bloomers is a weekly opportunity for kids under three to explore the entire facility with only toddlers and their caregivers in the museum. Discovery Time offers daily, hands-on activities that enhance the permanent and changing exhibits. Storytime, held in their large foyer, is offered for different age groups, and often includes music making, bubble blowing, and other interactive elements. Gallery programs include the popular Wednesday Community Night, featuring different performances, storytelling, music and activities, and Science Sundays, featuring hands-on activities led by real honest-to-goodness scientists. Checkout the Childbloom guitar program for a cacophonous and hilarious take on combining story telling with accompaniment by the kids, or the Austin Keyboard Orchestra program to learn how to build and play an instrument. Located in downtown Austin the Austin Children’s Museum is centrally located for people in different areas of the city. It is also located close to other Austin attractions like Zilker Park the famed bat bridge so that visitors can see a number of fun Austin attractions in an afternoon. The Austin Children’s Museum offers camps during the summer and spring break, for ages 4 to 10. They offer seasonal programs including the popular Gingerbread House workshop in December. The facilities are available for birthday (and other kids of) parties, including sleep-over parties. Special events can also be held on the premises. With a stated goal to help Austin’s kids and families become more creative, more inventive, and more competent, the Austin Children’s museum combines fun and education in a world-class facility. Ki lives in Austin and enjoys the local music scene. He works as a realtor in the Austin real estate market. He also regularly writes on his blog about updates on Austin Texas real estate. His site features a graphical search of the Ausin MLS.

One of the challenges we faced as new parents was what to do on those nights when you just need to go out and grab a quick bite – no time to plan for a sitter or make reservations. Nothing in the fridge, too tired to slice and dice, or an all too common scenario in our household: “Wait, I thought YOU were doing dinner tonight!?” When our child was a baby, this was fairly easy – pop him in the car seat, pop him into a high chair, and keep the zwieback coming. As he got older, it got harder. We of course insist on good manners, but what three and half year old (or four, five or six, for that matter) can sit perfectly still and quiet, even with crayons and a funny menu?

Lots of them you say? Good on ya! Not ours! To preserve the family dining night out tradition, we learned quickly that a place with a playscape could accommodate our need for dinner out with a three year old’s need to get his ya-ya’s out. Austinites are particularly lucky in this regard, because so much of the year is outdoor weather for us, and so many great places for family dining are out there. Here are our current favorite places to eat that have playscapes.

Southpark Meadows: I had, shall we say, “issues” with finding good food and play in a shopping center, but this place rocks. The playscapes are HUGE and inventive – woven through enormous shade trees, with slides galores. There is a fantastic little area where water shoots up from the ground – so perfect for letting the little guys cool off. They even have live music outside, periodically. The best part, though, is that the playground is in the center of a bunch of GREAT restaurants, most of which have patio dining so you can watch them play while you linger over your food. Mama Fu’s does great pan-asian good, Austin Java is perfect for lunch or brunch, Waterloo Ice House will fill your burger needs, and at Jason’s deli you can even get a box lunch and sit on a bench under the trees. I35 and Slaughter, across from Supertarget

Freddie’s Place: Freddie’s makes one of the greatest burgers in town, and its outdoor area is right next to a babbling brook, under big oak trees. Their playscape isn’t huge, but they have around 5 picnic tables right next to it, all with great sightlines to the stage, so you can integrate your meal, play and music. The atmosphere is South Austin cool, and the food is terrific, and although parking can be an issue, it is worth it to get their early and let the kids play while you and your friends (or spouse, unless , as in my case, he’s on the stage) catch up on adult talk. 1703 S 1st St Austin, TX 78704 (512) 445-9197

Patsy’s Cowgirl Café: Patsy’s playscape is outside of the dining area, but it is still a great help in burning off steam. Sometimes we get a drink and hang out while he plays and slides and runs around with the other kids that are bound to be there. The décor inside is really fun, and since we are usually there to see a band, we can usually work it to where he starts winding down and wanting dinner as the music starts. 5001 E. Ben White Boulevard, Austin TX 78741.

If you go out to eat and bring the some children along it always nice to have a place for the kids to run around. This article details which restaurants in Austin provide playscapes for the kids.

Ki runs a site focused on Austin real estate which has a search of the Austin MLS along with a Austin related updates on his Austin real estate blog.