A children's birthday party used to mean a hectic few hours at home with a horde of kids excitedly running around, playing pass the parcel and singing Happy Birthday.

But these days, it's not so simple. Modern birthday parties take a whole host of guises, ranging from an afternoon at a children's museum or play centre to a day at a theme park.

There's so much choice that many parents think you'd be mad to endure the planning, stress and mess of a party at home. Nevertheless, I chose to be brave this year and host a home-made celebration for my son's fourth birthday.

And while there's no denying that organising it was sometimes stressful, the truth is that it really didn't take that much effort to give him a party to remember.

And, contrary to popular opinion, the house wasn't trashed, nothing was broken and it only took about an hour to clear up when the 15 guests had left after the part.

After getting quotes from children's entertainers, we'd (nervously) chosen not to hire one. The £150 we were quoted for a clown seemed excessive when four-year-olds appear to be happy just playing simple party games.

Of course, not hiring an entertainer meant the onus was on us to provide the fun - a scary prospect that's probably the driving force behind many parents' decision to pay for a professional.

But the reality is keeping little people amused is easy - although I must confess to some hired help in the shape of a bouncy castle in the garden. It was £55 for the day from a local company, and the kids loved it.

For party games - all non-elimination to avoid bored excluded kids - I printed a donkey picture off the internet for pin the tail on the donkey, which went down a storm, as did eating Hula Hoops threaded on a string with their arms behind their backs for the second game.

For the third one, I cheated a little. It was another old favourite, pass the parcel, but the parcel itself was part of a party box from the party tableware supplier Turrets & Tiaras.

As well as the parcel, their Superior Pirates Party Box (from £44.99) contained wonderful matching pirate paper plates, cups, napkins and hats, and plenty of other party goodies including take-home party bags filled with quality gifts.

The party box took a lot of angst out of the organising - and that's just why Turrets & Tiaras was founded by Alison Jones and husband Andrew.

"I was having a birthday party for my daughter and it was very hard to find everything in one go," says Alison.

"The idea is that parents don't have to go to loads of different places to buy things for the party - we make it easier for them."

She adds: "I think parents are holding parties at home more and more - everyone's done parties at play places to death.

"Parents who have their children's party at home will surprise themselves - and have a lot more fun than they'd imagined."

She's right. It definitely wasn't just the kids who had great fun at our party, and the whole experience was much easier than I'd expected.

Nevertheless, now it's all over I can breathe a huge sigh of relief - and now start planning my youngest son's party in September.