WE planned to mark our daughter’s second birthday with a special celebration.

But, as busy parents who both have full-time jobs, we didn’t want to arrange anything which involved too much work on our part.

So, instead of having a family party at home as we did last year for Natasha’s first birthday – when I remember lots of time spent making sandwiches, jellies and cakes – we decided to book a meal out.

An obvious choice of venue for us was Pizza Hut. We have been there a few times with Natasha and she has always loved it – especially when she is given a balloon which she pronounces very enthusiastically as balloo.

Pizza Hut is about as child-friendly as you can get. As soon as customers arrive any children are provided with a colouring book to keep and crayons. They also get a chef’s hat which can be coloured in as well.

We accept the food is probably not the healthiest available, but Natasha’s diet includes plenty of fruit and vegetables which she adores so we don’t see why she shouldn’t have a pizza and ice-cream treat every so often, especially on her birthday.

There are two Pizza Huts in Huddersfield. One is on John William Street – where we sometimes call in during a shopping trip in the town centre – and the other is just off Leeds Road close to the Odeon cinema where parking is free.

We chose the latter on this occasion, partly due to the free parking and also because it is slightly larger.

Eleven close family members were in our group including grandparents, an aunt and three young cousins all wanting to join in the party spirit.

The restaurant is light, airy and spacious with a mixture of long and round tables and also special booths for larger parties.

We were on a long table to the left of the room which is a good place to be because it is sheltered from the draught as people open the door to go in and out of the building.

Choosing what we are going to eat has never taken very long since Natasha’s arrival because we have to decide on something she can share.

We have always gone for the Hawaiian pizza, which is ham and pineapple (£11.49 for a large which fed three people in our party). It’s slightly more exciting than the Margherita (£9.49 for a large) – mozzarella cheese with sun-ripened tomato sauce – but isn’t spicy like the Pepperoni Feast (£13.49) which was our favourite in pre-Natasha days.

We go for the thin and crispy Italian base, but you can opt for the thicker Pan style or pay £1.99 extra for a Stuffed Crust or Cheesy Bites.

Our companions went for the Margherita and Chicken Supreme pizzas and the healthiest member of our group opted for the chicken Caesar salad (£6.99).

We shared three portions of garlic bread (£1.99), and two of us also had a salad bowl (£3.99) which you can fill yourself from a special buffet.

Most of us had a dessert. Natasha and her young cousins had the child’s version of Ice Cream Factory (£1.69). They were each given a bowl which they were then able to fill with ice-cream themselves. It’s very popular with children because the ice-cream can be topped with chocolate, strawberry, lemon or caramel sauces and tiny marshmallows, Smarties and chocolate raisins.

Husband Peter and I shared a Hot Cookie Dough Dessert which features a chocolate chip cookie dough topped with a large dollop of ice-cream drizzled with chocolate sauce (£4.89). It really is hot chocolate heaven.

Others chose the chocolate fudge cake (£3.49), profiteroles (£2.99) and mini chocolate cheesecake (£1.49).

Natasha had her own drink brought from home in her special toddlers’ cup but we ordered Pepsi Max (£1.99), and unlimited refills are offered. There are also children’s versions of these in cardboard cups with straws and plastic tops to avoid spills (£1.39). Pizza Hut really do think of everything!

To round off the meal we had provided our own birthday cake, complete with candles, which the Pizza Hut staff brought to our table accompanied by Happy Birthday music and dimmed lights.

Our guests were a mixture of adults and children, but for parties with mainly children there is a special price per child of £5.99 for a birthday party and £6.99 per child for a Make Your Own Pizza Party.

Everyone had a wonderful time at our event, particularly Natasha who loves to be the centre of attention, and also Peter and myself because we could sit back and relax like everyone else and there was no washing up for us to do afterwards.