The Birthday Dilema

Today is Marco's 10 monthday!  I can't believe he's been with us for so long already, but at the same time I can't imagine my life without him.  He makes my heart swell with every little thing he does.  He's been crawling for a while now, but now he crawls FAST!  He is also cruising around the furniture and taking risks by letting go to move to another piece.  I hold my breath every time.  He is funny, confident and sneaky.  He is ticklish ALL over and thinks it's funny when I pretend to suck his paci or eat his food.  He claps along with any music he hears, even commercials and sings at the top of his lungs!  He waits until I'm busy washing dishes or dealing with morning sickness to be extra mischievous; this is when he likes to unroll the WHOLE roll of toilet paper or pull dishes out of the dishwasher.  I love his little personality and I am so blessed to have him every single day.
As of now, I've just been gushing over how amazing my baby boy is, but that's not the title of this post.  The Birthday Dilema, here it is.
Originally I wanted to go down to Miami and celebrate Cuban/Brazilian style with the family at my dad's pool.  The theme was gonna be "Fun in the Sun, Marco's turning One".  But, unfortunately since Marco's birthday is on Father's Day weekend, the plane tickets are overpriced and not worth it.  Ok, so option 1 is out.
The next thing I thought was to have a pool party here at my apartment complex.  I would invite some of my friends and a few of his baby friends, grill some burgers, have some cupcakes, and go in the pool.  The pool here is great because there's a whole section that's only 6 inches deep.  Perfect for babies!  So, I went to talk to the management to see if I could reserve the pool or the club house- No to both.  Ok, then can I just have a getty and I don't care if other people are around- still No.  Why?!  Because apparently we're only allowed (per our contract) to invite 2 people to the pool... so if we have a party and we take up all the seats, so that there's no place for the residents to sit, that's not fair.  AND if someone complains about it, we'll get PENALIZED for BREAKING the contract!  Isn't that absurd?!
Option 3 was to have it at a park.  Well, I found a cool park that's really shaded with pavilions and baby swings not too far from the house.  The first time I saw the park, I thought it was perfect.  But we've been back a few times, and it's MUCH less than perfect.  In fact, it's really ghetto... like, "I wouldn't go there alone" ghetto.  So, that particular park is out, but I could still find another one... I just don't know if it's too much work than it's worth.
At my apartment complex, there's a nice big grassy field with a fire pit.  Option 4 was to have it at the fire pit, since there are grills out there too.  I was thinking of having a picnic party.  Having all the guests bring a blanket and just making a big blanket space so the babies could crawl around.  I'd buy some balls and other random toys so they could all play, and we'd have some yummy picnic style food.  Amazingly, this is NOT against my contract, so it'd be perfectly acceptable.
The last and final option I can think of, is to just forget having a "party" and just have a little get together at my house with only MY friends and NO babies.  It'd just be a dinner and cake cutting to celebrate quietly.  Simple.
I always originally thought that throwing a birthday party for a one year old was just foolish.  I used to think it was a HUGE waste of money... after all, he's not going to remember it and in essence it's just a backdrop for photos.  But, now that we're getting closer, I am having a change of heart.  I still think it's just for the pictures, but I do want to celebrate!
So, readers, if you have a suggestion, or you think one option sounds better than another, I'd love to hear your input.  I've got 60 days to go!