Use gummy Lifesavers as candle holders. It adds great color to a cake with white icing. And it stops melting wax from getting on the cake.

MY birthday is monday  Sept 21st, so I really want to win.

I locve theme parties!! And love to get everyone involved.

The Best birthday party ever was my husbands 40th birthday party.  We had a murder mystery party. I purchased Casino Fatale from freeformgames .com . Everyone is a character and has to dress the part- it was an absolute blast. Some of the people had no idea what was going on and some worked reeeeeeeeeeaaally hard to figure out the whodunit.

I was set in Paris, so We decorated using cheap white fabric and sponge painted Eiffel Towers and wine glasses on the material. Then we hung it as awnings and swags allover the living room. The plant shelf was decorated with empty wine bottles filled with colored water.

We bought scene setters that looked like slot machines and posted them all on the walls.

I gave silly awards at the end- French Fluzie Award, Best Dectective, Best at sucking up to others for money etc. 

My  husband will never forget tht night (he got to play a rich playboy that got to pick up all the ladies-lol) - it was a lot of work - but soooo much fun!

We will probably do another one closer to the holidayswith a santa theme.

For kids parties - 1 guest for each age the birthday child is going to be. Old fashioned bdays at home are the best.  Play musical chairs, hot potato, pin the tail on the donkey, so a craft, cake and ice cream . Keep it simple

Great bdauy gift - a block buster gift card . Buy  a box of chocolate and a big tub of popcorn and wrap it all together - the parents and kids like this one.

Great Tween girl present - the spa basket - got o dollar store and buy  bubble bath, lotions, headbands, nail polish and lip glosses, etc.  wrap each with colorful tissue paper and put in a unique basket with a big bow onthe top. I have done this several times with different combos itenms geared to what the girl likes, and they all love it!!

For kids I love to have them do a take home craft like everyone paints a Tee shirt or this year they are each bringing a few pictures to make a take home scrap book they can work on more at home! We have done necklaces and book marks I like to buy the crafts on sale that have 20 to 24 things in a set for like $3.99 this beat giveing everyone a goodie (crap) bag. They make it and take it have fun and and it's something they can remember VS get a cavity from! LOL! 

How old you are is your business how old you look is mine!

For my daughter's first birthday, we bought a small 3D bear pan. And for each birthday I make a cake in the pan for her. The first year it was a bear, the second year we decorated it to look like a bunny (she was into bunnies), and I forsee this year the bear turning into Hello Kitty.

We'll probably do the same thing when our second daughter turns 1 in February :)

In between the skating rink, miniature golf, bowling, pool, and bounce house parties we were forced to use our imaginations.

One of our best kiddie parties included a "treasure" hunt.  We hid clues around the house and outside, formed groups and had them search out all the clues; each one leading to another.  They had a blast following all of those quirky instructions.

Anticipation and beating the other group to the "treasure" was 1/2 the fun.  The big plus......it kept em busy till it was time for cake and icecream.  The treasure pile was split by all the hunters (goody bags).

One year when I was a kid I really wanted to adopt a manatee. So in leui of gifts my mom asked everyone to make a donation to the adoption fund. I loved it! I have seen websites where you can adopt almost any kind of animal now.

I had arranged and paid for a birthday party at a local unnamed ice cream place that was rumored to have cool parties for my son, who was turning 11.  The guy wouldn't tell me the time of the party and gave me invitations that just said to call me where the time was supposed to be listed.  He was supposed to call me the day before the party and tell me what time.  So when people called to find out, I was a little unsure what to tell them, so I told them to call me back after he had called me.  He didn't tell me to write down anyone's name or anything, so I didn't.

Then he called me and asked me how many people were coming (my guess was he just wanted to know how much money he was going to gouge me for!!!!).  I told him I didn't know because people were going to call me back.  He cancelled the party.

My son was heartbroken, and I had no idea what to tell people.  Andretti Thrill Park was a little more expensive, which was hard on my single parent wallet (I had just left my husband).  But they accomodated me right away, and the kids ended up having much more fun than they would have had at the ice cream place.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.