The key to a good themed party is to be consistent from beginning to end. Start by finding or making invitations that incorporate your theme and then go from there! I find that once I commit to the invitation, I just keep getting more and more ideas. Having a theme actually makes planning easier, trust me. It helps you when shopping for the decorations, food, activities and favors - if it's not part of the theme, then move on.

Here are some ideas for themes: I listed out my top ten theme ideas with detailed descriptions below with my suggestions for invitations, food, decorations, activities and favors.

1. Barnyard/Farm Animals

2. Ice Cream/Build Your Own Sundae Party (can be incorporated into a 1950s party)

3. Water Fun/Under the Sea

4. Train

5. Mardi Gras

6. Backyard Carnival

7. Princess (you can do a Princess/Knight party for a combo son/daughter party)

8. Pirate (you can do Pirate/Mermaid if you are doing a combo son/daughter party)

9. Super Hero

10. On Location: The easiest party of all! Ideas: the zoo, ice skating, ice cream shop, puppet theatre, The Little Gym, gymnastics or dance studio, Pump It Up or other indoor inflatable place, Build-a-Bear, Michael's, Paint-Your-Own-Pottery, movie theater, train park, indoor swimming

Barnyard/Farm

1. Invitations: You can go fancy and order pre-printed barn themed invitations or check target, etc. for generic barnyard themed invites that you can fill in or print at home, or just get colored paper and stamps or stickers.

2. Hire a petting zoo to come to your house. I spent about $150 to have them come for about an hour or so. We set up in the front yard (small animals, goats, bunnies, ducks, etc.)

3. Hand out cowboy hats and bandanas (Oriental Trading Company) as guests arrive

4. Food: hamburgers, hots dogs, beans, corn, for the kids put chex mix in little cups and call it "chicken feed"

5. Cake: and have local grocery store whip up a cake with green "grass." Then create a farm by decorating it with cheap plastic animals and little fences, add a chocolate mud puddle for the pigs, a vegetable garden with little icing tubes and rice crispy treat "hay" bales.

6. Decorations: red/white checkered tableclothes & animal/farm plates (can find at a party store). For centerpieces, glue fake vegetables and little plastic animals to small bales of hay. Get bunches of white helium balloons and then draw in cow print with a black sharpie.

7. Favors: Decorate small metal tins with barnyard stickers (you can write each childs name in puffy paint). Then fill them with goodies from Oriental Trading Company like flatable barnyard animals & little toys.

Ice Cream/Sundae Party

1. Invitations: make them to look like ice cream cones out of construction paper. I had a friend who called hers a BYOB party (bring your own banana).

2. Decorations/Favors: Pastel balloon bunches tied to clear malt glasses filled with candy as centerpieces, make ice cream cones out of construction paper and hang up, pastel streamers. Make a sign to look like a vintage ice cream shop menu and list all your ice cream flavors and toppings. They have cute ice cream bowls at oriental trading, plus tons of cute favors. Or you can check out your local party store for clear ice cream or dessert bowls (the kind with a little footed base). If you are going for the 1950s theme, you can also hang records around and make a record bowl in your oven. It's so easy! Just put it over a bowl on low heat until is starts to soften. Then take it out and shape into a bowl and let harden. SEE PHOTO BELOW. Line with tissue paper and fill with candy. Party stores have tons of 50s decorations and cut outs.

3. Food: If it's an afternoon party, just some snacks and the ice cream sundae bar. It's nice to keep the ice cream in iced down bowls or buckets so it doesn't get to melty. They key here is to have an assortment of toppings: gummy worms, chocolate chips, sprinkles, fresh fruit like cherries and strawberries, m & ms, whip cream and sauces. I had a friend who called her party "BYOB" (bring your own banana) -which was really cute. If it's a lunch or dinner party or 50s theme, serve diner food like hot dogs and hamburgers.

4. Activities: Pin the cherry on the scoop (made on posterboard), ice cream ornament craft from Oriental Trading. Decorate paper soda jerk hats

Water fun/Under the Sea

1. Invitations: Write info on a deflated beach ball - hand out to friends or send in padded envelopes. Or - take a cute photo of your child in a pool or in the water, use a webstie like Walgreens.com to print postcards with the party info on the back. Or find some kind of beach/water related generic paper to print on.

2. Activities: If you don't have a pool, consider renting a water slide (for older kids) or for smaller children, purchase or borrow a few baby pools. Slip and slide are always fun too! Another idea is to turn on the sprinklers or buy a fun attachment for your hose.

3. Favors: Beach buckets filled with deflated beach balls, bubbles and sea creatures.

4. Cake: Finding Nemo/Ariel store bought cake, or create an under the sea cake by putting little toys on a blue cake. OR - make a sand castle cake! Have your bakery (or bake your own) round cake and get it unfrosted, Crush up graham crackers into crumbs, then frost ie cream cones and cover them with the crumbs. After you frost the cake, cover the sides with small graham crackers and cover the top with crumbs, place the cones at "corner" and fill with jelly beans.

5. Food: Simple food like sandwiches and some cubed fruit (watermelon in particular, maybe even fruit kabobs). For a fun cool treat - have ice cold popsicles on hand! Fill iced tubs or small inflatable pools with ice and have lots of cold drinks and water.

Train

If there is a local train park in your area - this is a wonderful place to have a party! You can get everyone train conductor hats from Oriental Trading and write everyone's names on them. SEE PHOTO BELOW. They also have bandanas and wooden train whistles for favors too. Then just purchase everyone tickets to ride the train for the activity. A simple lunch buffet is good (sandwiches, chips, fruit) is easy at a park. If your budget will allow (and the park) rent an inflatable jumpy (we even found one in the shape of a train).

At home you can decorate with train toys - get out the train track and set it to go around the cake on a table. There is tons of Thomas party stuff at Oriental Trading (or at your local party store). Give everyone a hat, bandana at the beginning of the party, so they can get in the mood right away (give the whistles out at the end as party favors).

For the cake, you can go with a Thomas the Train cake from your local supermarket, or bake your own train cupcakes (in a pan with individual trains), or purchase store bought cupcakes and put on train toppers (available at cake decorating stores)

Mardi Gras

1. Invitations: Draw (or copy from internet) a simple mask. Type your invite wording within the parameters of the mask (this can be tricky) then copy and paste it on a document and print of purple cardstock paper. Place your mask over and trace with a penicl, then cut out your masks. Glue sparkly trim (I used glittery pipe cleaners) around the edge and decorate with sparkle paint pens, etc. Hot glue feathers to the side. SEE PHOTO BELOW

2. Decorations: Lots of gold, green and purple balloons and crepe paper. They have lots of great stuff at Oriental Trading like jester cutouts, happy/sad faces, etc. SEE PHOTO BELOW

3. Music: Download New Orleans jazz/ Mardi Gras music and set up an upbeat playlist for the paryt.

4. Food: Cajun! Check out local caterers or cajun restaurants (or make yourself if you are ambitious) that serve jerk chicken, dirty rice, jumbalaya, etc. For dessert, you have to serve a king cake or king cupcakes (put a plastic baby inside some of them and hand out prizes to the lucky guests who get one). You can also rent a non-alcholic hurricane machine (plus order plastic hurricane glasses from Oriental Trading).

5. Activities: Collect shoe boxes and a random assortment of items (little toys, cars, feathers, jewels, etc) and make mini floats. SEE PHOTO BELOW. Have a contest and give a prize for the most creative. Decorate masks. Create or rent carnival games. You can order a ton of beads from Oriental Trading and give them out as prizes, the top bead earner can also win a prize.

Backyard Carnival

Decorate with tons of colorful balloons and streamers. Create or rent carnival games (like tossing a ball in a bucket, and balloon darts) and give out cheap, simple prizes. You can order a carnival photo cut out or create one (with holes where you put your head) and toss whip cream "pies" at the faces. There are also many place where you can rent rides also!

Princess/Pirate/Mermaid/Superhero

Either ask your guests to dress as their favorite Princess/Superhero or supply costumes for them to put on as they arrive. You can go crazy with either theme as far as party store decorations and favors that are available, cups, plates, decorations, pinata, etc. If it's a princess theme, you can also make it a tea party and serve little sandwiches as "tea".