Birthday Parties Make Me Happy!

I am a sucker for a really good birthday party theme, and a really well-done party. I am always on the look-out for great ideas that would be easy (and cheap) to duplicate.
And, as we are headed into the "birthday season" around our house - Olivia in October, Georgia in November, and then Sophia follows in February, I am going to really have to put my thinking cap on and start getting myself organized.
So, I thought I would share the wealth, so to speak, and let you guys see these great birthday parties that I have found online - some cheap, some easy, some both, some neither!! But, all are totally cool!!

Airplane Theme:
I found this one over at Little Momma and Company.
The invitation:

The cake:

Decorations:
pretty simple - aviation maps on the tables are way cool.



Favors:
So great - I have seen these at Michael's - you could stock up one at a time, using a 40% coupon!


Construction Theme:
I saw this at the How do you do it blog. I also saw it in a magazine earlier this summer.
I don't know how well I could do with this one - not sure my girly-girls would go for it. But, I just love how cool this would be!
Invitation: wooden rectangles from Michael's with information written on like "construction site" for location, and "site boss" for host, etc.
Activity: Have kids paint/decorate a cardboard box "house"

Cake:

Favors:
yellow hard-hats and carpenter's aprons for each child.

This one might take the cake for being totally over-the-top but how stinkin' cool would this be to duplicate on an - ahem - slightly smaller scale?!

Candyland Theme:
I saw this a few weeks ago on The Hostess with the Mostest blog. You really must check out the site if you haven't seen it - a younger, hipper Martha. (No disrespect to Martha - you know I love ya!)

Decor:
It looks to me like she used tons of bright colors and furniture and decor items from Ikea - those stuffed animals are from there and I think are about $10 each.




The decor is basically all the candy and candy type items and colors that you can find. I love the lanterns in the trees wrapped in celophane to look like candy!






Favors:
These favors are totally fabulous! They were done by a company called emtanner designs. They also gave away copies of the board game.




Okay... Those are a few great party ideas. I don't think any are quite right for my girls, but I will keep looking!