In lieu of September 11th, My son Jake was eager to have a Military party for his 6th birthday!  We sent out Draft notices which we made with American Greetings CD. They looked so official and made a huge impression.  Everyone was told to dress in camo and to bring a water gun or toy gun for the games.  Being Florida in March, it was 89 degrees outside so we went online to "cheaperthandirt.com" and purchased a real parachute to shade our backyard. I took some cardboard boxes from work and marked them in black marker, "Explosives", Danger and even marked some "mess kits" for the Mess hall which set the mood for the area of the yard which was set up like a Mess hall with a tent, overhead serving hotdogs, hamburgers, fruit cups and pickles. My husband was dressed as "Major Payne" which I got his wardrobe from an Army Navy store.  The backyard fence was decorated with "FREE" posters from our local area recruiters, Army, Navy and Marines.  Rather than spend money on "loot bag items" we had freebies of pencils, footballs and baseballs with the Navy logos on them.  Uncle Sam was at the entrance of the gate where each enlisted soldier received a necklace type badge that read Military passport with their names and codenames on them. I divided 24 kids into "alpha" and "bravo" company (according to height) and had them all play "hot potato" with a real water grenade balloon which was a hit. My husband built a fort out of real wood (as my sons present) just in time for the party where the soldiers teamed up in search of the American Flag which was taken by "Charlie". We had an obstacle course set up where Major Payne worked them out like true soldiers and the prizes were 1st and 2nd place ribbons with honorable mention and special achievement for good attitudes.  My friend stopped by the party store and bought some paints and offered to paint the soldiers faces camouflage which excited them all. As party favors, I gave each soldier a Styrofoam airplane 'glider' which kept them busy the rest of the day.  At the end of the day, we had the teams divided up "Alpha and Bravo" and took their picture as they yelled "USA" and sent out 5X7 pictures to each child as Thank You  instead of the store bought ones. This party took months to prepare for, but worth every smile for a lifetime