For our daughter's first birthday we had a book party. A theme that really could be adapted for lots of ages. It helped us to build a library and eliminate some of the endless toys and clothes she already receives...you can never have too many books! Invitations were a short little story book about her with the party information at the end. Included with the info was a request that if guests intended to bring gifts, they please bring their favorite children's book to share. We had each guest help our daughter open their present. Most automatically chose to read a little portion. While this was happening we took photos of her reading books with her friends and family. The pictures could then be used for thank you notes and bookplates inside each gifted book. Decoarations were easy.  We just had lots of pink stuff and books including a scrapbook all about our daughter that guests could look through. Finally, we sent all our young guests home with goody bags that included crayons, coloring books and little story books.  The dollar store was a great place to find affordable books.