I threw this party in August of 2001 for my daughters who were turning 10 and 12.  We were watching a show on ancient Egypt on television and they decided they wanted to have an Ancient Egyptian themed birthday party. We started planning immediately.  We went to a craft store and bought papyrus colored paper to write in fancy lettering the invitations.  I burnt the edges to make them look very old, and then we rolled them and tied them with straw like stuff from the craft store.  The kids and I looked up hieroglyphic sites on the internet and looked up translations for the names of all the party guests. We painted the names in brownish/gold paint on plain white tee shirts. I made the cake in shape of a giant step pyramid, and we made up names for all the party food to make it sound more Egyptian. The big hit, however, was the dress up. We went to a fabric store and bought yards of cheap silky material, anything that was on sale. Liner material seemed to do well. The kids took these and made Egyptian costumes out of them. We also went and bought cheap makeup and they gave themselves Egyptian makeovers. Since we live near Chicago, the location of some fabulous museums, before the party, I took my kids to pick out Egyptian themed stuff from the museum for the goody bags. We came up with Egyptian tattoos, little scarabs, and coloring books.  The party was a huge hit.