For my son's first birthday party I picked a common Sesame Street theme. I started with the invitations, I did them on photoshop and put his 3, 6 & 9 month pictures on the side showing his growth throughout the year. The background was a chalkboard with the number 1 really big on the opposite side of the pictures. The information was put on the chalkboard and had seame street charecters on the bottom. I printed them out at wal mart and send invitations like a picture. I also had an insert that i printed from my computer on see-threw type paper, which looked better then regular printing paper, with Elmo holding a sign saying his size clothing, since he was not in a nornal 12 month clothes & also stating he had a wish list at Toys R Us, this was for mainly the older crowd who had no idea what to buy him it just game them an idea. For the party i went to the Salvatin Army and had it in a hall there, it was not too expensive to rent it out. Since the theme was Sesame Street i of course had blue yellow green and red as the main colors. I had the 4 colors in table clothes, and had a special sesame street table cloth for the food table and one for the gift table. The garbage can said Oscars garbage can". There were signs leading the way to the party so nobody would get lost once they got inside. On the outside of the door I put balloons and a "Happy Birthday" banner so it was easily found. Inside there was also Sesame Street streamer (purchased from the Party Place) naging around the room. There were 10 balloons of each color blown up and 5 big Elmo balloons. I let about 25 of them just float around the room with string. Since there were going to be lots of children I had a 'kid table' which had 5 Sesame Street coloring books and crayons. I also had foam door hangers (10 cents each at Patcatans) and foam stickers (you can purchace those from any craft store Wal Mart Dollar Store) and had that sitting out so the kids could make their own door hanger to take home. Since it was only a party for a one year old we did not play any kids games between the small activities and the balloons hanging for them to play with they were very good and had no problems keeping all 16 kids occupied. I had goodie bags for the kids which I passed out about half way threw the party to be sure they had something new to keep themselves occupied for the smaller crowd I put biter busicits stars slinkys mini sunglasses a big ball and a little candy for the parents. For the older kids I had gel pens sesame street note pads bubbles cars noise makers yo-yo's & leanring cards (most could be purchased from the dollar store or wal mart).  I made a box and had index cards for everyone to write a message to my son that would be placed in his baby book for him to read when he gets older. To make that I took my daughters shoe box and wrapped it in the same sesame street wrapping paper i used for his gifts. I cut a slit in the center to be able to drop them in and i cut out Sesame street and Elmo pictures from clotheing tags (perfect size) and put them on the box standing so it was a 3d effect. It was placed on the dessert table so everywould would see it and participate. The adults were keeping themselves occupied just by enjoying everyones company. We did have a trivia game for the adults which consisted of questions from my son's life (I had questions like when was his first tooth what time was he born how much was gas on the day he was born) anything I wrote in his baby book I put as a question. For the winner I had a set of movie passes & Sesame Street DVD (because most adults there had a child). Instead of getting an Elmo costume because I think the younger kids would have been a little scared of a 6 foot moving Elmo I just got the big stuffed Elmo which I had sit in the corner for the kids to take a picture with and enjoy. The kids enjoyed themselves when the party was over there was even a couple kids sad to leave Elmo! Since I had the party around dinner time (3-6) I decided to have a pretty good choice of food. Since there were lots of children I had pizza because that is Elmo's favorite. There were also wings rice and beans potato salad cheesy hashbrown cassarole cole slaw and chips. For desssert I had the cake of course Cookie that had a sign saying Cookie Monster Cookies homemade Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes. I got chocolate becuase the cake was yellow I bought red & blue icing that I used. For the eyes I had mini marshmellows that I pushed flat and put a mini M&M for the pupil. For the nose I used an orange skittle and for the mouth I bought black decoritive gel and drew it on & garbage sundaes which was for Oscar I had a bunch of junk (oreo cumbles gummies hershey kiss ice cream Hershey Syrup) which the kids got to eat with their cake instead of traditional ice cream. When the party ended I let all the kids take a balloon home with them. With lots a things to take home and full belly they all had a wonderful time. My son enjoyed himself and had a long nap after it was all done. "