For my son's 4th birthday, he wanted a firefighter theme.  I got some very cute invitations from eBay.  The invitations were trimmed with ladders, and had a fireman, fire engine, and dalmation on them. The wording for the invitations was a compilation of a few other invitations I'd seen. At the top was the following poem:  Calling all Firefighters! You'll need your boots hats and firefighter gear as we get ready to celebrate Eli's 4th year! We'll get the hoses ready and plan to douse the birthday candles at our firehouse."  The party specifics read "The 4-alarm fun will begin at 11 am on Saturday December 132008 at Burlison Firehouse #4" and included our address. The RSVP area said "If you're too burned out to make it contact the fire chief's office" and included our phone number.  Since it took my son forever to actually decide on a party theme I only had about a month to plan and prepare. I kept the decorations simple with red yellow and blue balloons. I used all of my son's toy fire trucks to decorate tables and hung a birthday banner in the party room that said "Happy Birthday Eli!  Ladder No. 4 Eli's Fire and Rescue Squad". At the party my son wore a fireman's uniform. Party favors for the kids included fire hats from Oriental Trading that had "Ladder #4 Eli's Fire and Rescue Squad" on them firefighter's badges a book about firefighters/fire engines and fire engines I made out of cardboard boxes (see instructions below).    I am no baker so I ordered the cake which ended up looking INCREDIBLE. The bakery used blue Fondant icing on a round cake with cut-out clouds so that it looked like a sky. All around the outside of the cake was a firefighter scene complete with a dalmation on board a fire engine and a firefighter spraying a fire hose on a burning building.  He even added trees an adjacent house and a road to create a real neighborhood. I always use this baker and he's never disappointed.    Since the party started at 11 a.m. we provided a southern-style lunch of BBQ pork baked beans and cole slaw.  We also made hotdogs and provided chips for the little ones who didn't want BBQ. Luckily it wasn't miserably cold on the day of the party so we set up our bounce house in the backyard. It is always a big hit and keeps the kids busy. Before opening presents I secretly arranged for our local fire department to stop by.  My son and his friends were shocked when they heard the sirens outside!  The firefighter was awesome.  He allowed the kids to climb in the truck on the truck and look in all the nooks and crannies of the truck. In addition he turned on the sirens for my son while he was in the driver seat so that he felt like a real firefighter.  He gave all the kids official Munford/Atoka Fire Department badges and bracelets with fire safety slogans written on them.  It was a huge hit and the kids were so excited.  Even my husband was impressed with the party. Regarding the fire engines that were given as party favors I can't take all the credit.  I went online and googled "cardboard box fire engines." I got the plan from http://family.go.com/2008-halloween-costume-contest/costumes/fire-engine-895/.  I used printer paper boxes that I got from work and covered them with red butcher paper. Instead of construction paper however I used the stick-on foam for the ladders windows lights fire dept. star and hoses to give it a more 3-D effect. Since I had about 12 to make I needed to take the easiest fastest approach so I used aluminum foil for the grills and bumpers and painted small paper plates for the tires.  The guests loved these more than the other favors and were so excited to be able to take them home.       "