For my daughter's 8th birthday we are having a Garden/Flower Party. The invitation will be a real flower with the information written on a piece of colored cardstock and tied onto the stem of the flower. All the girls are within walking distance so we will hand deliver them. For the craft, the girls will decorate terra cotta flower pots with stamps and paint. Instead of planting real flowers they are going to make a pen flower to put in the pot. A silk flower taped onto the end of a pen and wrapped all the way down the pen in  green floral tape. In the bottom of the pot, place a piece of styrofoam and stick the point of the pen into it. Then put shredded brown tissue paper around it for the dirt. This flower lasts a lot longer and they can use it! For the outdoor activities the girls will play "Who's in my Garden". One girl holds the end of the hose with her back toward the group of girls (as if watering her garden).  The group tries to sneak up on the "gardener" to tag her but if she/they get caught the "gardener" sprays the girl(s) with water and she/they need to go sit out. The one who tags the gardener gets to be it next time.  We will also play "Water the Plant".  The girls divide into teams. Each team sits in a single file line (one girl in back of the other) At the beginning of the lines there is a large bucket of water. The first person dips her cup (can be a little watering can or whatever) into the bucket and then without turning around has to pour the water into the cup of the person behind her. Then the second girl pours what water she got into her cup to the third person and so on until it reaches the end of the line where the few drops left are poured into a flower pot( or some other container).  This continues at a somewhat fast pace until time runs out or the pot at the end is full (whichever comes first). Beware there is a lot of screaming in these games, but they're fun!  For the treats we are having "Dirt" made from chocolate  pudding, whipped topping, Oreos, and gummy worms. The girls take home the flower pen pot, and in a cellophane bag some flower power stickers, flower seed packets (to plant when the pen dies out) and candy and tied with a ribbon and a tag that says: "Friends are the flowers in the garden of life. Thanks for coming to my party". My daughter is really looking forward to this party and I think it will be great success.