For our daughter's first Birthday we did a ladybug theme.  It was a huge success and I got many compliments on the party. I found an adorable outfit at Baby Depot that had ladybugs on it.  I saw invitations online that closely resembled the outfit, but they were very expensive, so I decided to make them myself. I went to a local scrapbooking store and found everything I needed. I made a square invitation with red cardstock for the back piece, a piece of scrapbook paper with green grass and ladybugs for the middle piece, and vellum to print the party information on for the top piece.  The words were "Come and join us for some Birthday Fun, Our Little Ladybug is turning One! Please help us celebrate at a Ladybug Cookout for (child's  name) Fly on over to (address) Time is (time).  To RSVP Please give us a buzz at (phone #). We scanned some cute ladybugs into our computer and printed them on the vellum under the text.  I punched 2 holes at the top and tied all 3 pieces together with red and white polkadot organza ribbon. They really looked professionally done, we got many calls the day everyone got them in the mail! For party favors I used the plastic containers my daughter's fruit comes in (I had seen the idea for using baby food jars but didn't want young children running around with glass jars!).  I spraypainted the tops with red spraypaint made for plastic, and drew black dots with paint pens.  I filled them with red and black jelly beans (more red than black, I discovered most kids won't eat the black ones!!!).  I then filled clear treat bags with shredded green tissue paper and put the container and other favors in the bags and tied them with red and white ribbon at the top. For decorations I used red, white, and black balloons and ribbon, and I made a banner using the graphics from the invitation.  I also made a giant ladybug out of red poster board. I painted the head and dots with black tempra paint. I put pictures of my daughter that we made every month on the 29th (her birthday) on the ladybug and made another banner that said "(child's name)'s First Year", and we hung it on the wall so everyone could see how much she had grown and changed.  I put green tablecloths on the tables to look like grass, and I scattered some ladybug confetti(ordered online) in a swirl down the middle of the tables.  For the centerpiece I found a small rectangular wooden basket and painted Happy Birthday (child's name) on it, filled it with moss, and put some flowers and a butterfly on a stick down it it. I then put 2 ladybug soaps that I ordered online on top of the moss like they were crawling around.  Outside I had a big flower and 2 ladybugs on sticks stuck in the ground at the end of the driveway (they came from Hobby Lobby). Also from there I got a ladybug windsock and hung it from the basketball goal. My husband and his mother made a special ladybug cake for the birthday girl.  They baked the body part in a metal bowl to give it the roundness, and they did the head in a round muffin tin.  They iced the body with red icing and the head with black, and piped the white eyes and black spots on the back. I got black pipe cleaners for anteanneas.  It turned out amazing, people thought we had it made at a bakery.  I changed my daughter into a ladybug swimsuit for cake time because I didn't want to ruin her nice outfit, and it is a good thing!!!  She of course had red and black icing all over everything--including me, it was a riot!!!  We had traditional cookout food, and I just used red plastic tableware. We didn't play any games due to the varied age of the kids, and just eating and opening gifts took over 2 hours.  It was truly a wonderful evening and I was thrilled at how everything turned out. Thanks to all the other ladybug ideas on this site for inspiration!!!