Since my daughter was turning 10, I thought it was a pretty special birthday. However, I had already done the big birthday party thing, the sleepovers, the water parks, etc. for her birthday. So, instead of having one birthday party, we had 10 mini-celebrations. On the first day, I wrote her a poem telling her what a great kid I thought she was, and that instead of one big party, we were celebrating her birthday for 10 days! Each day would be a new surprise. Every morning, I gave her a small wrapped gift that was tied to whatever it was we were doing that day. For example, one day we spent at a water park, I bought her a swim raft. One day we went roller skating, I got her some new roller blades. It also gave her grandparents their own special time with her, as opposed to 'sharing' their time at a family party (which helped a lot, as some of them do not get along). Plus, it was better that she was able to do things as opposed to getting gifts that end up in yard sales a few months later. It was also great because if one of her friends could not go roller skating one day, they could come along on a different day for a different activity. My daughter was THRILLED, totally surprised, and was much more appreciative that she would be had we just had a sleepover!