My son loves the movie Cars" so we decided this would be his 5th yr. birthday theme. I always check this website and I thank everyone for their creative ideas. Some were used to create this fabulous party. INVITATION: I created the invitations using "Cars" characters I pulled off the internet. I designed the invitations to read as if the characters were talking about my son. As if THEY were planning a party for him (he got a big kick out of that). I decided that a "tailgate" sub-theme would be fun for the adults (I try to do something for the adults at my parties because we invite whole families). Some text: "Put the Pedal to the Medal and Drive into Five" "Race on over to our "Cars" Tailgate Party"...  DECORATIONS: I started about eight weeks out and I handpainted most of my decorations (with my son's help). (Arts and crafts class for him all summer!) We started at the front of the house and created a "Detour" sign for the front door to let party guests know to come to the backyard. We created giant "eyes" for our car (a big piece of cardboard handpainted w/ eyes on it and then slipped into the windshield: almost like an auto shade)to make it look like it was a "Cars" character. On the day of the party we parked the car so that the front was facing out and it was "greeting" the guests. The kids thought it was a "real" "Cars" character. Hysterical! The colors for the tablecloths were red (for Lightning McQueen) w/ black and white checkered flags strung up everywhere(Oriental Trading). We made a "Welcome Race Fans" sign for the front yard(which stood out of 2 orange cones)and a "Route 66" sign for the path leading to the backyard. We painted all of the "Cars" characters giant-size on cardboard (creating stand-ups of the characters to place around the yard). They were so colorful and fun. We decided to decorate our entire backyard as if it was Radiator Springs and each section of the yard was a different character's "station". Station 1: "Sheriff's DMV": I made personalized driver's licenses (w/ a picture of each child) on a lanyard that the child could wear around their neck. The kids loved them. One child even wondered if she could use it and start driving for real(?) MORE DECORATION: I found floral foam wreath rings at the dollar store that looked like steering wheels so I bought a few and the kids used them to "drive" around the yard. I bought inflatable tires at the dollar store and the kids had fun with those. Orange cones (my husband got from work) dotted the yard. DECORATION FOR THE ADULTS: "The tailgate": My husband created the trunk and rear section of "Doc Hudson" (out of cardboard) so it looked like Doc was emerging out of the back of our house...we used a pool noodle for a bumper(!) and aluminum foil for chrome around his brake lights...I served Beverages and Snacks out of Doc's "trunk" (Tailgate tie-in). It looked fabulous. The parents got a big kick out of that. We also had taken some pictures of vintage cars from car shows that we had visited over the summer and displayed them for the parents to have a conversation starter.  ACTIVITIES: Station 2: "Mater's Tractor Tip": I purchased an old "toss across" game board and taped over the "X"s and "O"s with pictures of Mater and Lightning and the Tractors from the movie so the kids could take the bean bags and "tip" the tractors and try to get three of any like character in a row. There was a giant Mater cardboard character next to this game with a real moveable hook for the kids to pretend to "tow" things. Station 3: Our playset was decorated as "The Cozy Cone". I draped a thin orange tablecloth over the top of the playset to resemble a cone. I painted and hung a Cozy Cone sign. Inside we threw down cozy blankets and pillows. At the base of the playset I had "Sally" and "Lightning McQueen" Cardboard cut-outs. The kids had a blast climbing up and through the Cozy Cone or just relaxing inside. Station 4: Around a large tree I created "Flo's V8 Cafe" by hot-glueing large cardboard tubes together and painting the "Flo's" logo above the tubes. Underneath this was a big bucket of "gas" and "oil"--juice boxes and water (including V8 juice!)-- so the kids could "fill up" when they were feeling thirsty. I took a very large box and decorated it to look like one of Flo's gas station pumps and used my vacuum cleaner hose as the gas hose and let the kids pretend to be gas station attendants at Flo's. (All of the cardboard characters had holes punched out for gas tanks so the vacuum hose fit into the characters. The kids were actually "filling up" the characters). That was a big hit. Station 5: "Fillmore's Lounge": A big comfy chair next to a handpainted Fillmore cardboard stand-up. Since Fillmore is a "hippee" van I decorated the lounge with string beads and paper lanterns. My son drew pastel flowers on brown paper for added effect. The lounge had "Cars" books for the kids to read (from the library)(And was used later for Storytime when my sister read to all of the kids. All ages seem to love that). Station 6: "Ramone's House of Body Art": Crafts! A huge table with: coloring sheets of Mater and Lightning (printed off the internet) and crayons; wooden racecars (Oriental Trading) and markers--with my son's racetrack for racing the cars; posterboard cut into license plates with foam stickers they could use to personalized them; and racecar tattoos (OT). (A friend "worked" at Ramone's and helped the kids with the crafts). Station 7: My son's sand table decorated with plastic cactus to represent the desert of Ornament Valley (w/ sand toys). Station 8: My husband made 2 beautiful cardboard box cars of Lightning and The King (which my son and I painted) that the kids played "Pit Stop" with at Luigi and Guido's station. I provided "Gas" and "Organic Fuel" (old milk cartons decorated with construction paper) and "Oil" (Bread Crumb Container decorated) etc. and velcro'ed on some black plates as tires. The kids could take on and off the tires "wash" the cars put gas in them etc. They could also get into them and race around a bit. Wonderful.  GAMES: We played "pin the hood on Mater" using the cardboard Mater stand-up. I handed out tiny checkered racing flags to the adults so they could "cheer" the kids on (re-inforcing the Tailgate idea). The kids were having so much fun running from sand table to crafts to playset they really didn't need much in the way of structured games. I was going to do a dance/drive red light/green light game but they wanted to keep playing at the stations.  PARTY SNACKS: We always cook a lot of food and we theme all of the food as best we can. I tried to think of a Nascar tailgate menu and went from there (they actually have these on the internet). My son had made chocolate covered pretzel sticks in preschool so I used that idea and called them "Dip Sticks" and "Hot Rods"--Pretzel sticks half covered in chocolate (to represent oil). The "hot rods" had sprinkles on them also. That was a fun project we did together the day before the party. We also served "speedway hamburgers" "rookie hot shot hot dogs" "pit stop potato salad" "Mack's-a-roni salad" "Radiator Springs" chicken wings "Piston Cup punch" (you get the idea). My mother makes amazing cakes. She made a Lightning McQueen sheetcake that was phenomenal and a Mater "rocky road" cake: Chocolate and Marshmallow (my son's favorites).  FAVORS: They took home their driver's license license plate wooden racecar and tiny checkered flags (OT) lollipops* mini "Cars" flying discs (they looked like steering wheels) and some more racecar tattoos. *(I wrapped red green and yellow cellophane on the lollipops to give them traffic light colors). My mother also baked homemade car-shaped cookies for their goody bags.    MUSIC: The "Cars" movie CD is fun and really set the mood. We played it pretty much the whole time.   This party was so much fun. (I was worried that kids that had not seen the movie might not enjoy it as much as those that had but it didn't matter. They all had a great time.)I have had so many phone calls afterwards thanking me and expressing how much fun the kids had. My son said it was the best day of his whole life (which really makes it all worth the effort). Thanks again to this website for providing inspiration! "