I try to come up with creative ideas each year to make my sister's b-day parties special. Her favorite was for her 11th birthday when we hosted an "Around the World" party. Each child was assigned a specific country in their invitation. They were asked to dress as a famous figure from their country and present to the rest of the party a short report on something interesting about the foreign land. When each guest arrived the others tried to guess which country was being represented It worked really well for her first co-ed party. We had Einstein, Queen Elizabeth, Peter the Great, a little Dutch girl, Greek goddess, a French painter, and Lady Liberty herself, complete with torch. All in all there were over a dozen countries being represented. I decorated the room with things around the house that reminded us of foreign lands. A Greek pillar, a new York city snowglobe, an Eiffel tower knick knack, and postcards that had been sent from friends on vacation. The cake was made to look like the Acropolis and the kids loved the "leaning tower of Pizzas" constructed from mini pizzas being stacked on top of each other. I also prepared specialty dishes from several countries and made sure they were kid friendly. For games we played pin the tale on the map, around the world with a basketball, and where in the world is Carmen san Diego. Finally the kids got to present their information and share what they learned. I found  globe beach balls and beach towels to give as party favors. The kids really seemed to have a good time.