For my son's first birthday party we had a doggy party since he loves his two dogs.  Invitiations: various shades of neutral colored paper.  Cut into 8.5 in squares.  Fold over at the corner. Marked 4 in. across the top of fold and folded down for ears. Cut off the triangles. Attached to different dogs for multicolored ears.  Used cutout heart upsidedown for nose.  Attached googly eyes and drew on mouth and whiskers.  On inside: For a howlin good time help us celebrate Danny's 1st birthday at (address) on (date) Ruff! S.V.P. (phone number)  We had different stations set up as the kids arrived. Grooming Station: make ears using head bands and cut out ear shapes from foam paper with different colors.  Then the kids made collars from red foam strips with velcro attached and name tags (they chose their own name) and decorated them. Finally we painted on dog nose and whiskers with costume make-up.  The birthday boy was in a white onesie with black dots colored on it with his own set of ears and painted face.  Doggy Biscuit Bake Shop:An adult helped the kids make dog bone cookies from sugar cookie dough and decorated them. During the party we baked them for take home after the party. Doggy Playground:  We decorated a big cardboard box and made a dog house; My husband taught the kids tricks for a dog show later on.   For games we played the Doggie Dig. I filled two tubs with sand and buried small balls. The kids raced down to dig them out. Each ball was filled with a small prize. Next they helped Dalmatian Dot find her lost spots. I used a large stuffed white dog and cut out black spots that we hid. Each child finds four spots and put the spots on the dog. They get a doggy treat for helping (a dog bone shaped cookie) Then at the end we held a dog show where the kids showed off their best tricks and each received a prize (ribbon) For decorations I used white butcher cloth on tables and stamped with dog paws. We had stuffed dogs sitting around tied with balloons Some balloons have ears and dog faces on them. We used red, white and black streamers (color theme). The cardboard dog house sat in the family room. I cut out large paw prints from black posterboard and taped them on the floor roaming inside the house. I bought dog bowls to use as plate and decorated them with each child's name.  (Another take home gift) For food we ate hot dogs, combos, puppy chow, cheese and cracker squares. The cake was a cake I made shaped as a dog (You use a 9x13 pan and cut different pieces for the head, neck, body, legs and tail.) It was decorated with white icing and bite size oreo cookies to make it look like a Dalmatian. The kids ate ice cream dogs with choc chip ice cream. (one large scoop for head; a melon scoop for the snout;oreos cut in half for ears; m&m eyes; mini marshmallow nose). We finished it all off with punch with doggies floating in it.  As doggy bags,  the kids took home a bag decorated like a dog, with dog stickers, a Clifford ball, a plastic toy dog and a puppy nose with whiskers inside. They also had their cookie from the bake shop, and their ears and collars.   Because we had mostly older kids, this party worked really well for the first birthday. The kids had a blast.