I'd like to share with you the ideas I used at my daughter's 4th birthday party. There were 10 kids in attendance including my own kids so the numbers were manageable. The invitation was as follows: A total of 4 tootsie pop lollipops per invitation- 2 on one side- 2 on the other taped together with masking tape and white crepe paper to make a bone shape. ( An adapted Halloween idea).  On the bone with black marker is written: ..."for a doggoned good time, run on over to ______'s 4th birthday...time, place etc. These were mostly hand-delivered.  The party was held in my backyard which is quite large. Upon arrival at the party, the kids made FROOT LOOP necklaces while waiting for everyone to arrive. This is done by stringing froot loops onto shoestring licorice-(a lot easier for little fingers than using string). In advance I saved metal juice lids and punched a hole in the top- a round label was then stuck on the lids with each child's name on the label.  After the froot loop necklaces were done we strung the metal juice lid on and these were the kids' "dog tags". I liked the idea of the froot loop necklace to put the tag on simply because they were loose fitting. As soon as the kids had their tags (which served as nametags too) we went to our activities. All of a sudden my husband rushed out of the house carrying a white plastic toy dog(actually a piggy bank (dollar store) and informed the crowd that the Dalmatian was missing its spots and it was up to us to help him find his black spots.  Before the party I hid 50 cardboard circles "spots" in the backyard and enlisted the children's help to find them. TO keep it fair, the children were each asked to find 5 spots. When they had all found their spots they took turns placing them one by one into the white plastic piggy bank (to return them to the Dalmatian). As the reward for helping the doggie the kids each got a "doggie treat".  ( a sugar cookie bone shaped cookie-decorated in bright colors etc.)  We made the kids beg, roll over, play dead and shake a paw for their treat.  The kids then played "pass the doggie bag" to the tune of BINGO and other fun songs.  Inside the white lunch bag with paw prints stamped all over it was a small gift wrapped 9 times. Each time the music stopped, each child got to unwrap one layer from the gift. We rigged the music so that each child got a turn unwrapping.  Inside the last layer was 10 small ziplock bags with BONZ candy in them (dog bone shaped hard candies I got from the bulk food store).  Next and last activity before lunch was "rescue the Dalmatian". In another part of the backyard we set up an obstacle course. The kids lined up and had to go through a very basic course. They crawled like doggies to the chairs- where they crawled under, then "rolled over" till they got to the hoops, then crawled through the doggie hoops (hula hoops), crawled a little way longer till they got to the stuffed Dalmatian on a table..then they ran to the back of the line.  All of the kids were timed and when they were done their Dalmatian rescue they got a sticker that I printed off the computer that said:" I rescued the Dalmatian in ___seconds." The kids were proud of themselves. For lunch we had hot dogs of course and some chex party mix (puppy's trail mix). I used a plain white tablecloth, and put homemade Dalmatian placemats (personalized) printed off the computer ( I have the Disney Dalmatian print studio- from a cereal box if you can believe) at each place. I had them laminated for future use. For dessert, I attempted to make the cake myself from a cake idea I found on family.com.  A round cake frosted white and two cupcakes at the bottom of the round cake that look like paws. With black and red frosting, I piped the black edges of the ears and face.  I stuck junior mints all over the white cake for the spots- it looked good- even for an extreme cooking novice like myself. Of course the cake was served in new clean dog dishes found at the dollar store. I wrote each child's name on the dish in advance with a paint pen and decorated with Dalmatian stickers. (I got the dog dish idea from this website). A lot of the kids insisted on eating like a dog with no spoon or fork- I had no problem with that- hey it's a dog party right? With their cake they got Dalmatian ice cream (chocolate chip). After this my daughter opened her presents. We taught the kids to sing: "Present time, present time- open a present, see what's inside". (Learned from Blues Clues) The kids got louder and louder with each gift. We had her open the gifts at the table after the cake so that the kids could still munch while they watched her open the gifts. Before the moms and dads came, I had the children decorate their own "doghouse".  I pre-made some doghouses out of graham crackers and royal icing.  They are actually a Christmas idea to make mini gingerbread type houses- but I adapted it to fit our theme. The kids loved this! They each had their own bag of icing and an assortment of M&M's, BONZ candies, licorice and other sugar treats.  They were making these when their parents came. The loot "doggie bags" were as follows: white lunch bag (very cheap- grocery store).  I cut two black construction paper ears that went on each side of the bag and stuck them on. On the front of the bag I glued 2 googly eyes, drew on a nose, whiskers a mouth and tongue.  They looked great. I punched two holes at the top and put white and black curly ribbon through to make a handle. This was the "doggie bag". Inside we put Dalmatian stickers, 2 rolled up Dalmatian coloring sheets from the disney.com website, a Dalmatian pencil, eraser, homemade Dalmatian bookmark (printed on cardstock also from the Dalmatian print studio) and curly straw. I also rolled up and put in the laminated doggie placemat, and the little candy prizes the kids earned in the games. All in all they went home with a big haul, their bags full of stuff as well as their dog tag necklace, personalized doggie dish and graham cracker dog house. The kids were occupied the whole hour and forty five minutes...can you believe it? 1 hour 45 mins...it took hours and hours of preparation and it was over in less than 2 hours!- But I loved every minute! I have done many many creative parties for children- my kids, nieces, nephews and even neighbors- but this was one of the ones my kids remember the most. Have fun- and thanks for all your ideas- I hope you try some of mine!