Birthdays! A joyous occasion to be celebrated every year! There's a reason kids love birthdays and it's not just because they get lots of presents. Ok, yeah, maybe it is but there's more to it than that. Most of the birthday gifts are forgotten a few months, if not days, after the big event and yet the memories of the birthday parties can last a lifetime.



Centering your birthday party on a theme is a great way to create those lifetime memories. And it is a wonderful way to make your party planning easier, too. So what kind of parties make for the "this was the best party of my life" comments from your kids?

* Princess Parties - If you've got girls, you know the word princess was one of the first words in their vocabulary. Princess parties are not only delightful, they're extremely popular and because of that it's pretty easy to find great decor, tableware, crafts and activities to make it easy. Just think "PINK" and you'll be halfway there! Don't limit yourself to just the popular Disney Princesses though - keep the theme more broad and make YOUR princess the star of the show.

* Dinosaur Party - Better balance this article out with a very popular theme for the boys - the Dinosaur party. Think green, brown, big and noisy and you've got the making of a great party revolving around all things Dino! The thing that makes this party so easy is you can use a lot of kraft grocery bags and other recyclables to really turn your house around for the party. Use them to cut out rocks and footprints and more. Use some green streamers for the jungle effect. Make dirt cake as the birthday cake and hide green M&Ms inside as the dinosaur eggs. See how fun this is?

* Teddy Bear Party - I can't imagine any party that's easier to put together than a Teddy Bear party. Have the kids bring their favorite teddy or hire a make your own teddy bear entertainer to keep the kids occupied and then the guests will have a great take home gift too. A teddy shaped cake is very easy to make with a couple of round cake pans or you can make it even easier and frost a 9x13 cake and decorate it with either gummy bears or teddy grahams. Enhance the theme with either a tea party or a teddy bear fashion show - or have one of the activities be where the kids make clothes for their animals.

* Carnival Party - A carnival party is a great theme particularly for an outdoor, mid-summer party. Borrow some tables from the neighbors or your local church and set up a variety of stations for food, activities, crafts and games. Involve the moms and dads of the guests to monitor the various tables or hire some neighborhood teens for the afternoon to help keep things under control. Have the kids trade tickets for food or activities and earn more tickets for winning at some of the tables. If you're planning for an outdoor party, have a rain date set just in case.

* Tea Party - The nice thing about a tea party is that you can make it as simple or as elaborate as you like, depending on the time you have and the personality of your child. From a simple "pretend" tea with milk and cookies to an all out English High tea with scones, Devonshire cream, dipped strawberries and delicious hot tea (the real thing), a tea party is a great transition party for a young girl who doesn't want to do a more childish theme. Have Dad dress up in his best suit and play "butler" as he serves all the tea guests at the party. This is a theme that would go well combined with a Princess party or the teddy bear party too.

* Sports Party - Have a child that just can't get enough sports? Then center his birthday party on them too! Either focus on the birthday child's favorite or make it a combo party with various sports highlighted. Or take the current sport of the season and make the party all about that sport. The easy thing about sports parties is that you can find great take home gifts and crafts so easily and inexpensively and you can really spend much of the "time" of the party actually participating in some aspect of the sport. Obviously this would be a great party for someone who doesn't really want to do a party at home - take all the kids out to the bowling alley, batting cages or driving range, then out for ice cream and voila... a great party!

* 50's Sock Hop Party - This is a super easy party to put together because much of the party is centered on the music and the way the kids dress. Encourage the gals to wear poodle skirts and they guys to wear jeans and white t-shirts with, of course, both in bobbie socks and saddle shoes (if you can find them) or keds. Have a little "make up" station for the girls to put on a little lipstick, throw some blown up balloons on the floor in the living room, turn on the music and let the hopping begin! Root beer floats or make your own sundaes (one with a candle for the birthday child) are easy food for this party.

So make the most of your child's birthday party this year by centering the events of the day on a theme. You'll find it to be stress free, fun and something that your child will remember long into his adult years.