For my daughter's 8th birthday party she chose a movie party.  Her birthday fell near the opening of The Santa Clause 3 so we decided on a Christmas theme. The theater we used didn't have a party room, but they allowed us to use their employee break room. They had it all clean for us and allowed us to decorate as we wished. I kept it simple with table cloths, balloons and a minature Christmas tree.  We wrapped small gifts as party favors and placed them under the tree.  This was a co-ed party, so I had holiday charm bracelets for the girls and magnetic travel games for the boys. I had a few toddlers, so I included appropriate gifts for them too.  I used dolls for the girls and cars for the boys. I used different wrapping paper for the girls, boys and toddler gifts for ease of handing out.  Since the movie would take up most of the party time, we didn't want to over plan events.  We just put out snacks that the guest enjoyed while socializing with each other until all guest were present.  For the cake, we opted for cupcakes for ease and quickness. The bakery arranged the cupcakes in the shape of a Christmas Stocking.  Each one was decorated individually but fit together to make the stocking.  So some were iced red and some white. After we sang happy birthday and ate the cupcakes, we opened presents.  Then my daughter thanked everyone for coming to help celebrate her birthday and had each guest choose a gift from under the tree.  It was a quick, no thrills party. I thought about buying a bunch of different gifts for favors and having the guest play the Yankee Swap (Dirty Santa, White Elephant or whatever you call this game in your area). But since this was a family party we had lots of different age groups so it wouldn't have worked out as well.  But if you're having a party where the kids are about the same age, it would be a fun way to give out party favors. Let the guest fight for them!  If you don't know this game it's where the guest draw numbers.  Starting with number 1, person chooses a gift from the pile and opens for all to see.  The person who drew number 2 then has the option of stealing the gift or choosing a new one from the pile. You continue on until the person with the very last number drawn.  If they chose to steal a gift, the person they steal from has to take the last present remaining in the pile and the game ends. Or that last person can chose not to steal and pick the last present off the pile. Either way, the games ends there. You can look up rules off the internet.  I'm sure there are many variations. We cleaned up the party room while the kids watched the movie. The party ended when the movie did.