For my daughter's 6th birthday we decided to have a Valentine-themed party since her birthday falls the week before. And three of her friends already had their parties in the past 2 months. So we felt like all the "good" ideas were taken. Well, it was left up to us to come up with something different.  My mind was just flowing with ideas once we decided that our theme was going to be "Valentines".  I handmade some invitations using vellum, cardstock and rubber stamps. We asked the kids to dress in either one of the valentine colors: pink, red, white or black. (I wanted coordinating pictures!) I then decided that it would be fun for the kids to make their own homemade Valentine cards to give to whomever that wanted.  I cut different colors of cardstock, purchased diecuts of hearts and arrows and found some foam heart shapes in different sizes and colors. I also pulled out any Valentine-ish stamp I could find along with red, pink, purple and black ink pads. I thought it would also be fun to have them decorate their own heart-shaped sugar cookie. I handmade the cookies and purchased coordinating sprinkles, frosting and various candies. I purchased fun and "different" types of things for the goodies bags for them to take home. Beaded necklaces, lipglosses, pencils, plastic headbands, body glitter and of course, candy! I found some glossy Valentine paper sacks to put everything in.  And finally, the cake.  The cake was heart-shaped with individual cupcakes lined on the outer part of the cake to look like a "scalloped" heart.  I thought it looked very Valentine-ish! My daughter had 7 girls show up and 1 boy (he wore black). And they all looked wonderful.  They had a blast making their own cards and decorating their own cookies. If you could only hear the chit-chat going on at the table. They were so cute! They later played games, opened presents and was sent home with their goodie bags.  They had to take the cupcake home because they were stuffed from the cookie.  But, what a great "different" idea and my daughter had so much fun!