Birthday Party Madness

I am not one to point fingers, we all know that these kids birthday parties have gotten out of control. I myself, threw Oldest Daughter for her 5th b-day, a princess tea party: complete with 15 little girls all dressed up, arts & crafts, make up table and tables for tea. For her 6th birthday, Husband and I took out a small bank loan to hold her party at a girls store in the mall, where they did all her friends hair, 'make-up' and sang karoke. In order to be 'inclusive' I had her invite ALL the girls in her kindergarten class, and thankfully, she didn't invite the boys (though there is NOTHING wrong with boys experimenting with make-up, its just not a conversation I wanted to have with some of the moms at this point in time...trying to make friends here, ya' know).
Because we spent so much $ on the Oldest daughters' party, who to be honest, is really quite the 'detailed high-strung princess' and would KNOW we are cutting corners on the most important day of all the universe: her birthday, we saw an opportunity to cut back on a birthday party in the summer: our Youngest.
Youngest is the more 'laid back surfer' kind of gal. She doesn't care for all the glitz and glamour, just some goldfish, box juice, friends and a cake, and she's good to go. So, last year we threw her a Hawaiin Luau, and here is the cake I made: a roasted pig. The kids loved it and a cake gets all smashed up anyway with 3 years old, so whats the point in making it look so grand?
Don't get me wrong, I am in awe of the parents who can make those cakes out of Family Fun, and I have run across some Mommy bloggers who proudly display them..they are amazing. But, when you just don' t have that talent, you just get creative.
I know we are living in the time when kids parties are reaching a new level of creativity and expense..but, *sigh*, as long as you remember who the party is really for...I give you my 'mommy on the verge' permission to stay up until 2am making creative invites, baking the cake, setting up the arts& crafts tables...etc, etc...!
Feel free to post some of your creative birthday moments! I would love to hear!