This is not necessarily a birthday party idea. My wife's birthday is December 29. She wanted to have a formal party for her birthday, so I planned a James Bond casino party for New Year's Eve.  We sent out invitations with the James Bond insignia on them(and of course all the party details).  The invitations were sent from "MI-6" and indicated that men were to come in either tuxedos or as a villain from any Bond movie.  Women were to dress in a "Bond-style" dress or come as any female villain from the movies. We covered the invitations in red tissue paper to give the appearance of the beginning of a Bond movie. We decorated the house as a casino, covering the ceiling with 500 black, silver and white balloons, renting Corinthian columns from a party rental store, and hanging silver, red and black draperies strategically over the walls.  We rented a craps table and a baccarat table complete with dealers from a local casino-night store.  The craps table is a great party game, because 16 people can play at once and it is very exciting to play.  We bought Bond music (from Amazon.com) in the form of the four-disc set performed by the Prague Philharmonic for background music. It is completely instrumental and sets the stage well.  We also ordered Bond posters (from Allposters.com) to hang on the open walls. Guests really enjoyed dressing up, either as villains or in formal attire. Because the party was for New Year's Eve, we also hired someone to babysit in another part of the house. This actually worked very well.  Prizes were given at the end of the night, including the Bond dvd collection and books about Bond movies (all purchased from Amazon.com). And of course we served martinis -- shaken, not stirred. This party was for about 30-35 people. This is certainly not an inexpensive party to host, but it was really fun.