Hi,
My dd will be turning 3 yo in April and wants an Elmo themed birthday party, along with an Elmo cake. I have never made a 'special' cake before, and need some ideas to go along with an Elmo theme, including games, party favours, etc.
Thank you!

If you want to make a quick and easy elmo cake, just bake a regular cake with icing place a elmo napkin or plate in the center. put decorative icing around it and some little toy decor. Looks nice and it's easy.

Here's a couple ideas (scroll down to get to them once you go to link):

http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/party_elmo_birthday.htm

http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/elmo.html

http://www.celebrateexpress.com/celebration/planning/partyguide.asp?sku=E2456&theme=Elmo%2BLoves%2BYou%2BDeluxe%2BPack

You can also try this website. http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/cake-designs.html

Ugh. Elmo cake is 'bad' LOL All that RED icing. Eek!

You can make a simple round cake, maybe trim a little since elmo's head isn't exactly a circle...do strings of red icing, blog of orange for the nose, marshmallow eyes. But oy...allllllllll that RED icing.

I opted to buy that one LOL Actually, we were camping that week anyway, there was no way I was going to prepare a cake myself. So I took a pic I liked from a coloring book we had, brought it up to the grocery store and they copied it onto a sheet cake for me. Just airbrushed the red in. MUCH LESS red dye ;)

As far as other party stuff..ugh, I dunno. I'm not so good at that part. I do a cake. Voila, special LOL

Of course, there's pin the nose on Elmo. Ummm not exactly "Elmo themed" but you could do the cotton ball transfer game. Big bowl of cotton balls, kids have X time to get as many as they can from one bowl to another, using a spoon. Can be blindfolded or not..at 3, I wouldn't worry about it so much. But for older kids, blindfolding adds to it *grins*

Make masks?
Paper plates, paints, etc. They can make any Sesame Street character they'd like.

The year I did an elmo birthday for my son was the only time I have bought a cake and decorations. I usually make them. He was only 2 so we didn't play any themed games or anything. Tara's ideas were good ones! You could also find coloring pages online and print them out, and maybe show an Elmo video? Any interest in getting a pet? You could get a "Dorothy" (goldfish) and fish bowl pretty cheap as a gift. And have goldfish snack mix?

I usually print out coloring pages - I know the pbskids.org has some really nice pages you can print out

have you thought about making a secondary theme? You know how Elmo always has one thing he focuses on - feet (sorry, we just saw this one this morning and , music, etc... then base your stuff around that...

for some reason, I am thinking super long string licorice and froot loops to make necklaces. that's a gender neutral craft and yummy, too.

a cake idea popped into my head. maybe a park theme, or something, spring, maybe, and make a 'meadow' or 'park' and put elmo in the scene doing something.

have fun!

Decorations:
~Paper streamers are always cheap. You can twist colors.
~Balloons are cheap too.
~You can print out some Elmo clip art and glue it on some foam core and hang them up. Even use one as a welcome sign maybe saying..."Can you tell me how to get to (name)'s party?"
~Got Elmo? Dolls I mean. Set them up around the house. You could even borrow some from people or have each kid bring a Sesame Street doll (see below for an idea) just make sure each has the child's name on it.

Food:
~Finger foods for 2 yr olds are super. PB & J sandwhichs, turkey and cream cheese (can doctor with a bit o' dry ranch dressing mix), or even mini cheese burgers. You can cut them out in shapes w/ cookie cutters.
~ Gold fish crackers or those mini graham crackers
~of course juice boxes or flavored water that you can put in sippy cups and in fridge the day before the party.

Cake:
I am a diehard cakecentral.com fan & get all my ideas there so...but nothin wrong with store bought Hon especially when pressed for time.

Games:
~If you have the kids bring their "animals" you could have them put on a parade. Put on some Sesame Street music and let them march all over the yard (Parents must cheer...it's a requirement ;) ).
~Bubbles are good for kiddos to play with & take home.
~You could have a Red Balloon Toss. Each child gets a red balloon and the one who keeps it up longest wins. (actually they all win but...)
Keep it simple though. Youngins get frustrated not "knowing the rules" so free play is best with this age group (least for us it has been).

Favors:
~stickers
~bath cloths that puff up in water (saw Sesame Street ones at the dollar store)
~individiual cracker packets(bought or your own mix), granola, animal crackers...whatever...
~bubbles
~waterpaints

Okay, that's all I got. HTH some. Blessings! Take pics and share! ~Kerri

Thank you all for your great websites. There are definitely some great looking cakes there.
Well, I used some ideas from other sites and came up with:
red and yellow streamers, cutlery, etc.
red goodie bags (but do you know how hard it is to find Elmo themed goodie stuff?! - so I just put in candy, small bouncy balls, playdough, bubbles, Elmo stickers, and sparkly pencils.)
we are making an Elmo craft with toilet paper tubes
I made a Pin the Nose on Elmo poster - we enlarged an image of Elmo and projected it onto the wall and coloured it in - it looks great
I made red playdough that the kids can take home with them
Elmo colouring sheets that we printed off the Internet
and last by not least I got around the whole red icing thing by making a chocolate 2 layer cake with vanilla icing, then I am going to 'draw' - we've got a small pic of Elmo's head we're going to trace around on top of the cake, along with a red # 3 and finish it with red icing around the top outside edge.
I'll let you know how it goes!