Birthday Party Countdown

As many of you know, we've already set a date for Alli's 1st birthday bash. It's going to be October 29th, the Saturday after her birthday. The week before her birthday, we'll be driving down to Duck Key, FL to go to a friend's wedding, so we'll be quite busy in the weeks prior to her big day. Being the planner that I am, I've already been looking into what type of theme, cake, decorations, etc. we should do for her. I know she probably won't remember any of this, but you only turn one once... and I want it to be special. So, any good ideas or thoughts? We have friends that suggested doing a dress-up theme, and letting the other kids that are invited wear their Halloween costumes to the party since it's so close to Halloween, but I'm not sold on that. I remember how much I hated (and still hate) if people combined Christmas and my birthday just because they were a few days apart. I don't want that to be the case for Alli as well, I want them to be two distinct celebrations. I'm sure that maybe one day we'll have a Halloween themed party, but I want that to be only if she chooses she wants it that way. I've got some ideas on decorations, cake, etc... but still can't decide on a theme. So, on that note, I'll just leave you with a picture of her from last Halloween... see look, I'm already combining her birthday with Halloween in the same blog post. Parenting fail. :(