Whether you are an adult or a child, a party theme adds an interesting twist to any basic party. The ABC party theme is a simple idea for a child's party and a slightly risque idea for adult parties.

When the party is for adults, the “ABC” stands for “Anything But Clothes.” The overall idea for this type of party is really quite simple: guests are required to dress in anything other than clothes. The ABC party is a popular theme party held by college fraternities.

For an ABC party, make the dress code requirements extremely obvious well in advance of the party. Guests may come dressed in a variety of nonclothing items, including cardboard, plastic bags, duct tape, feathers, newspaper, towels and shower curtains. If guests show up in clothes, they are typically given a garbage bag and duct tape to create an outfit.

With an ABC party for children, the party theme simply revolves around the alphabet and/or numbers. It is a popular birthday party theme for children turning 2 or 3, which is typically around the ages when they learn letters.

For a child’s ABC party, allow the ABC theme to extend into all areas of the party. Decorations include alphabet blocks, alphabet books and painted wooden letters hung from the ceilings and walls. For the menu, serve pasta salad with alphabet noodles and use alphabet cookie cutters on sandwiches and sugar cookies.