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Here are four recipes for lightly colored non-alcoholic punches made with club soda or 7-Up.

Light Punch 1
Mix together and freeze: six cups of water, one cup sugar, ninety two ounces of pineapple juice and two 12 ounce cans of both frozen lemonade concentrate and frozen orange juice concentrate. Place the frozen mixture in a very large punch bowl. Pour 7-Up or club soda to create an icy mixture that will turn slushy.

Light Punch 2
In a large punch bowl, pour two cans each of frozen orange juice concentrate and frozen lemonade concentrate. Add eight cups of water, two cups of grenadine syrup, an amount of lemon juice equivalent to three lemons and twelve cups of 7-Up or club soda. Slice and garnish with lemon and orange slices.

Light Punch 3
Chill and add forty six ounces each of both pineapple and orange juice in a large punch bowl. Carefully add eight cups of 7-Up and stir slowly in to avoid losing all the carbonate bubbles. Add four cups of your favorite lightly colored sherbet. Garnish with strawberries.

Light Punch 4
Blend in a large punch bowl, two quarts of white grape juice, eight cups of 7-Up and 4 cups of club soda.

So you've decided to have a beach birthday party at the local watering hole. Here are some ideas in the way of beach food, activities and beach birthday party decorations.

Beach food: this is a party that begs for grilled food. Hot dogs, chicken, hamburgers and macaroni and potato salads are a must. Spice up your burgers with various toppings such as pineapple slices, mushrooms, onions and avocados.‚ Set up a cooler full of sodas and other beverages as well.

Beach activities: look into watercraft rentals offered at many beaches, bays and lakes. If your party is going to continue into the evening, look for a place that allows campfires so you can roast marshmallows. Other options include sandcastle building contests, water balloon catching contests‚ and beach limbo using a bamboo pole. Frisbees, volleyball and back gammon are also good beach games.

Beach birthday party decorations: decorate the buffet table by covering it with a beach blanket. Place food on top of an old surfboard or one bought in a party store. Or make your own surfboard with plywood and paint. You can also stand up surfboards in the sand around the party area. Play beach music such the Beach Boys or a CD of tropical steel drums. For invitations, send the specifics on a deflated beach ball guests must inflate to read (and ask them to bring the balls to the party for more fun beach activities). Decorate tables with shells -- either from the beach itself or bought from a party store. Drape fisherman's nets around the area and attach some starfish and buoys to them.

DAY 1: THE TOP OF THE WORLD

Airline visitors arrive by way of McCarran International Airport, five miles away from the main business district. Your transportation options are a limousine ride, a shuttle bus trip or a rental-car ride. Be warned that traffic can be an issue, especially once you get to the main drag. Once on the strip, many tourists take the tram, enjoy the monorail or walk with comfortable shoes and lots of water.
The Las Vegas economy is based on year-round entertainment for tourists. As a result, there's a hotel on the famous Las Vegas Strip to meet your wildest traveling dreams if you're willing to pay for it. Among the major casino hotels on the Strip, we prefer the Bellagio, which is elegantly based on the Italian resort of the same name. There's a first-class casino inside, a picturesque lake outside and the unforgettable Bellagio fountains, which spring to life every 15 minutes and are set to music. For first-timers who'd rather stay in a luxury casino-less hotel (some quiet away from the storm), try the Four Seasons Hotel. There's much comfort here and extras are included -- a change from the standard pricing on the Strip.
Start your Vegas tour with some thrill-seeking from the highest observation tower in the country: the Stratosphere, which is at the northern end of the Strip. At an impressive 1,149 feet, you can see the entire Strip. If you're feeling daring, try the aptly named Insanity, which holds and spins you off the tower's edge via a mechanical arm. Don't leave until you have a bite at Top of the World Restaurant, where Chef Mario Andreoni offers award-winning wine and a three-course gourmet lunch.

Back at street level, make your way down to the Imperial Palace, located between Sands Avenue and Flamingo Road. Here you'll see The Auto Collections, the most sizable showroom of classic automobiles in the world. The 250-plus cars on display are worth over $100 million dollars. If you look carefully, you'll spot an old 1939 Royal Sedan of Johnny Carson's and a 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback from Gone in Sixty Seconds.
When you arrive at The Venetian, Vegas's Venice-themed standout, you'll be ready for dinner. Thomas Keller, coined America's Best Chef by Time, has just the meal at Bouchon, located at the top of the Venezia tower. Start with some gnocchi à la Parisienne before moving on to chocolate mousse for dessert.

What's next? Gambling, of course. The marble-floored Venetian casino covers over 100,000 square feet of gaming with a nearby lake and hand-painted ceilings. There are games galore, including slots and table games with the Venetian Poker Room never too far away.
For shows, there's The Phantom of the Opera in the Palais Garnier-themed theater. When you're ready to unwind, head upstairs to the TAO Nightclub where fast energy and good drinks go hand-in-hand in two dance rooms and on a substantial outside deck. And if the Venetian hasn't got you into trouble yet, there's much more to come.

DAY 2: FROM NEW YORK TO PARIS

Your second day in Las Vegas is a perfect New York day. At Tropicana Avenue on the Strip, you'll find the Brooklyn Bridge leading to New York-New York, a smaller-scale version of the Big Apple. You'll spot the Statue of Liberty outside, along with other Manhattan fixtures like the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings. Play a few rounds at the Central Park-themed casino or check out the Greenwich Village replica (complete with manhole covers). For lunch, try the Mexican-themed Gonzalez Y Gonzalez. If you don't want tequila with your chicken tamales, have

a cold one at Nine Fine Irishmen, a Victorian-style bar with a heavy Irish influence. There's nothing like New York in Nevada.

Cross the Strip and fly one way to Paris, just past Harmon Avenue. Another famed re-creation, this one has replicas of the L'Arc de Triomphe, La Fontaine des Mers, the Paris Opera House, and the Louvre. Most noticeable is the Eiffel Tower, standing at half the scale of the original, with an indoor casino elevator to take you to the observation level. There's also a pool that's shaded by the Tower and complemented by a scenic French garden. Why not challenge the casino folk to a Euro-friendly game of roulette and walk through the cobblestone "streets" of Paris like Le Boulevard? Street performers, statues and fresh pastries are waiting. Ah, the comforts of Paris without flying over the Atlantic.
Go past Flamingo Road and back West to our preferred dinner spot, Spago, located within the entity that is Caesars Palace. There you can enjoy Wolfgang Puck's transplanted California cuisine from an indoor patio that peeks into Caesars’ colossal Forum Shops, one of the best people-watching spots in town. Try Executive Chef Eric Klein's chilled main lobster salad for an elegant introduction to Caesars Palace.
It's gambling time and Caesars Palace has been a classic Las Vegas institution for players since 1966. Fountain statues are common here and the uncanny architecture lends itself nicely to a large casino that is 30,000 square feet larger than your first night at the Venetian. Slot machines are a Caesars favorite because they're known to host more million-dollar jackpots than anywhere else. Take note of the playing cards, which are carefully decorated with insignias of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.

Caesars hosts live events in the Coliseum, which has been home to Elton Johnand Jerry Seinfeld. Higher up, there's Pure, a nightclub covering 40,000 square feet with four sets of DJs. Have a few drinks and brave the twisting staircase to the elongated outdoor terrace. For late-night entertainment to end day two, try The Pussycat Dolls Lounge for some perky burlesque performers

DAY 3: GOLFING AND BEACHING

Golf at the Bali Hai starts your last day in Las Vegas. It sits close to the Mandalay Bay Resort on the southern end of the Strip. A 7,000-yard Indonesian-themed course, the green is surrounded by palm trees, tropical plants and water features with white sand and volcanic rock used for separation. After your game, eat at the nearby Cili Restaurant and let Executive Chef Stan Carroll introduce you to his cashew chicken extravaganza.
Relax while you explore the rest of the Mandalay Bay Resort, starting with the Shark Reef Aquarium. A water display of sea predators, it's a close-up view of sharks, piranhas and crocodiles, among others, in the third largest tank on the continent. With water on the brain, take a break on Mandalay

's stunning 11-acrebeach with multiple swimming pools and real sand. There's even the Moorea Beach Club with dipping pools and spa treatments for extra rejuvenation.
For your final night in Las Vegas, the MGM Grand, a movie-themed mainstay, will be your destination. Travel north and then east toward the bronze MGM lion that guards the Grand's doors and find dinner at Emeril's New Orleans Fish House. At this Cajun-themed eatery, Emeril Lagasse brings Bourbon Street flair to a mostly seafood menu. Try the steaming grouper for a seafood smorgasbord.
What better place to go for your last night of slots, table games and poker than to the biggest casino in Vegas? With classic movie-themed interiors, there's an aura of class and respectability in the MGM Grand, and a lion habitat for you to peer at on gambling breaks.
At the MGM Grand people know how to party. Besides visiting concert acts and Cirque du Soleil's KÀ spectacle, there's Studio 54, a take-off on the original NYCdisco haven. Inside are four dance rooms with all of the dazzling colors you could ask for, with wall walkers for good measure. Also have a cocktail with flavored ice cubes at the stylish Rouge or tempt your luck at Tabu, where scantily clad models are your bar servers. This deluxe nightspot of MGM's is certainly grand enough to serve as your Las Vegas final