Planning Successful Birthday Parties For Your Teen

Planning birthday parties for your teen can be a challenge. You need to juggle a reasonable budget, fun-filled activity, and decide on a suitable location. However, having successful birthday parties for your teen doesn’t have to be stressful. Here are six keys to party planning success that will leave you and your teen happy.

1. Discuss party expectations with your teenager.
2. Create a reasonable budget.
3. Find a theme based on your teen’s interests.
4. Include music that your teen likes and approves of.
5. Set clear ground rules before the start of the party.
6. Remember the event is for your teen and take a step back from taking over the party planning.

Planning Successful Birthday Parties For Your Teen

If you’re brave enough, you may be willing to throw your kid or pre-teen's birthday party at your home. This can sometimes be more cost effective and even more fun for your guests. Outdoor parties will save your home from too much damage, but you have to have a back-up plan in case the weather isn’t pleasant. Consider planning a scavenger hunt in your neighborhood for your child or pre-teen's birthday parties. Create a few teams and give them a list of things to find within a few blocks of your house. Be sure to hand out prizes at the end to each team. Or try a camping theme where the kids sleep outside in the back yard and take part in activities like flashlight tag. If you need more help planning birthday parties for your teen, check out the Celebrate Express Website. They have an entire section on party planning that will help you get ideas on everything from themes and games to cake recipes and decorating ideas. If you want to send invitations for birthday parties online, you can do that through their electronic invitations.

Keeping Teen Birthday Parties Safe

Teen birthday parties can be a blast. Teen parties also need ground rules to make sure everything goes smoothly. To ensure teen birthday parties stay safe, set up these guidelines for the next event.

1. Make sure a teen party has adult supervision.
2. Make it clear no alcoholic beverages are to be allowed at teen birthday parties.
3. Keep anything you don’t want out during a party locked away.
4. Make a limit on the noise level of the music.
5. Restrict the guest list of partygoers to a reasonable and manageable number.
6. Have a cut-off time for the end of the party and stick to it.

Teen Birthday Party Ideas For Every Budget

Looking for ideas to plan a teen birthday party? There are countless possibilities, depending on your budget, party size, and interests. We’ve compiled some variations on teen birthday party ideas for every type of cost consideration:

Beach Bonfire:
Budget: Low

Get there in the late afternoon and hold a mini sand castle building contest. As the sun sets, roast marshmallows, pack some picnic grub, sit around a beach bonfire, and tell stories. It’s easy, low-cost, and fun.

Survivor Party:
Budget: Moderate

Pick out an “exotic locale” and send out invitations accordingly. Decorate with items like tiki torches and tropical greenery. Have party members divide up into tribes. Set up games like having the tribes compete to build their own shelters and do a neighborhood scavenger hunt. Don’t forget to feed the famished islanders – a sampling of Hawaiian food will do the trick.

Concert Party-
Budget: High

Pick the favorite band of your choice, invite several of your closest friends, and get front row tickets to see a concert. Rent a limo to take everyone to a meal before hand and cruise the town after the concert before heading home. If you’re really diligent, you can secure backstage passes by going through the band’s fan club or a radio show. For favors, pass out a goody bag with CD’s from the band, concert t-shirts, and posters.

Teen Birthday Party Games

By the time a child reaches his or her teens, pin the tail on the donkey is just not that fun anymore. Luckily, there are many options that are perfect for teen birthday party games.

One idea that is fun for girls and a bit scary for any boys who are at the party is a scavenger hunt that is limited to purses. Break the kids up into teams and have the teams hunt for the items on the list in their team's purses. The first team to find everything on the list gets a special prize. (Obviously, there can't be any boys only teams, unless one of the boys is carrying a purse!)

Anything that is messy or gross is still popular with most teens. Egg races, guessing what is in different covered containers by feel or smell and water balloon wars are all good choices. Truth or dare type games are also very popular, but can sometimes get out of hand if they are not supervised.

For girls, any activities that have something to do with makeup, glamour photos or other girly themes are sure to be a hit. If most of them are similar in size, a wardrobe swap can also be fun. Have them each bring a few pieces to swap and make sure you have ten or so extra trendy pieces to add to the pile.

Birthday Party Ideas For the Tween Crowd

Need some birthday party ideas for your tween boy or girl? For tween parties, you need some sophisticated ideas combined with some wholesome fun. These tween birthday party ideas will be a guaranteed hit with your preteen.

American Idol Party – It’s not just any singing party, it’s an American Idol Party. Have the birthday teen play one of the judges along with two buddies. Guests can sing their hearts out to compete for prizes. Don’t forget to have contestant numbers for each guest. Record the contest on video and play it back at the end of the party.

Shopping Spree – It’s a must have party for tween girls. Have the birthday girl and several of her closet friends hit the mall for lunch. Arrange to have a department store beauty session for each guest. The favors can be a few makeup goodies from their beauty makeover. Then round out the birthday celebration with some shopping!

Polynesian Party– This tween party can be as simple or elaborate as you like. Decorate with some palm tree cut outs, pineapple centerpieces, and festive lights. Add some Polynesian music and serve fruit smoothies. If you want to kick it up a notch, add some hula lessons and a Polynesian fire dance show.

How To Make A Piñata For Your Teen Party

Want to have a piñata at an upcoming teen party? You can buy one, but it’s also a fun project to make for your next teen party. This straightforward how-to guide will tell you how it’s done.

What you’ll need:

1 round balloon
2 cups of flour
3 cups of water
Small bowl
6-7 newspaper print sheets
Scissors
Long Needle
Paint
Flat-edged paintbrush
Colored crepe paper
Glue
String

How To Make A Piñata For Your Teen Party

Here is how to make a Piñata:

1. Blow up the balloon to about 16” in diameter and tie the end.
2. Mix flour and water together in small bowl until it becomes a smooth paste.
3. Use scissors to cut newspaper into 1” wide strips.
4. Dip newspaper strips in mixture.
5. Overlap the strips until 3-4 layers covers the entire balloon, except for a hole at the top of the balloon.
6. Allow the strips to dry for about 24 hours.
7. Using the long needle, pop and remove the balloon.
8. Design and paint your balloon with different colors.
9. Decorate with the piñata by gluing crepe paper.
10. Puncture two holes near the opening of the piñata and insert a string several inches in length.
11. Fill your piñata with candy and toy surprises.
12. Tie the string and hang up the piñata for your teen party.

18th Birthday Party Ideas

It can be a bit of a challenge to find some good 18^th birthday party ideas. Eighteen is an age when most children feel that they are adults. They can vote, join the army, or move out on their own. Boy bands and makeovers are no longer quite as exciting. So, what themes can you use for your child's 18th birthday?

For many teens, a visit to the local paintball range is plenty of fun, but it does cost quite a bit. Why not set up your own version of a paintball course?

• Collect light-colored, loose clothing that is no longer wanted or head to your local home improvement store to shop for painters' overalls. Don’t forget to pick up protective eye gear, as well.
• Give the kids water guns instead of paintball guns and dye the water you put in the water guns for each team with a different color of food coloring.
• Create an obstacle course with plenty of things to hide behind and give each team a home base and a flag to guard. If your yard is small, ask a local farm or park if you can use space for the game.

13th Birthday Theme

Your child is turning 13 and is complaining that the adorable bedroom you so lovingly created several years ago is downright babyish. Why not throw a room makeover party for a 13^th birthday theme that is useful and makes your child happy?

• Make sure you pack up the room ahead of time. Four to six kids in one room equals a whole lot of awkward limbs waving about and everything fragile is living on borrowed time if it is still out.
• Allow your child to pick the paint color even if you hate it. After all, unless you are putting the house on the market next week, paint is just not a big deal. Since almost every teen wants a black room, be prepared for that request with a suggestion that you paint just one wall black or offer to allow black trim with a white or gray room. This way, when the black phase ends and you're trying to cover up that dark paint with a new color, you'll only have to put three or four coats of paint on a small portion of the room.
• Provide unlimited pizza and drinks for the hardworking teens and be prepared to do a lot of painting yourself when it turns out most of what they've applied has ended up in their hair and on their clothes.

Teen Birthday Party Themes

Just because your child is over 12 doesn't mean he or she is too old to have a little fun. Teen birthday party themes can be silly because most teens enjoy having an excuse to act less grown up than usual.

Costume party themes are really popular with teens. You can throw the party with no specific type of costume in mind or limit it to fairytale, Manga, or movie characters. Decorate the room to reflect the theme and make sure you rent some movies in that genre for the kids to view when they are ready for some down time.

For girls, a spa party is a lot of fun, especially if you can afford to take them to a real spa. If you hold the party at home, don't forget to add spa touches, like plushy white robes and slippers.

For boys, anything sports-related is usually a good idea. A trip to a local sports center is fairly easy to arrange. However, a day spent hanging out with the local sports team is really amazing. While the pro teams probably aren't available unless you have a huge birthday party budget, a few members of the minor league teams are often willing to at least spend a few hours with a group of kids during their off season for a price that isn't astronomical.

Teen Birthday Idea for a New Driver

Your child is just turning 16 and you need a fantastic teen birthday idea to commemorate this special day. If he or she is a new driver or is about to take the driving test, why not use this event as the party theme?

• Just because the car the birthday boy or girl currently drives is a real clunker, there is no reason to avoid party supplies with a sports car theme. However, if your child has a sense of humor, you may want to opt for supplies with the Cars cartoon movie characters on them, especially if they feature the battered, but goodhearted, Mater.
• Gifts for this party should be car related. Driving gloves, an old fashioned duster, an AAA membership, a GPS navigator, a lug wrench, an emergency battery charger, a tire pump that hooks into the lighter, mix CDs perfect for road trips and safe driving lessons are all great gifts for a new driver theme.
• Activities can include seeing who can take the worst drivers license photo at a station that has been set up to resemble your local drivers license mug shot area (Don’t forget the stereotyped unhelpful and rude employee.) and a race car video game tournament.