Birthday Party Ideas for Tweens

Some birthday party ideas that have worked for us:

– My tween has an August bday. We held a party for her at the outdoor pool where we are members. Several of the guest were also members. I purchased a guest pass to cover the other kids. Since all tweens are dropped off, I did not have to pay for parents. I served hot dogs (used the grill at the pool), chips, fruit salad, and soda. I intended to serve juice, but the kids spotted the sodas in the cooler and let’s just say that I saw more than one of the kids drinking two sodas! My teen made the cake. I purchased cake plates and napkins with the theme she chose, but used regular white plates, napkins, and cups for the hot dogs. The kids swam. We had a treasue hunt game. We played pass the parcel. The party lasted 3 hours.

– My teen when she was a tween had sleepover birthdays for a few years. We had kids arrive at 5 p.m. Did a “getting to know you” craft since she invited friends from school plus volleyball — foam doorknob hangers, wooden picture frames. I ordered pizza. Served juice or soda. ninceI removed the soda from the table at about 9 p.m. since I didn’t want the kids to get too hyped up on soda. From 9 p.m. I put out small water bottles labelled with each kid’s name plus popcorn. The kids watched the 1st movie — I picked something PG. If I was worried about the title I would call the moms before the party to check on the appropriateness of the movie. Before the second movie, I had kids change in to pajamas, brush teeth, and I put away the popcorn. Once the second movie went off it was lights out. I let kids know that we had activities the next day, plus so did they. Told kids to be quiet. Kids were quiet, but stayed up late. Sleepovers are not fun for me, but my tweens love them.

Some posts I have written on birthday parties… http://www.musingsfromme.com/birthday-parties-through-the-years/; http://www.musingsfromme.com/island-magic-wizards-of-waverly-place-house-party/; and http://www.musingsfromme.com/hosting-the-most-over-the-top-birthday-bash/

I write about preteens here and over here and chat about preteens here.