Birthday Party for Daughter Turning 13 - Casselberry,FL

Dear J.,

What is her favorite music? Does she like themed parties still? A Lot of her interests will depend on what she desires to share with her friends. Does she want to have a party at night or daytime?
Maybe you can use her favorite color(s) as a part of her theme. Maybe you could set up a teen music scavenger hunt, maybe a project to see how fast the boys against the girls can build something with whatever you give as materials for the project.
I know some teens that like to theme their parties on movie trivial games. Example they have to act out a scene using a few of the party guest that try and make the rest guess what movie it is.
Look up party ideas for young teens on google!
They have some good ideas just remember to type in free ideas

D. S

When my daughter was 13 I just had her friends come over for pizza, let them bring their music and dance. I believe I had a slumber party for the girls afterward. Keep it small, it's safer.

Janelle,

Some things we did for my son at that age were, waterguns and waterballoons (boys vs. girls), pizza, freeze tag, music, rent games, movies, instead of ice cream we did a variety of popsicles and ice cream bars and such. Just letting them hang out and have a good time. You don't have to entertain them at this age, and they prefer you don't. As long as they know the rules (no physical contact, name calling, etc...) They have a blast if you just give them a few options and let them have fun. Of course, you'll need a few adults to keep an eye on things from afar and keep a head count at all times.

For my oldest daughter's 13th birthday we had a Hawaiian Luau. We had tiki torches for outside, used pineapples as centerpieces for the table, had leis and grass skirts for all the kids and told everyone to dress very, very casual, i.e., shorts, flowery shirts, etc. For food we had a meat and cheese platter (cubed) and crackers, potato chips and dip and of course, cake and ice cream. We used beach buckets to hold the potato chips and sand molds for the dip and I also had an artist friend make a lifesize cutout of a "Hula Girl" with the face removed and took pictures of each child, including the boys, believe it or not, behind the cutout with their faces showing through. We also played music from the 60's, Beach Boys kind of stuff and let them play limbo. I am happy to say that they all had a blast. My daughter's birthday is in September, but with the weather already as warm as it is, I think this would work. A lot of the items used can be bought inexpensively at Big Lots, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, etc. I hope this helped!

What I did for my oldest daughter one year I think she was turning 12 then was I invited my sister in law to come spend the night with us and her two children. That way I had a helping hand, and we had a regular party co-ed during the day which had a luau theme. Tiki torches and hawaiian music in the back yard BBQ with skewers and hot dogs and a hula hoop contest and a limbo contest. Prizes were the hula hoops and packs of gum and other cheap goodies. I had already called our neighbors and surround two streets on either side of ours to warn them of our coming and when it was dusk, we split up into two teams, my sister in law was captain of one and I was the other and we drew names out of a hat. We then had a scavenger hunt, one team on one side of the street and the other team on the other. We had flashlights and blinking stuff left over from Halloween and went out to find our list of 10 things like pencils, paperclips, coupons and so on. Then the prizes for that were given out and we then let the girls stay and the boys went home. That night my sister in law and I did makeovers on the girls while watching movies. We all slept in the living room on sleeping bags and my husband stayed in our room in shelter of all our noise and craziness. It was a blast and people to this day still talk about that party. We didn't have to go out and spend all this money, and the kids had the time of their tweens!

How about a bq and set up volley ball , water balloon fights ect. Or even a dance party out in the garage

Try a beach or pool party. Always a hit for pre-teens. If you don't have a pool find a ymca or athletic center or friends house and see if you can rent the space.

J.,

When I was that age, I loved a good ol' scavenger hunt. You could even take it up a notch and make it a video scavenger hunt. Which could mean:
video taping where they need to go, what they need, or simply video record the event. Make it themed. I bet they would love it, you would only need organization, not cash.

Take Care
J.

What about a BBQ? with music, and maybe some danceing or a small bonfire cook out with hot dogs chips or take them swiming to a local lake/ pond or rent a hotel swim pool.
Good Luck and have fun

We had a Monster Movie party for my daughter's 13th....fun! I found some old horror movies, we had bowls and bowls of popcorn and lots of soda. If you have a wide screen tv all the better, turn out the lights, turn up the sound...they will scream themselves silly!

* Be sure that the movies are okay for young viewers. You may want to list the titles on the invite so that parents don't get upset.

Have a movie night / sleepover for the girls.. boys can leave at sometime after the movie night. Have like movie theater snacks (popcorn, soda, candy)and rent some new movies your daughter might be into. Then once the boys are gone have a little sleepover party for the girls! Plan cute things like mani/pedi on each other , hair makeup (if she is allowed)girl stuff like that. Im only 18 so im kinda close to what i would have like at that age. Good luck with the party.

Have you considered a sock hop? Then let them make thier own ice cream sundae with various toppings....

Or a "Red Carpet" event. buy a roll of vinyl table cloth for the carpet ($10) and everybody can either come as themselves or dressed as their favorite star. Everybody voted for best dressed and the winner got a trophy (can be real or fake) We drew our own "Pin the Grammy" on the celbrity game. and I printed pics of the high school musical characters and had them pin them to their backs, and they had to ask "yes or no" questions to figure out who they were.

Also, is a karaoke party possible? Good luck.

My daughter just turned 13 as well. We had a girls only party though. If you get too many people you are going to have to have extra adults to help keep eyes on them. It's a great age, but some are more grown than others and will attempt whatever they think they can get away with. When you add boys that opens up a whole other set of doors that you are going to have to watch. Vice Versa ( I don't want it to seem like I am picking on the boys, I have 2 of them also).

With our oldest son we had a pool party and even still 3 of them sneaked off with each other, after saying they were going home and were going to wait for their parents out front. Parents showed up and kids weren't out front. We found them they were around the corner, but gave us a scare. So, I would say like 1 adult for every 4 -5 teens.

The pool party however, is the best way to keep them all in the same place and busy and not break the bank. The other party ideas are awesome, just when you get that age range together and mix it with boys and girls they aren't interested in the same stuff and they don't want to look uncool in front of the opposite sex.

You have the pool party, have pizza's delivered, have an ice chest full of soda's, a table set up with chips, dips, salsa.
Napkins, plates. You can get from the dollar store a box of those pool noodles as gifts for the party attenders ( in lieu of goodie bags), when they come in write their name on a noodle with permanent marker so at the end of the party they can find theirs. And let them have a fun time.
Make sure they all know that they can't leave unless it's with their parent.
Oh! and instead of cake do a decorated cookie it's easier to deal with than a cake out there.

Pool games. There are things that they can dive for. Tie a small ribbon around a dive stick and then throw them all in. Have the boys dive in and get the sticks and deliver them to the girls. The first one to get his to a girl wins a prize and the one that finds the stick with the ribbon gets a prize. Do the same with the girls.
Have them swim a lap and the first one to the other side gets a prize. Then have the best boy swim against the best girl and the winner gets a bigger prize.

For prizes you can go to Ross and get bath soap or lotions, scrubbies, things like that for the girls. You can get cool stickers for the boys at Tilly's or you could do pool type related prizes. Like sunglasses, sunscreen, lip balm, dive goggles, beach towel, inflatables. Things like that. You can make it as elaborate as you want and really not have to spend a whole lot.

If you need anymore help let me know, I have lots of experience being a party planner for kids. You can email me privately.

Have fun, this is a fun age and difficult all at the same time.

An old fashioned BBQ Hawaiian style never gets old. Decorations can be pretty cheap. And they could play games like the limbo, horseshoes, stuff like that. You could get little umbrelleas to put in thier drinks, and make em' feel older. there are so many things you could do with this theme. oriental trading company has tons of stuff to choose from. good luck.

At 13 a sleepover would be good with a few girlfriends or maybe a pizza party with boys and girls and then a sleepover with girlfriends. Girls like to talk, try on each others makeup,clothes etc. It's not necessarily cheep by the time you get the cake and ice cream and pizza, but it can be fun.

I am not sure of your living arangements but how about a camping party @ Blue Springs or Wekiva Springs- Camping, Fishing, Swimming, Volleyball...

I don't know how close Casselberry is to Apopka, but Wekiwa Springs is great for parties. If you have a pool accessible that might achieve the same goal, but definitely involving the option of swimming is great for teenagers. I also remember laser tag being lots of fun when I was in high school and middle school. If heading to the beach is an option Sebastian Inlet in Melbourne is amazing. State parks are really good options for parties. Usually you do not have to schedule for state parks just show up. Some state parks like Itcheetucknee will allow you to make reservations, but some like Rainbow Springs will not allow you to reserve pavilions. More information about Wekiwa springs can be found at http://www.floridastateparks.org/wekiwasprings/default.cfm

J., when my daughter turned ten, we had a themed disco party. It was a blast!! The kids loved to dress up in groovy threads, danced to 70's music, blasting from a DJ, (or CD's to cut cost), the disco ball and lava lamps were also a hit. Instead of the children bringing gifts, we suggested that the children bring a small donation to give to charity. My daughter chose the Humane society, and collected $$, pet food and supplies to give away. She made the local newspaper, she was very proud. Themed parties are easier to plan, ask your daughter to pick a time frame, such as the 60's, 70', 80's... we also thought of having a "hollywood" party, where the children need to dress as movie stars. It makes it fun for the children when they get involved in their outfits, and easier for you to decorate around a theme.
Good luck, and have fun!
D.

What we've done before is have everyone come to our house, I make a good lunch like spaghetti, salad, bread and then we take them all to a movie then come back to our house and have cake and gifts.

You feed them before they go so they don't need anything at the movies and you let them know you'll be eating before the movies so that no one has to purchase anything at the movies. It worked good and the kids loved it.

You can also do a party at Adventure Landing fairly reasonable and they get pizza, drinks, go-cart, tokens, 1 hr of golf and I make and took my own cake which they are okay with too. We just did this for our daughter's 13th birthday!

Hope this helps!

M. Kinzler
Independent Consultant - The Pampered Chef
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How about a scavenger hunt in a local park or even in your yard (depending upon its size). You can buy inexpensive items and hide them along with listing things from nature. The winner with the most items gets a prize (cash goes down well the older kids).

The good thing about using a public park is there is little mess to clean up and plenty of big trash cans on site. You can reserve a picnic shelter by calling your local city parks & recreation dept usually at very little to no cost. We usually do cake & icecream, spoons, paper plates & napkins all for less than $50.00(depending upon the number of kids involved).

I am a single mom with 3 kids, 11,9 & 8 and my kids are not spoilt by todays electronic world of gadgets, they love the outdoors and a chance to run and shout without being told to hush!

Good luck
M. F

When my daughter had her 13 year old co-ed party...I took them to an appropriate movie and then we came home for pizza and cake and ice cream.

however, this can be done as small or as large as you want/or can afford. We almost just watched movies at our home with pizza and cake and ice cream, but I called the theatre and they gave me such a good "group discount" that I couldn't refuse.

sadly, even at 13 you have to be careful...we had an incident where a high school boy met one of the girls at my daughters party and they were "sneaking around"....even though against my daughters protests, we still went to the movies with them, ( which was one reason why we knew about the young man) and then later at our home we stayed with them.

We have "GOOD KIDS" but they get tempted too....don't fool yourself!

sadly, yes that "one couple" had a baby in high school and the baby's daddy is no longer in the girls life. Thank good ness for her parents who continue to support her through this ordeal. GOOD FAMILY........it can happen to the best of us... JUST BE intune...listen to your gut instincts no matter how much your daughter protests! Middle
school is a "tough time" for everyone.....LOL YOU WILL SURVIVE LOL good luck

What about a beach party? Also, for my 16th (I'm 23 now) I had a Hawaiian Luau and it was the best birthday I had LOL. If you think she would be interested in doing something like that, email me (____@____.com) and I can give you plenty of ideas!

How about a "progressive dinner" type party? You could enlist several friends and /or family members to participate.

You could stay at home and have pizza and play lots of fun games. Kisa this age like that kind of thing. They mostly want to "hang out" so all of them being at one house and playing "party games" is fun for them. Google 'fun games for teens b-day' and see what you come uop with. I did this once and found lots of ideas!

Hi have two girls ages 12 & 14. We have had many co-ed partys

1. Ampitheater on A1a St. aug. Free movie meet there get snacks and watch movie.
2. Dance party at home. Ipod speakers and clear out the garage or living room and let them go for 3 hours. Pizza and drinks. Let the music be loud and the adults just sit outside occasionaly walking thru. Designate boys bathroom and girls. All bedrooms closed and taped off.

3. Scavenger hunt in neighbor hood.

4. Flash light tag in neigborhood.

5. Depending on # of kids have at least 2 adults watching not drinking and partying too!

Have fun relax and KNOW/MEET the kids and there parents you invite. (get phone numbers of parents and meet each one at drop off ). Make sure pick up time is understood.

A.