Birthday Party Ideas for a 4 Yr Old Girl and a Boy-girl Pary for a 13 Yr Old Gir

The Westerville Rec Center near Polaris and off of Cleveland Ave. has an awesome pool with water slides, and a lazy river that would be great for kids of all ages.

I just has my daughters party at Pump it Up. It's great they have all the blow up bouncers and the kids of all ages had a ball. Plus the adults can play too check out the wedsite. www.pumpitup.com.

How about a bowling party? It is gender friendly. They even offer bumper bowling which stops gutter balls. Or check into a Fun Center that offers bowling and maybe lazer tag. Check your local phone book. Or you have a birthday party at a roller skating rink, some offer party packages. HAVE A GREAT PARTY.

Do you have a friend who your daughter wouldn't recognize? I had a Barbie Tea party for my daughter when she was 4. A friend of mine wore and old brides maid dress, fake eyelashes, hair real cute, etc... She was Barbie. My daughter is 9 now and she doesn't believe in any of our mythical holiday characters any more but she still believes the real Barbie came to her birthday! Barbie served the girls little tea size sandwiches, and "koolaid" tea. She helped them all make their garden hats (bought plain straw hats, fake flowers, beads and other decorations for the girls to glew on) and played jump rope with them. It was a blast!
As far as the 13-year-old, what about having an amazing race or a scavenger hunt? I know December birthdays are hard but if your house is big enough or the kids don't mind the cold it could be a lot of fun. I planned a scavenger hunt for my house as a B plan to my child's swim party this year. Luckily we didn't need it but it would have been fun. You could always do an indoor swim party. A movie theater party is fun too for that age. Borrow a projector and show a movie on the wall, instead of traditional goodie bags, have movie snacks, ask all the kids to come as their favorite actor or character. Good luck!

Hi R.,

Try familyfun.com. They have some great ideas for all age groups. Have fun!!

What about for the 13 year old's party in December...a beach theme. Of course you would have to buy everything this summer - but kind of like "Christmas in July" - You'd have the opposite. I don't know what the weather is like where you live in December, but no matter what your daughter says, you're going to want to have something planned like activities, because if everyone shows up and just sits around, they'll all be embarrassed, especially if this is most of their first boy/girl parties. Dancing might make them feel funny/akward also.
OR
What about having a movie theme? Rent a new release movie (or a few they can choose from), let them make their own popcorn (have some special salt toppings) and get their own drinks (have a cooler with a bunch of soda) then they'll feel independant and you'll be able to hear them conversing and interacting in the kitchen. 13 year old boys LOVE Food! You could even buy a bunch of boxes of candy like at the movies.
It really depends on the personality of the guests/kids.

The 4 year old party. I like the idea of the kids doing their own favor - like painting a canvas board, or a ceramic, or making their own frame. The it takes up time at the party and serves as a favor as well. Who decided it was expected to hand out favors to the party guests, anyway? - LOL

Good luck and hope your parties turn out well - Its good that you are planning early!.
You can go to Familyfun.com and look at their party ideas as well.

~B.

I agree with you, 4 years old is way too young to be wearing make-up! Society is constantly trying to make girls feel like they aren't pretty enough the way they are, and that they need to grow up faster and faster, so I wouldn't do make-up yet.

I just went to a 5 year old's birthday party a week ago, and they actually didn't have any games planned. The kids just played together with her toys, and played with the new toys she got for gifts. It was just fine. The kids had fun, and didn't seem to care about any games. They might really like playing dress up, though. I love your idea of feathered boas! What fun!

For the teenager, what about a 50's diner kind of theme? You could do burgers and french fries and malts, and it is easy to find decorations at Factory Card Outlet or another party store. If your daughter is really into it they could all dress up, have 50's music, and 50's type party games. Another fun idea would be to have a Luau. It's easy to find decorations at FCO or Party Source for a Luau, too, and it would be a fun switch from all the holiday stuff going on in December. You could serve fruit smoothies, fruit pizza (fabulous-fruit on top of a cream cheese kind of layer with a Pilsbury Dough bottom- I've got the recipe if you want it), little sandwiches with party toothpicks, or anything with a summer or tropical flair to it. They could play Limbo- that's always a hit! I remember doing that when I was that age, and both the girls and boys had fun. You could do leis and fun Hawaiian music. Man, I want to do a party now! Have fun! I hope this helps! =)

Hi,
There is a great website called birthday express that has so many different ideas and themes. For your 4yr old, does she like Disney princess things? There are some really cute things on this website. I also love the tea party idea too. For the boy-girl party, how about a hawaiian party? Even though it will be in December, it will take the kids minds off of the cold and snowy weather.

Hi R., My best friend just went through this with her daughter. Most of the kids had theme parties, disco, luau, hippie, things like that. A great place for supplies is Oriental Trading, you can get quite a few ideas from there.Love the idea of a tea party for your 4 yr old, I have a 3 almost 4 yr old son and we have wrestlers and cars and trucks all over the place our birthday parties are usually madness! A tea party sounds so civilized!!! Good luck and let everyone know how it all goes

Are you looking for ideas for the 13 year old party? I wouldn't do anything obviously geared for female only guests, but it shouldn't be any more stressful than any other party. We've always invited all of the kids' friends to our parties - male and female. We usually have them at the pizza/game room or bowling alley and everyone always has a great time.

I've been planning and hosting bday parties at Joseph-Beth in Lyndhurst for a couple of years now and the very best website with great bday ideas is "amazingmoms.com". Peruse that to get theme, decoration and games n activities ideas. We use a dress up trunk for our tea parties and the girls LOVE it but you could also encourage them to come all dressed up. (And check out the book "Fancy Nancy" it's a huge hit at our store for girly girls) Check out OrientalTrading.com for inexpensive decorations and/or goody bag stuffers.

Your 13 year old co-ed going to be a little bit harder. I would consider doing a "Teen Mystery" from the "How To Host a Mystery" line. These were super popular a while back and essentially you buy the kit (we don't carry them anymore but I know that they're still available), make the recommended foods, asign someone to be the host (I vote mom) and then the kids are assigned their role playing parts, in advance so they can get into character. The game is a big bunch of fun if the kids are excited about it.

I hope this helps!

I just had a "tea" party birthday party for my 3-yr old daughter in September and it was a huge success.

I told the girls to wear their best "dress-up" clothes but not to worry about their hair and faces. When they got here, I had "stations" set up at the table with mirrors and a child's makeup kit for each of them (they got to take it home with them when they were done as part of their party favor). They all did their makeup (with help from the moms) then they came over to the "styling" stations at the bar in the kitchen where the moms did their hair however they wanted.

We took before pictures then after pictures, which I had developed and then put each in a small frame from the dollar store that was part of their thank you note for the gift. (Also took pictures of each girl and my daughter with the gift she brought and gave those pictures - along with tons of pictures of all the girls getting fancied up. Made copies of all pictures and gave them to the girls that were in each photo - they love seeing photos of themselves.)

After that, they sat down to a tea party where they decorated their own cupcakes (sprinkles, etc.) and had lemonade, all with my daughter's play tea set. I only had 4 girls at the party so it was pretty easy to manage. Was a lot of fun and my daughter and all the girls are still talking about it!

Wish I could help with the teenager but not there yet (am dreading it though)... Good luck w/everything!

For the 4-year-old, a tea party would be great. Make sure to indicate in the invitations that the girls should dress up, so they know what to expect.

For the 13-year-old, ASK her what she has in mind. Does she want to play games, dance, or just sit around and chat and snack. Don't be nervous, just find out her intentions.

Best wishes and have fun.

i heard someone did a "fear factor" birthday theme and it turned out great. made gross food to eat-chocolate covered bugs(real ones)and activities. maybe on-line you can find some great ideas. good luck! M.