Reader Party Tips - Party tips for kids sent in by readers

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Reader's Birthday Party Tips

Did I mention that I love my readers? :-) You are all the greatest! I am truly honored and grateful to be a part of your family's life.

Thanks to the readers who are sending party tips! Do you have a party tip to contribute for this page? Please send it here: My Party Tips. Read on for more great birthday party tips:

Goody Bags - "We are celebrating my son's 3rd Birthday. I was shopping for goody bags and found none (at the store I was in) so rather than going store to store I found these little gift boxes that say Happy Birthday all over them. These were in red which go along with the theme I had in mind. But as I filled them I thought to myself that every parent should use something of this sort because not only will it sit perfect on a table next to the cake but it would be easier for the child to carry. I gave one to my son so that he could walk around the house with it and he loved it." - Maria
Planning - "DO NOT WAIT TILL THE LAST MINUTE, PLAN WAY WAY AHEAD OF TIME. TRUST ME!! "
Menu & Themes - "For me the menu was the hardest part, deciding what to make that everyone will eat, and if any kids are allergic to anything it is a killer. Ask about allergic foods or if there is something that they cannot have, and if there is, stick to an easy hot dog, cheeseburger, kind of menu ... nothing fancy. Another hard part for me was the themes. There were so many to pick from. I liked some that she did not like and it took a while to figure it out. if you are having this problem, let the child pick the theme, it saves a lot of time."
Goody Bags - "I have a really great tip for goody bags and I would also like to say that your site is great. My daughter had a great birthday party thanks to you. My daughter's friend had a spa party and for her goody bags, she bought inexpensive make-up bags and filled it with fake beauty products like candy lipstick, lip gloss, and an eye-shadow case that was actually a mini watercolor paint set. I thought that was a wonderful idea and all the girls loved it. - Annette"
Pre-teen "60s" party - " By tying all these activities together with some food and decorations, you are on your way to hosting a fun sleepover for a group of girls.

Start by decorating the house with lava lamps, or using colored light bulbs in your existing lamps. Be sure to have plenty of throw pillows on the floor for the girls to sit/lay on. Multi-colored streamers, a black light and balloons are also a nice touch.

You will need veggies and dip, bowls of chips and candy for snacking. For the main meal, the girls will enjoy creating their own pizzas. You can buy prepared pizza crusts such as Bobolis, jarred pizza sauce, and shredded cheese. Place various toppings like pepperoni, sliced mushrooms, sliced olives, etc. in bowls. The girls can assemble their own pizzas and an adult can bake them in the oven.

For the birthday cake, any boxed cake mix fixed according to package directions can be made. Frost the cake with white frosting. Place small drops of food color randomly on top of the cake. Use a plastic spatula or a butter knife to swirl the dye on top of the cake in a tie dye design. Additional color can be added to the cake by placing M-n-M's or skittles around the base of the cake.

Two arts and craft activities that can be done with the girls are tie dye clothing and beaded jewelry. The tie dye activity should be supervised by an adult, but the beading activity can be done without adult supervision. Both activities provide each girl with a party favor to take home that they created.

To tie dye, pre-wash 100% white cotton t-shirts, socks and boxer shorts. Each girl will need a pair of latex gloves, several various sized rubber bands, and a shirt, pair of socks and boxer shorts. An adult should mix the fabric dye according to package directions in a large bucket. The girls then place the rubber bands on various areas of the clothing making sure they are wound tightly around the fabric. The clothing will then be placed in the dye for several hours. In the morning, the dye needs to be rinsed from the clothes according to package directions. Then the clothing needs to be washed and dried.

For the beading activity each girl will need a variety of beads, beading thread, clasps and a beading tray. All of these supplies can be bought at a craft store such as Michael's. The girls can string together necklaces, anklets, and bracelets while watching movies or just talking."
Teen Romantic Party Idea - "Hi! My name is Brittany and I am 14 years old. I am known with my friends for being a somewhat "over-the-top" party-thrower. All teenage girls have a crush. No matter what they say (unless they have a boyfriend). Therefore, every teenage girl dreams of having an awesome party where she can invite this "Prince" and they can dance the night away. I have always wanted to have a very awesome "Fairy Tale" party where you basically dress up (kinda like Halloween) but you can be in a very pretty prom dress, etc. Believe me on this one, everyone will love it."
RSVP Brilliance - I don't know what happens now-a-days but people hardly RSVP anymore! So, on my invitations I write the following little poem:

Your RSVP
Is important to me
A "no" or "yes"
So we don't have to guess :)

- Lori, Florida
Teen Hotel Party - "Fun night at a hotel with your 10 closest friends - For my friend's 13th birthday party she invited 10 of her closest friends, including me, and we all went to a nice hotel. The hotel room was only about 350 dollars for 2 rooms. This hotel had a nice pool that had a slide which is a must for the 13-14 year old girls. it was probably one of the 'funnest' birthday parties ever. We ordered room service, her parents went out and got Chinese food. During the day we went swimming and went on the water slide and chilled out in our rooms. Then after we ate dinner and settled our stomachs from the food...we went back to the pool until 10 o'clock when the pool closed. We stayed up, talked, prank called and just had tons and tons of fun! I would recommend this party to everyone and anyone! it was such a blast."
Teen Party - Noise factor - "If the kids start getting really quiet it is probably either a fight or spin-the-bottle so watch out for noise." - P.J. Girl
Keep Things Moving - "Don’t have the guests stand around too long. Keep everything moving and have the games be with everyone!! And make up some embarrassing games and make people do them even if they don’t want to!! Then it's funny for everyone!!" - Carla
Do It Yourself - "Don't bother with fancy expensive dos, you can do it yourself.

here are some examples:

*mum [Mom] the entertainer- you get a table or a couple of boxes and cover it in a large sheet or table cloth and get some puppets or dolls and voila a puppet show and supply some tea time snacks and get a few novelty magic tricks from a costume/magic shop.

you could also play some of the classic games, and give little party favors with sweets and things.

*football party- just let them kick a ball around for a few hours and have a snack table in case our and David Beckhams get tired out, you could give cheap footballs or football stickers as a going home present.

*disco- no DJ, no hall and no pocket burning this is good if you have a big room in your house though you may have to clear space in the middle first then get a CD/tape player and be a DJ. you can hand out cheap glittery accessories for girls or football stickers for boys, balloons are also good party favors." - Madeline
Teen Party Ideas - "I’m turning 14 this October and I was planning on having a Halloween/ costume party. Also, a friend of mine had a formal dinner party, where every one had to were a fancy dress (of course for the girls!) to the party, and the dinner consisted of five courses." - Debbie A.
Pirate Party! "When my daughter was turning 8, myself and a friend dressed all the children as pirates, by cutting up bandanas from lining material and sewing curtain rings on as earrings and then drawing beards on their faces with face paints. The birthday girl got a captains outfit from a hire shop and then we took them all to a sheltered wood and had some great games involving "treasure"-chocolate coins and sweets. It was Halloween time and then we had a "feast" in the woods with them. We went back to the house and had an "Abba" disco and the kids wouldn't go home. Last one left at half ten, having arrived at 2.30pm. Those kids are now 16 and still talk about her party when she was eight!" - Claire
Keep Kids Hydrated! "Make sure u have lots of drinks as children easily get dehydrated." - Martha & Arthur
Sweet 16 Party - “For my daughters sweet 16 we rented a VFW hall and a DJ Her theme is dancing under the moonlight. We used card stock and poster board and made moons and star decorations. I found some white glitter card stock and we made stars and moons and with the left over we hole punched some confetti. I am also using glow in the dark balloons along with regular balloons .For favors I purchased blue glow necklaces. We made her invitations by taking black card stock and silver velum paper. I ran the velum throw the computer and print out the saying then placed the silver on top of the black, punched two holes in the top and threaded a ribbon to hole the two pieces together then took a decorative scissors and cut around the edge of the black paper. For the food we will order from browns chicken. I will make the cake.” - Lisa
A few good tips from Laura:
"Let the girls just hang out
A mall scavenger hunt (it is awesome)
And music is a must!
Take it from me! All this works!"
Fun Game Idea from Cassie - "At my last birthday party we played a game that was fun and easy! I don't know what it was called but we spread out newspaper like a red carpet and we put 10 eggs on the news paper. then my mom picked a girl's name out of a hat and gave her thirty seconds to look at and memorize where the eggs were. After that thirty seconds my mom blind folded the girl and said try to walk across the newspaper without stepping on any eggs. Then all the other girls quietly and quickly took all the eggs off the newspaper and we all had fun watching her tiptoe and wiggle around! When we took off her blind fold we all laughed about it and we still talk about it!"
Teen Birthday idea from Jeannette - "My friend is turning thirteen this year and she is having a hotel party. She is going to have a limo pick us up from school and then drive to the hotel. She is going to have make-up people come give us makeovers. This may sound a little expensive but without the limo it cant be that much. You should do this for your party. I think it is a wonderful idea!!!! My birthday is coming up and I had no idea what I wanted to do but thanks to your website I do."
Party Favor Idea from Rae - "At my last birthday party, my mom and I found the PERFECT party favor solution. After searching every party store in the metro area, we finally thought of a very cost-efficient favor. Instead of putting candy and little plastic knick-knacks in a "loot bag," we got these little metal buckets from Hobby Lobby and put little teddy bears inside of them. All of my guests LOVED them, and my mom loved the price! They were EXTREMELY easy to make, too."
Spa Party - "It wasn't my Birthday or anything but I had a spa sleepover. Everybody had so much fun. What I did was I told everybody to bring their swimsuit so we could all get in my hot tub. We stayed in there for hours. When we all got out we watched a movie and snacked on chips and dip. Then we did facials, fingernails and toenails." - (Anonymous)
Mall Scavenger Hunt - For my daughter’s 13^th birthday party we did a mall scavenger hunt and the girls had a blast. My daughter created a list of about 15 items including things such as black lipstick, guy’s boxers, pink hair dye, a blue gumball and a penny from her birth year. When the girls arrived they picked a number, which separated them into 3 groups of 4. I had a parent follow each group as they scurried through the mall looking for their items. Each girl was given $5.00 and the following rules: Stay with your group AT ALL TIMES; use only the $5.00 provided by host; save all receipts, and return at specified time. The winning group was the one that found the most items from the list for the least amount of money and in the least amount of time. When we went back to the house they used all the items and I got some great pictures. (Anonymous)
Advice to Parents from a Teen - My friends and I are all around the same age (14). At my birthday party this year my mom bought a bunch of arts and crafts and other forms of entertainment. Unfortunately for her we didn't use any of it. We just played games and talked in my room till dawn! So parents, please ... save yourselves a lot of time, effort, and money when it comes to teen parties and just buy A LOT of snack food. No matter how much we claim we can't think of anything to do... trust me, we can! (Anonymous)
More advice for parents - If you have a 12, 13 or 14 year old daughter who has no idea what to do for her party, here's some advice, just let her invite a bunch of friends (guys AND girls) and put them in the basement with a lot of food and movies and we'll be fine for HOURS!! Trust me on this one, when parents try and get involved in parties, it always turns lame, sorry, but its true. ok good luck!! (Kelsey)
Pool Party - I usually rent a pool for my kid's parties. For under 100 dollars you can get an hour or two in the pool and a party room after where I bring a smokeless indoor grill and make hot dogs and serve pop and chips. Kids of all ages will enjoy it and it makes it easy to entertain a larger crowd! (Anonymous)
13th Winter Gala - My daughter is turning 13 and dreams of a huge party of the year with a DJ, dancing, girls & boys... She wants it to be sort of formal--girls in dresses and boys in khakis. We are renting my sisters town clubhouse and transforming it into a winter wonderland for a 13th winter gala. Snowflakes and silver star Mylar balloons will hang from the ceiling. Fake evergreen trees lit-up and sprayed with fake snow, along with a lighted snowman will also provide atmosphere. I was able to find funky crystal lit garland and other accents that normally would be gaudy at a home discount store; but in this case work perfectly. At the base of the DJ table and food table I used that soft fiberfill from craft stores and stuck on Styrofoam balls for snow. The party is from 8pm-11pm so I will provide finger food like wings, chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks. For dessert I am serving cupcakes with white and light blue icing on different level round tiers, along with blue and white rock candy. I am debating between a snow machine (messy, but perfect for the theme) or a frozen virgin drink machine. I am splurging and renting the linens for the table and chair covers & sashes since it makes the room look so much better. I am having about 50-60 kids but with have only 4 tables to take up less room and lower the linen cost, I'm thinking that most kids will be out of their seats. The tables are topped with boxes wrapped in shimmery snowflake paper with balloons attached. Silver wrapped Hershey kisses are going to be scattered on each table instead of confetti. I am thinking about using a high school kid to DJ to lower the cost. Using some of your own holiday items for decoration could also lower costs. My one last splurge-maybe if the budget doesn't get too out of hand is a snowmaker for when my daughter first walks in and then at some points during dancing. I'll let you know how it works out-if (50) 13 year olds can entertain themselves for 3 hours without any drama and limited parental contact. Me and my husband will have very limited contact, the DJ will be instructed to -with humor of course, stop any real crazy dancing, I want to be able to show the grandparents the video. There is a fine line between not embarrassing my daughter yet having everyone act appropriate. I hope this does not turn out to be a disaster, boring with girls on one side and boys on the other. (Anonymous)
Games -
Here are some tips for games

Musical Chairs

Mummy Rap

All kinds of relay races

Bloody murder

Cat Scratch

Bull frog

Dance competition

Good Luck at your party (Baylee)
Ice Breaker Game & Window Painting - "For my tenth birthday, I had a good time. My tip, is too play a game with the girls as guests start to enter. It is a fun way to start the party and it's fairly amusing. Also, we had window writers out so they could write on our huge window in the kitchen and by the end of the party, all the guests had signed it and I got to look at it for weeks! - (Anonymous)
Teen Parties - Teen parties can be simpler than you think!! take the biggest room in your house, a living room or basement den works best, move furniture along the walls, clear out breakables, and set up a table (or use a room next to the kitchen) for food. Decorate the room with helium balloons, streamers, confetti, and maybe a banner. ALWAYS ask teens what decor they want, if they want one. (they aren't eight anymore. Barbie doesn't work.) then dim or don't turn on all lights, add a few disco balls, rope lights, and play CDs or record and play music videos on your TV. Set out food, pizza, pretzels, chips, assorted candy, and lots of soda. if its a birthday party, you might still want to serve cupcakes or cake. your kid can choose whether or not they want a boy/girl party. if its just girls, u can add different stuff for them to do, makeup, non-permanent hair color, etc. mainly, teens will stick to dancing, and doing their own thing. you might want to leave disposable cameras around for pics, or a video camera to record the fun. oh, and one last piece of advice, stay out of the way! serve and refill food, hang for a few minutes tops though!!! teens need their space! - (A teen)
Red Carpet Oscar Party - I have always wanted a sleepover birthday party so me and my mom thought of a red carpet theme. All the guests dress up like their favorite actor or actress and they would walk down a red carpet you set up from the door leading to the party room. A game you would play would be Oscars, people would act a line of a movie the actor or actress were in and the adults, such as the mom and dad would host the Oscars and chose the best actor, actress, movie, and group music video. The group music video is where two or three people create a music video to a funny song. (Leah)
Funky nail Art party/Manicure party - It’s a perfect party for girls for any occasion.

Make Your Own Invitations

1. Trace your hand on a piece of paper

2. Cut out the hand shape from the paper

3. Draw the nails on the tips. you can color the 'nails' with felt pens, glue, glitter, sticker, fabric or real nail varnish

4 on the other side of the hand write out all of the party info, who, what, where, when.

Make it a 'bring a bottle' party and ask your guest to bring a bottle of their favorite nail polish.

Party Decorations

Hand shaped cut outs decorated and strung together.

Party Activities

Get each guest to choose a funky nail art idea and try them out on each other, have a look at some of my free easy to follow step by step nail art designs for inspiration

Decorate toenails as well as finger nails.

Have a nail fashion show, and give prizes for the best dressed nails.

Music

gather together your fave CDs and make a mix tape of you favorite song, this way your favorite tunes will keep playing and you won't have to break away from the nail decorating fun to change the music

Party Food

for this type of party it's best to use finger foods to avoid smudges, and in keeping with the finger theme of the party. (Bev)

Goody Bags - Pick your theme and stick to 2 main colors .One for the girls and the other the boys. Next buy plain white bags and one or 2 rubber stamps in your theme and get stamping. My daughter loves helping. (Trish)

Bowling - I think a great way to celebrate a birthday is to go bowling! I'm 13 and my birthday is in a couple of days and that's what I'm doing! I think most people enjoy bowling, and it's fairly cheap. But if that's not enough then have a slumber party afterwards! or go out and have Chinese or pizza, or something that suits everyone! it really depends on how much money you're prepared to spend, and if it's all worth it! but I think bowling is a great way to spend it (especially if you don't want to have a sleepover, or take people to your house) just have fun! and make sure you do something you (your child) wants to do! (Anonymous)
Surprise Mall party - Victoria of Adriel International pulled off a fantastic surprise for her daughter's 14th birthday party with this fun idea:
Fourteen girls met at a hotel where they would all eventually spend the night. One parent helped them get situated in their rooms (4 girls per room). Meanwhile, the birthday girl was at the mall with her other parent, ostensibly shopping for her birthday present. The girls paired up in groups of 2 and were brought to the mall, where they went to their designated stores to wait. At a specified time, the birthday girl was guided to the "first" store, where she found 2 of her friends shopping. They all moved on to the next store and wow! Another 2 of the birthday girl's closest friends were also shopping! This went on until they visited each store with a pair of waiting girls. As it turned out, Victoria's daughter never did "catch on" that this was a surprise birthday "party" until the very last of her friends were collected. I was told by my daughter who attended the party that it was a hoot, they had an absolute blast at the mall and by surprising their friend. All the girls then went back to the hotel where they swam in the pool, ordered pizza and had a big ol' sleepover. Thanks Victoria for giving me permission to use this great party tip!
Boys 6th Bday Party

We built my son a clubhouse or tree house for his b-day. So we made everything around the theme. The food was either campout style or buggy. Like spider hot dogs, Jello mold with jelly bugs in it, critter mix in a brown bag, dirt cake etc. On the table for decorations I had marbles, plastic bugs, lint and other fun boys stuff.

I invited the adults to help out building the tree house or bring things to furnish the clubhouse instead of toys like bean bag chairs, a chalkboard for secret clubhouse rules, lantern, homemade phone (tin can).

It was a lot of fun. (Julie L)
Teen Sleepover Party (from Caroline) - We are throwing a small sleepover for my soon to be 15 year old this Friday. She will have a big bash next year, but wanted to do something small this year. My husband has built a bonfire and we'll roast hotdogs and have s'mores. Since my daughter loves to play guitar and sing we asked the guests to bring their favorite instrument (guitar, voice, tambourine, etc.) and we'll make up a silly song about the birthday girl. Then we'll do hair and make-up and nails, then watch Anne of Green Gables, or Pride and Prejudice and crash :-)

Thanks to the readers who have sent party tips! You're all awesome!

Have a tip to contribute? Please send it here: My Party Tips.
Please note: this email link is not for asking about party tips for your child's birthday. Everything I know about birthdays is already on these pages and I am not able to plan a party for your child or give everyone who asks personal recommendations for party ideas. Please search through these birthday pages to find the information you need. Thanks for understanding!

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