How to throw the perfect spa party for a tween girl

Throwing the perfect spa party for your tween daughter can help to create wonderful memories. Spa parties are soothing to the soul and are emerging as one of the more popular party ideas for today's tween girls. Throwing the perfect spa party for your tween involves combining traditional spa treatments with a pre-teen twist.

Things You'll Need

• Aromatherapy candles
• Soothing music
• Healthy and delicious snacks
• Good tween movie
• Individual face masks
• Nail polish
• Salt or vinegar for foot soak
• Hair dryer
• Curling iron
• Egg shampoo ingredients:
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 tbs. castile soap
• ½ cup water

Instructions

Plan the Party

1. Make a guest list. Decide how many girls to invite, keeping in mind that a smaller group tends to be easier to entertain; a good number is around 10. Ask the girls to bring pajamas, slippers, a towel and possibly a bathrobe. Request an RSVP so you know how many attendees to plan for. You may want to ask a couple of mothers to come also to give you a hand with the spa party.

2. Set the mood for your tween spa party. Light fresh-smelling candles or buy some aromatherapy candles, if you like. Play soothing music or purchase music with sounds of nature, a waterfall or the relaxing sounds of the ocean. Check with your tween daughter to see what she prefers to play while you throw the spa party.

3. Set up spa stations. If you have 10 girls at the spa party, five girls will be receiving the spa treatments while the other five will be manning the stations. Set the timer for 20 minutes, and when it buzzes, the girls should move to the next station. If the girls who are getting the treatments move clockwise and the others move counterclockwise, it will give everyone an opportunity for each job or activity. See section 2 for how you should set up the spa stations.

4. Serve some healthy and delicious snacks. Concentrate on the spa experience and choose foods that are considered to be "feel good" foods. Serve fresh fruit with a chocolate or cream cheese dip, a vegetable tray with ranch dip and maybe some creme-filled eclairs. Flavored water is a healthy beverage choice to please the tweens at the spa party.

5. Let them wind down from the spa party by watching one of their favorite movies. They should be pretty tired from all of the pampering that they have received and will be little tween sleeping beauties shortly.

How to Set Up Your Spa Stations

1. Booth 1: Wash hair with egg shampoo and wrap in a towel. To make egg shampoo, mix all the ingredients listed above and be sure to rinse thoroughly after shampooing. This booth should be near the kitchen sink so that each tween can have her hair shampooed by another tween. You can use regular shampoo instead of using the egg shampoo. Leave the towels draped around their hair like a turban wrap until Booth 5.

2. Booth 2: Have facials. You can buy individual face masks in trial sizes in most department stores or drugstores. The girls can cleanse their own faces with warm water before being given the rest of the facial by one of the other tweens. Leave the facial masks on for about 10 minutes or so, then rinse. Finish by dabbing on toner with cotton balls.

3. Booth 3: Create a manicure area. You'll need two bowls of water, one warm and one cold. In the warm water, add some nice-smelling liquid soap or even shampoo. Leave the cold for rinsing their hands after soaking in the warm solution. The tween should soak her hands for just a few minutes, rinse and then blot them dry with a hand towel. Gather as many nail polishes as you can, and nail painting will finish this spa experience.

4. Booth 4: Offer a relaxing foot soak. When the timer buzzes, after each rotation, the tub should be emptied, and a fresh soak should be made of warm water and either salt or vinegar. Add about a tablespoon of salt to the water or use half vinegar and half water.

5. Booth 5: Dry hair and style. Tween girls love to do each other's hair, so make sure to have a hot curling iron and hair dryer handy at this spa station. You can also gather hairpins and barrettes for them to use. If you like, let them apply makeup on each other; however, it will be getting close to bedtime, so you may want to hold off on the makeup.

References

• Jesse Kate Designs: Birthday Spa Party for Tweens
• Amazing Moms: Spa Party Ideas for Pre-teens

Resources

• Birthday Oarty Ideas 4 Kids: Homemade Spa Treatment Recipes