How to Celebrate a 16th Birthday Party

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By eHow Contributing Writer

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Celebrate your sweet 16 in style

A teen's 16th birthday marks an important transitional year. Whether you do a "sweet 16" party for your daughter or a bash for your son, try to remember that 16-year-olds consider themselves very grown up.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Ice Tongs
Camcorders
piñatas
Pizzas
Disposable Cameras
Birthday Cakes
Ice Buckets
Birthday Cards
Blank CDs
Stereos
Party Decorations

Step 1

Sit down with your teen and establish what would make an ideal celebration for both of you.
Step 2

Discuss issues such as noise levels, curfew and appropriate behaviors with your teen before the celebration. Decide if you want to have a special theme for the party, such as a luau or a car inspired party. If you go with a theme, adapt all things that go with the party to that theme, such as invitations, music, food and drinks.
Step 3

Devise a guest list based on your available space and your child's list of critical invitees.
Step 4

Consider a creative location for the party, such as the beach, a roller-skating or ice-skating rink, a bowling alley or a local pizza place.
Step 5

Send out invitations at least two weeks in advance.
Step 6

Devise a menu and buy more food than you think you'll need, especially if teenage boys are coming to the party.
Step 7

If you don't want to cook, order pizza - always a teenage crowd-pleaser.
Step 8

Jazz up the drinks. Although teens will drink a lot of soda, you might want to serve punch or sparkling cider to add to the festive mood.
Step 9

For background or dancing music, buy blank CDs and have your teen and his or her friends make mixes of favorite songs.
Step 10

Consider something special like renting a strobe light and clearing the living room for dancing.
Step 11

Order or make a special cake. This is a milestone birthday.
Step 12

At the party, keep a low profile, but let your presence be known.

Comments

kims3003 said

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on 8/7/2009 I will be using some of the advise in this article for my daughters 16th b-day this month. thanks

david01 said

on 3/10/2009 Our daughter has been invited to a 16th birthday party to be held in a pub, we think this is an inappropriate venue and will not let her go, what do people think?

closet said

on 3/8/2009 someone please help. my daaughter is turning 16 next week and even though sh has invited about 8 girls over, no one has rsvpd. the last 2 years girls were invited and no one showed. she was heartbroken. this year i am afraid the same thing will happen as her best friend is now ditching her whenever she can and blackballing her. my daughter is so unhappy. how can i give her a memorable party when she is hurting so. this so called friend was just using her firendship to get things. my daughter even took punishment at school for standing up for this friend and is being treated so badly. any one please tell me how to handle this and let my daughter there are other people she can become best friend with but she is so sad I dont know what to tell her

tuffnlovely said

on 11/18/2008 Saturday my son will turn 16 and although we are new to the neighborhood, he still has friends he doesn't hang with as much but talks to often. At first I was going to throw him a surprise party with some of his close friends and some that are in his cell phone(the ones he talks about the most), but my husband wasn't too sure about that idea. So yesterday I told my son what I was up to, moreso for his input. So I still plan to keep it simple..have the guest downstairs in the family room(with balloons), use the upstairs living room area as a dance floor(since I'm waiting on new furniture and its empty), order a few pizzas and hotwings and have him make a few CDs of music they would enjoy. Hours being from 7-11pm (in case I have to be a taxi driver too). That's the plan, we'll see if that's how it turns out. I hope this will give someone an idea.