Affordable 13th Birthday Party Ideas
Thirteen is a very confusing age. Kids of this age are still children at heart, but at the same time almost teenagers. This means you have to be very tactful when planning a birthday party. The games and theme shouldn't be too childish; you don't want to offend the birthday child and her friends. Treat the kids like mini adults, and choose wisely when planning the activities. Does this Spark an idea?
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Superstar Party
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Thirteen-year-olds are usually very up to date with the latest music, which would make a superstar party a very suitable and affordable theme. Specify in the invitations that each child should dress as a pop idol. Use a lot of glitter in the invitations and overall decoration. If you own a gaming console with microphones, let the children compete against each other, with the condition that they have to impersonate the idol they are representing while singing (even though the song was not originally by that artist). This will cause a lot of laughs. If you don't own a console, just play the songs on your home sound system and appoint a panel of judges to "evaluate" everybody's performance with a score. During a superstar party you can also let the children play quiz games to test their knowledge about pop stars and actors. A superstar party doesn't need to be expensive to be fun.
"Survivor" Camping
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Thirteen-year-old boys are still quite active and will love camping in your back yard. Make this interesting by applying a "Survivor" theme. Supply the boys with basic, inexpensive equipment to build their own shelter, such as ropes, tarp and a hammer. Alternatively, just let them set up tents in the backyard and hold a competition to see which team has its tent standing first. Hold a survivor quiz, and let them find solutions to specific wilderness survival scenarios. Websites such as Discovery and BC Adventure contain interesting facts from which you can derive questions for your quiz. Hold a barbecue to suit the theme, and teach the boys how to grill their own meat, while keeping a watchful eye. Another interesting food to serve is stick bread -- you prepare the dough beforehand, and let the children then each bake their own bread by wrapping it around a stick and holding it over the fire.
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Funky Makeover Party
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Girls love makeovers, and at 13 years many of them like to act all "grown up." Hold an affordable and fun makeover party for your 13 year old by letting the girls do the makeovers themselves. Specify on the invitations that each girl should bring a wacky dress, funky makeup and weird accessories. At the party, pair them up and let each girl get into her own dress the way her partner instructs (she could wear it as a top, a headdress or anything that is funky). Her partner must then do a complete makeover, using the accessories and makeup she brought. Then hold a judging contest and give small awards to the funniest, funkiest and wackiest combinations.
Magic Trick Party
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A magic trick party can be appealing to both boys and girls and doesn't need to be expensive. All you will need are a couple decks of playing cards, coins, pieces of string and handkerchiefs. Print off a few magic tricks that are easy to perform from websites such as Classic Magic, Kidzone and Good Tricks (see Resources). Hand each child a trick to familiarize himself with, and provide the materials needed for the trick. Give the children some time to practice, and then pass a "magic hat" around. As soon as the magic hat reaches a child, he has to wear it and perform his magic trick. Use black, red and white balloons, table cloths and napkins to suit the card playing theme. As soon as the magic tricks are over, teach the children some card games to play.
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