Sweet 16 party questions

[just4today]

I have never planned a sweet 16 party before. I am renting a local hall and hoping to make it a big event with catering and dj and all that. The problem is that her birthday coincides with the local high school graduation. The weekend before is Memorial Day, so we don't want to plan it then because so many people go out of town. The following weekend the birthday girl will be traveling, so that's out too. That leaves graduation weekend. The hall has been reserved for the Friday night before the graduation ceremony that takes place on Saturday morning. The party won't go too late so being out very late won't be an issue, but I worry that other people might have parties or things going on and there won't be a good attendance.

Do people ever give out "save the date" type of invitations for birthday parties? Or would that be considered pretentious and too much? I want to start getting an idea of how many people to plan for as well, even though the party is still 7 months away.

[The Mystery Machine]

Ouch.

How many of her friends have graduating senior sibilings? You can pretty much count them out.

Can you do it sooner?

[just4today]

I suppose I could move it up to mid-May. I just worry about that time of year with final exams, sports banquets, field trips, etc. There is just no ideal time to do it that is anywhere near her birthday.

[The Mystery Machine]

Originally Posted by just4today

I suppose I could move it up to mid-May. I just worry about that time of year with final exams, sports banquets, field trips, etc. There is just no ideal time to do it that is anywhere near her birthday.

Yes, but graduation has parties with it. I think I would chance it earlier rather than later.

[golfgal]

I would plan for a weekend earlier in May. The chances of her friends being on a sports team that happens to have a banquet that night are pretty small but the chances of her having a friend with a sibling graduating are pretty large. As a parent I would allow a child to miss a sports banquet of a sibling to attend a friend's birthday party but I would not allow them to miss graduation of a sibling.

She is old enough that the date of the actual party shouldn't matter.

Are huge sweet 16 parties commonly done in your area? No one does them around here so I don't know the protocol.

[just4today]

That makes sense. I'll call and see about changing the date to mid-May.

I am not sure about the trend around here. DD has been to a few but they haven't been especially elaborate.

[Breezy_Carol]

Are you sure people will be traveling Memorial Day weekend? My DD's birthday is May 30 and we had many parties on that weekend and rarely had a problem with people leaving town.

I think trying to compete with graduation would put some people in the situation of having to make a choice.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Breezy_Carol

Are you sure people will be traveling Memorial Day weekend? My DD's birthday is May 30 and we had many parties on that weekend and rarely had a problem with people leaving town.

I think trying to compete with graduation would put some people in the situation of having to make a choice.

With graduation so close to Memorial Day I would bet a large number of people will have their graduation parties that weekend.

[just4today]

I was thinking the Friday night before graduation wouldn't be too bad because most people have their parties on Saturday after the ceremony. But I guess there will be a lot of out-of-town relatives coming in. Moving it up a couple of weeks would probably make more sense.

[allison443]

Your dd is a sophomore, right? Around here some junior proms are in May, the SAT is also given in May. Depending on the grades of the kids you are inviting, you might want to check if your dates conflict.

I didn't think that your original suggestion of the night before graduation was bad. I wouldn't have it the night of the graduation day, but what's going on the night before? Maybe if people have out of town relatives coming in for the graduation, the younger siblings would be visiting with/entertaining them?

I don't think the party has to be within a two week window of her birthday. When my dd turned 16, she had two friends who also turned 16 around the same time, so they had to coordinate their party schedule! Find the best date that works for you!

Good luck with the planning!

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by allison443

Your dd is a sophomore, right? Around here some junior proms are in May, the SAT is also given in May. Depending on the grades of the kids you are inviting, you might want to check if your dates conflict.

I didn't think that your original suggestion of the night before graduation was bad. I wouldn't have it the night of the graduation day, but what's going on the night before? Maybe if people have out of town relatives coming in for the graduation, the younger siblings would be visiting with/entertaining them?

I don't think the party has to be within a two week window of her birthday. When my dd turned 16, she had two friends who also turned 16 around the same time, so they had to coordinate their party schedule! Find the best date that works for you!

Good luck with the planning!

Unless sophomores can go to the prom that shouldn't be a big conflict, and the SAT shouldn't be an issue at all since first, it is given in the morning so having a Saturday night party won't be an issue and second, not many sophomores take the SAT. Around here there are a LOT of graduation parties on the Friday before graduation (on Saturday), especially if people have relatives coming in from out of town. Graduation weekend is bad all the way around for something like this.

OP, what about having it in February where there isn't anything else going on???

[allison443]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Unless sophomores can go to the prom that shouldn't be a big conflict, and the SAT shouldn't be an issue at all since first, it is given in the morning so having a Saturday night party won't be an issue and second, not many sophomores take the SAT. Around here there are a LOT of graduation parties on the Friday before graduation (on Saturday), especially if people have relatives coming in from out of town. Graduation weekend is bad all the way around for something like this.

OP, what about having it in February where there isn't anything else going on???

Well, the OP's original plan was to have it on Friday night, the night before the Saturday morning high school graduation. She wasn't planning on Saturday night Also, around here any grade can go to the junior prom (with a junior, of course ) and like I said I mentioned the SAT in case OP's dd was inviting kids who are juniors. I know my dd didn't just invite friends from her own grade.
I guess this is one of those things that varies. I've never heard of anyone having a graduation party before the actual graduation. Especially since it's a Saturday, people usually have the parties Saturday afternoon/night, or Sunday, or the weekends following.

Anyway your February suggestion might end up working out well!!

[allison443]

OP just wanted to add not to stress too much about it...when you're planning a big party, especially this far in advance, it's going to be tough to pick the perfect date for everyone. In my dd's case, she made sure it was a good date for her close group of friends, also she was on some teams and was inviting kids from those teams so she made sure it wasn't conflicting with a game or meet for them.

[just4today]

She has friends in all the grade levels. February is basketball. Late March might work. I'm definitely leaning toward mid-May. I'll find out when the prom is, but prom is always on a Saturday night anyway.