How did you celebrate your dd's 10th birthday?

[kyra's mommy]

My dd is turning 10 and we are kind of stumped for something to do this year. It's getting a little more complicated ( or easier depending on how you look at it ) now that she's older. In the past we've had a party at the zoo, a couple of backyard parties, horseback riding, and last year she just wanted a dinner, build a bear and movie night with her best friend. I just don't know this year. She suggested bringing her best friend on a trip to Disneyland but that would be expensive for us since we'd have to buy her a multi day ticket to the park, food and now we'd be a family of five instead of four and I'm not sure what to do with the hotel room situation ( roll away? ). We've considered getting a room at a local resort that has a heated pool ( her birthday is in October ) but I don't know about hotel policies with 10 kids at the pool, we've thought about a slumber party, etc. I just am not sure so I thought I'd see how you all have celebrated your kids birthdays.

 

[jillbur]

I do not have any DDs (DS 9 & 6), but I can give you ideas from around my area. One local salon has birthday parties. The girls can get hair done or nails done. So maybe a glamour/spa party? You can even set this up at home to save money. Our high school rents it's pool for pool parties & we've been to one. It's was tons of fun, so check for indoor pools in your area (even hotels). We also have a pottery place that does parties. The kids get to decorate a chosen object (figurines, cups, plates) and then the stores bakes them for pick up a week later. We also have an indoor miniature golf location. We have a gym (think gymnastics/tumbling) that has parties. The kids get to learn & try the different equipment. In October, what about a hayride or corn maze? I know those are really popular in our area. My kids would love a corn maze party (except their bdays are both May). Also, museums in our area have parties (think art museum, science center) and so do the zoos. If she's into sports, maybe a sporting event? Or, how about a play/musical?

Sorry these are so random! Apparently, I should've been a party planner instead of teacher

Good luck & happy birthday to DD!

 

[eeyorethegreat]

We celebrate with cake flavor of choice, Dinner of choice. A gift ie. one daughter always wants a book, youngest son loves vinyl records, younger daughter likes art supplies (colored pencils, markers paper etc) and oldest son is very practical asking for whatever he "needs" . We have dinner and cake with the family. They also can choose a friend to have over or to go to a movie with. Not much other than that but the child is still made to feel special on their special day. Kids are ages 12-almost 18 this is what we have done for all their birthdays.

 

[wishesuponastar]

Our daughter invited 3 friends to go see a movie and have a sleepover.

 

[SaraJayne]

She went to WDW with Mom and Grandma for a week.

 

[Celidh]

I'm not an expert on bday parties to say the least. My dd, just turned 9 had her first bday party a couple weeks ago. I let her invite her friends over in the afternoon, we had burgers and hot dogs and cake first because the party started at lunch. After that we played a few games, got pin the necklace on barbie and got the barbies out. (I do realize that at 10, some girls are way past this but the 9 year olds at our party loved it) AFter that we did a craft, stained glass votive.

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2011/02/how-to_stained_glass_votive_ho.html

I actually used small dessert dishes from the dollar store, battery candles and didn't cut the shapes out. Our dollar store has little 1" squares precut and I let the girls use that. They all sat at the table doing their craft with the music playing with all the girls singing along.

I had the girls bring their bathing suits because we had a sponge fight in the back yard. I don't like water balloons because they make a mess I have to clean up, if I miss some then there is a risk to the birds around and once they are gone they are gone. I filled up a couple of rubbermaid type totes with water and gave them a pile of sponges and they had a blast.

Right before they were due to go home, we did gifts. Each activity was just long enough to be fun without getting boring.

Good luck!

 

[pookybean]

for my dd's we did a mini golf party, but her b-days in may. depending where you live (i forgot to check) it may be cold for that.

how about a pumpkin patch or hayride (haunted or regular). something halloween-y

we only do friend parties for the big years (10 was one of them) but i hate throwing something at the house. the mini golf place was very affordable for 12friends, it included food, tokens for the game room and as much golf as you wanted, you played golf when you were done with the party room so there was no time limit.

oh, and build a bear (my dd is 12 and still loves that place) was fun too. ive had a couple of parties there, again fairly affordable (as expensive as you decide with the bear and clothes). we then had pizza/cake/gifts in the food court.

have fund planning!

 

[clh2]

That was the year for DD when she had a sleepover. The plan had been to go to a movie - but they SUCKED that weekend. So - we asked each girl (if they wanted) to bring their favorite movie to our house. It was "movie" night.

For food - we had "make your own" mini-pizza's using the Pillsbury pizza crusts. And - we did "tie-dye" pillowcases. (just wanted to have a break between the movies.)

The cake...a frozen custard cake - that was decorated like a 45 record, and all the pertinent info (i.e. Happy Birthday by "dd") was on the record label.

 

[Jenny3]

We did a big Halloween costume party with about 30 kids, tons of games, themed food, etc. It was ridiculously fun! We also completely redid her bedroom as a surprise. Went from little girl yellow & pink to funky purple, hot pink & black.

 

[TinaMcTeer]

My DD's 10th birthday is next week. Usually we do a bowling party or spa party or something like that. This year since double digit birthday is pretty special we are taking her to Mackinac Island. She has always wanted to go. When we told our family what we were doing they all decided to join us. Great-grandparents from California, Aunt and cousins from Arizona, Uncle from here in Michigan and grandparents. She is also bringing a friend and is skipping the first two days of school. It's a pretty special birthday.

 

[nchulka]

DD turned 10 in March. We did a huge surprise party for her, it was a blast! I told her that since Spring break was the next week she could have some friends over to spend the night so she wouldn't be suspicious. On her birthday we went out to a family dinner with all the grandparents and when we got back all her friends were there. A friend of mine let everyone in. It was great, she was so excited!!! We had an awesome home party, tons of games, and gave out tickets as prizes. At the end we had a ticket redemption area like Chuck E Cheese with tons of candy, gum and little toys. It was a huge hit!

For her gift I took her on a mother/daughter trip to Minnesota to the Mall of America for a few days. We had a great time, and discussed all the things that would be coming up over the next few years as she gets older.

Only problem is DS will be turning 10 next year and now he's expecting a special trip too

 

[ShortStuff]

When my DD turned 10, she had a roller skating party and then her friends stayed over for a slumber party. We had pizza, cake and ice cream. The birthday girl and whoever wanted it, had coconut cream pie, as she didn't like cake. They watched movies, played hide and go seek, and had a 'makeover' session.

We gave out party bags with their 'makeup', a scarf, hair ties, etc.

 

[Beezle2]

We did a 7 girl sleepover...I might still be recovering They had fun they did spa things, art projects, dance party with the Wii, movies and popcorn and girl talk after midnight. I don't think anyone fell asleep til 6 am.

 

[Sparkly]

I had my 10th birthday party at the local bowling alley. We played a round of bowling, plus we had food and of course cake! Then we played on the arcade a bit.

 

[HM]

Sleepover party. They worked on a craft, ate dinner, watched movies and played games.

 

[scrapquitler]

She had a rock climbing party at the local climbing gym with 7 of her friends (cost for the party $27/pp + refreshments). In addition to that, my Mom and I took her to Manhattan for the day to see the Radio City CHristmas Show.

 

[kt_mom]

DD has had friend parties every year since kindergarten most at home but we did do the skating rink two years ago. For her last two parties we have done sleepover parties. This past year we had 13 girls I think, not including DD. It was a lot of fun but I was definitely exhausted when they finally got quiet around 1am or so. Thank goodness DS went to my mom's to spend the night!

Year before last I had a lady come in and do manicures for all the the little girls. They liked it, but what they really liked was free time to just play. So this year the only planned activities we had was decorate your own cupcakes (instead of an expensive cake) and opening presents. The rest of the time they watched movies, did hair and make up and just played and giggled a lot.

For her gift this year I took her on a surprise birthday trip just her and I to Disney World. It worked perfect because her birthday always falls during her spring break. We had the best time ever. We're going to try to go back this year and bring her cousin. DH may come along also. This is a shorter trip than our family trip, with less planned meals and stuff and more time riding her favorite rides and doing whatever she wants to do. If we go for her 10th it won't be a surprise though. I don't want to set her up to think I'm going to surprise her with an extra trip to Disney every year.

She'll probably do another slumber party this year for her 10th. She really enjoys having all her friends at her house for the night. But I doubt we will invite the whole class again. 13 was a lot of little girls and it was a long night.

 

[GinaBean]

My son got an IPod (an older used version for $100) and took him to out to eat, per his request.

 

[Redheaded Sunshine]

Well my DD isn't 10 yet (thank god, she's already growing up too fast), but I worked a tween girl's store for a couple years and hotel room parties at places with indoor pools were all the rage with that age group. I don't know the specifics of how they do it, but there sure were a lot of them!

 

[fireworks fan]

My DD just turned 10 and we had a cupcake wars themed sleepover party. The girls had two teams for the cupcake competition and decorated t-shirts and displays for their team. My IL's and my DS were the judges. The party was a hit and one of the girls had never made cupcakes or baked anything at home before. Fun, but very messy!