Midwest Diser's 16th. Birthday Party qestion

[m&amom]

I live in Oklahoma and my little sister will be turning 16 in May. We are planning to rent the church and have a lock in with a lot of carnival style games. There will also be a pool table and ping pong table that are already at the church. Here theme is the 80's and we will be playing movies and music from that time and are having the guest dress up. I am also planning to have candy buffet and will buy candy on clearance after Easter. She is very exicted and loves this idea.

 

[SoonerSarah]

I grew up in Northern IL. For my 16th, my Aunt, Uncle & Cousins drove down on a week night (during school-they live an hour away) and 3 friends came over as a surprise. I think we went out to eat as a family, and when we came home the house was decorated and they were all there. It was really nice.

Also, I love, love, love Sterling Roses. They are extremely expensive however, and hard to find. My Mom tried to get me some, but she couldn't, so she had some roses died purple for me and delivered to school. I got 16. That was awesome.

 

[mistysue]

My advice is to disconnect your cable or block your MTV so DD stops watching the "My sweet 16" show where they do their best to top each other.

I would let her plan a little party at home with some friends. If you have space, maybe let her do a slumber party with a group. Then, depending on how mature she is, you could make it special by going out to eat for the evening and letting them have a couple hours to themselves for their own private dinner. At 16 I still thought it was fun to get to play house a bit with a group of friends. Make a big lasagna with garlic bread and leave some bowls of chips and dip out. They can eat dinner and watch cheesy movies or something. My parents had a large basement so they would let us have a party down there and it felt private.

 

[aprilgail2]

My Sweet 16 was held in my uncle's cafeteria. He made the food, and we ordered a couple of games like ring toss and bean bag throws from Oriental Trading Company. .

My "sweet" sixteen was the polar opposite of yours LOL.... Me and all my friends with fake ID went to a local bar and partied there---drank so much I puked outside the front door of the bar.....happy birthday LOL.....

 

[Mom_Rides]

My parents gave me a sweet 16 party. It was a lovely party, at home and I was able to invite as many friends as I wanted. I think I invited around 30 and most showed up. My mom had coolers of pop outside, got snacks (chips and such) and a cake. We had tables set up in the garage and had board games sitting out and the radio was playing in the background. The boys that I invited played basketball out in the driveway. The party was about 4 hours long and it was perfect! To this day, it is still one of my favorite birthdays. It was the biggest party, it didn't cost my parents a ton of money and I LOVED IT!

I would talk over what your daughter wants out of the party and give her your expectations for the party. If she has huge expectations and its outside of what you plan to spend, I would offer an alternative. When we get there (my DD is 4...) I plan to offer a party or small trip to my DD. I hope it all works out for you!

 

[Ginamarie]

My "sweet" sixteen was the polar opposite of yours LOL.... Me and all my friends with fake ID went to a local bar and partied there---drank so much I puked outside the front door of the bar.....happy birthday LOL.....

Oh no!! Though now that I think about it, I did have ONE mishap at my party- while dancing with some friends, one of my "girls" popped out of my dress. I was mortified!

 

[kayrosek]

Thanks everyone. I did have a talk with my daughter after the first few comments came in. This talk of a big sweet sixteen has been going on for awhile now but her brothers 10th. birthday party was just a few weeks ago so she's got birthdays on the brain. Over the years we've done all kinds of things everything from family trips to small sleepovers to last years combined (two DD's birthday's are three and a half weeks apart) skating rink rental for 75 of thier "closest" friends, to her brothers recent bouncy house party. She got the idea from some of the movies she watches (not MTV's sweet sixteen show or it probably would have been even more blown out of control LOL) and was sure she had to have it. I told her I want something special too just that that is not in our budget. I suggested dinner out with family and some freinds and to make it more special a rented limo for her and her friends transportation to and from the restaurant. She's got a thing for limos so maybe she'll end up doing that. Whether she chooses that or not I hope she understands there are other options that are still special. Thanks for all your ideas. I love having so many differeent ideas to suggest to her.

 

[taximomfor4]

DD wasn't invited to any big Sweet 16 bashes...it was like any other birthday for her friends, I guess. And we only did what we always do -- offer a party OR a gift (max spending is around $125 total, either way). DD chose gift.