Parents with teens I need bday help

[ndgqccmiller]

Ok my son and his two best friends are turning 13. They asked us to throw them a party. We are having it in our huge church gym. We have a sound system, lots of food and about 35 boys and girls coming. I have been asking asking what the kids wanted to do during the party "just hang out" is all they keep saying. Me and the other moms are worried they are going to get bored. We were thinking ultimate dodge ball game, there's basketball, we bought lots of disposable cameras for them to take pictures. But what else. Does anyone have any ideas?

I did find a truth or dare game(clean) you put truth and dare into balloons and blow them up. the kids sit in a circle and they each get a balloon. When it's there turn they pop the balloon and then have to do the dare (drink water with cookie crumbs in it) or truth (if you could be any actor who would it be) I thought it sounded neat. Please give me advice. Not a lot of time the party is tomorrow night! Thanks!

 

[Cinderella94]

I think they'll really be fine with just "hanging out." If they all didn't know each other, then ice breaker sort of games would be appropriate. But whenever my friends and I have parties, we just sit around and hang out. And this is coming from a 15 year old.

 

[kpgriswold]

Just a tip: be sure to keep them all IN THE GYM. 13 year olds are sweet but really impulsive, and (boys especially) get more foolish in packs. Have an adult helper who job it is to keep an eye on the doors.

Have your son pick some music to play in the back ground and let the kids change it as they wish. Mom gets veto power over anything inappropriate.

Have some sports equipment set up for kids to use if they wish -- maybe bball, but don't organize any games. Take some silly kids' board games, like Twister. They really do like to regress sometimes.

Provide lots of food!

And then just let them go it.

 

[mickeymousepuppy]

My sister rented sumo wrestler costumes for her son's 15th birthday and we all had a blast. I'm not sure what the cost was, but it may not be that bad if it is split three ways. We have also done relay races where they dressed up one person in girls clothes (old skirts, brides maid dresses with lots of accessories). Having their own camara will add to the fun of that! Good luck and have fun!

 

[dormouse72]

Does the church gym have a projector screen?

For my daughter's 14th birthday we did a "Battle of the Bands". The kids had received Wii Rock Band from "Santa" and used it as the basis for the party. We split up 12 girls into four teams of three by a random drawing of names from a hat. Then each team had 10 minutes each to familiarize themselves with the controllers and practice, while the other teams looked over the approved song list and came up with a name, decided who would play what, etc. This was also part of "hanging out", eating, etc.

Round 2 gave each time 5 minutes to decide what song they did best at and give that song another go round. They could switch instruments and make any other changes.

Round 3 was the competition. DD # 2, her best friend, and an extra girl who didn't want to participate in the competition filled in as judges a la "American Idol". The winners got extra prizes and everyone got goody bags (which are evidently still needed at teen birthday parties). In case of a tie the band with the best name was given an extra point.

You have a large amount of kids but you could do the same thing if you have a couple of game systems where the games could be hooked up electronically because Wii Rock Band 2 actually has a "Battle of the Bands" feature where you can hook up two remote sites. It would be projected as a split screen. Then you could split up the kids on each system with the finale being between the two.

I'm not a tech person by any means but I bet some of your guests are - teens are so much more tech savy and would love this type of thing. The playlist from Rock Band included a mix of songs but if you were really worried about content the birthday boy could get Rock Band Beatles.

You'd probably get quite a few parents wanting a chance - I'm not even into video games but I love Rock Band.

 

[ddoconnell]

Love the idea of having video games available. Just have stuff there for them to do and they will make the party happen. I agree with the watch the door post though...teens get that pack mentality sometimes, so just avoid that problem. Lots of food, music and game stuff and you have a fun party You will be the cool Mom and your DS wil have had a great party! Good luck!

 

[GayeofPA]

I think hang-out time is necessary for the kids, but it wouldn't hurt to have one or two planned things--the suggestions above are good ones.

Look online for some teenager games, such as the Wink Murder game (which is explained on Wikipedia) where one teen is the murderer and can "kill" someone by winking at them. It's up to everyone else to try and discover who the murderer IS before they get killed themselves.

Or do the Cup Game, which is a crazy physical game that teens seem to just LOVE. Youtube has several videos of how this game is played.

 

[Eeyore's Girl]

A game of trivia with questions being about the birthday boys only. (Examples: What "lovie" did John sleep with when he was younger? If given a choice of only one food to eat for a year, what would Bobby choose?) Divide the guests into teams of 4 - 6 players. After asking a question, the first team to write the answer on paper (that was provided by you) and race it to the designated person (such as one of the moms) wins for that round. Obviously, the team that not only gets the most answers correct, but also is the first to submit their answer, wins. Something silly such as a large plastic pixie stick candy is a fun prize for the winners.

Another game that is a great ice-breaker: What cartoon character am I? As guests arrive, attach a label to their back, without the guest seeing what is printed on the label. The label contains the name of a cartoon character. The guests mingle around with each other, asking questions to help them figure out which cartoon character they are. The first to guess correctly wins.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I've got a 13 year old boy and can't see that he'd be remotely interested in that truth or dare game. The 13 year old boy crowd, not so much for organized group games.

I like the idea of having some board games set up around (Apples to Apples is IMMENSELY popular with the middle school boys at our church, ok, popular for all, but it surprised me how much they like it.)

Have LOTS OF FOOD, lol.

if you have some way to set up a movie or game system, that would be good. DS's birthday parties now are all about a movie and eating.

I also completely agree with watching the other parts of the building to know where the boys are. They have their um, own ideas what is acceptable behavior at times!

 

[mom2d&b]

pictionary was a hit at a co workers teen age sons Bday. She just provided sharpies, and an easle board with paper ( like they use in meetings). Earlier in the week she put together the the "ideas" for them to use as the objects to draw.

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

Anyone suggest a DJ yet? depending on the group, it may help lighten things up.

 

[ndgqccmiller]

Everyone the party is OVER! It was a great success! We ended up with about 35 boys and girls! The boys played football, the girls played twister. We had the game room opened at the church which was a hit. The dj (one of the dads) did a good job. The kids played a ultimate dodge ball game. It was great. I appreciate all the ideas and help. You know when it's the day of the party and you worry I was WORRIED. But it was good. The only thing I couldn't believe was the food. They hardly ate. We had so much food left over. Usually all they do is eat, but we couldn't keep them off the gym floor or from football or basketball. Wahoo now only 13 days till Disney!