Sweet 16

[wvjules]

Did you do up your child's sweet 16 more than other birthdays or is it just another birthday?

 

[Hannathy]

it was just another birthday,she actually had a bigger party for her 17th the way things worked out.

 

[Princess_Meghan <3]

For my sweet 16, I had two friends spend the night and we went to the mall the next day.

My sister didn't have a big sweet 16 party, either. I don't remember what exactly she did, but I know she didn't have more than 5 friends over.

My littlest sister is turning 16 this year- my dad's girlfriend wants to have a big sweet 16 party for her because she thinks it's an important milestone in life. My sister only wants to have roughly 30 people over, though my dad's girlfriend said she could have more.

The big thing for my other sister and I was a nice piece of jewelry- I received my first pair of diamond earrings that are gorgeous. I still wear them every single day.
My sister received two pieces of nice jewelry- a diamond and sapphire necklace from my dad and his girlfriend, and a sapphire and diamond ring from my mom and step-dad.

Honestly, I'm perfectly fine with the fact that I didn't have a sweet 16 party, and I'm glad I got my earrings instead. People make a huge deal out of turning 16, but I just see it as another birthday.

 

[wvjules]

I'm not having a party for her. We're doing an immediately family dinner at a really nice restaurant on her birthday. The next day we are having a family cookout with her grandparents from WV, great-grandparents from WV, maybe a cousin or 2 from WV, DBF's parents, DBF's sister and family, her boyfriend and her BFF. Its mostly a family weekend. I ordered a custom cake from a local baker today for the cookout. She wanted a cake from Carlos' bakery but she'll have to settle for one from a local place instead. Seems reasonable enough to me.

 

[laurie31]

I had a very nice Sweet Sixteen party, (way back in 1983! LOL) and plan on doing the same for my DDs. I don't recall any parties after I turned 10 until I was 16, so my parents weren't big into parties, but 16 was a big deal.

I am already thinking about DD14's sweet 16 party! LOL! For her 15th this year, it's going to be very low key, though. Just two friends going with her to a day spa.

DD#2 will celebrate her golden birthday on her 16th, so her Sweet Sixteen is going to be a REALLY big deal. We made a giant deal out of DD#1's golden birthday, so DD#2 has been waiting forever for her turn. (DD#1's birthday is on the 6th). She is already talking about a limo, but I think "huge deal" has different meanings for me and her. I'm talking about fussing over her, inviting more friends and having more food than usual, and maybe a bakery cake instead of homemade. I'm NOT talking limo, rented hall, or DJ!

(although...our church rents its banquet hall quite cheaply to members and lots of people do have their kid's parties there, so maybe a "hall" isn't out of the question after all...LOL)

 

[DSNY4ever]

Yup! Granted mine was a little over ten years ago... But my sister and best friend with the help of my parents threw me a surprise party with about 40 friends from school. I was genuinely surprised!

It was nothing like what they do on MTV though... my Dad BBQ'd my mom made some special salads and there were lots of silly decorations and we all just had a good time with cake, water balloons, and "cool" music on the boom box etc. (this was the 90's)

 

[skater]

For my DD's 16th, we lit up the whole backyard with lights, but otherwise kept it somewhat simple. We built a campfire, had a sleepover, played loud music in the backyard, etc. (We got the neighbor's permission first ). She was thrilled with the decorations - it felt magical to have it at night and she was surrounded by a few favorite friends.

 

[katesorad]

My sweet 16 was amazing. It was back in June of 2006. My dad let me invite 5 friends to take a Hummer Limo 90 minutes up to Disneyland for the day! It was amazing. My parents did a lot wrong.. but this birthday was one thing they did right

 

[LBAK]

Sweet Sixteens are very big and elaborate around here. Instead of a Sweet Sixteen my daughter and 8 of her friends (along with their moms) are going to the Bahamas for a few days. The kids can spend their time together.

 

[Longsx3]

I am already planning DD's Sweet Sixteen and we are 15 months out, I have a planner, hall and caterer picked out....deposits will be placed before we hit 12 months out. I know it seems way too far in advance but it is extremely hard to find affordable halls; several places wanted just for hall rental what I want to spend on the whole event so planning in advance has really helped from a budget stand point!

 

[bombygriz]

birthday on her 16th, so her Sweet Sixteen is going to be a REALLY big deal. We made a giant deal out of DD#1's golden birthday, so DD#2 has been waiting forever for her turn. (DD#1's birthday is on the 6th). She is already talking about a limo, but I think "huge deal" has different meanings for me and her. I'm talking about fussing over her, inviting more friends and having more food than usual, and maybe a bakery cake instead of homemade. I'm NOT talking limo, rented hall, or DJ!

What's a golden birthday?

I turn 16 this year, but I'm going out to lunch and to the mall with my boyfriend and my mom. I'll use the money we saved to pay for Driver's Ed!!

 

[agnes!]

We had a limo and DD invited about 12 friends to a Spanish tapas restaurant. It was really nice - great food, great service, everyone seemed to have a good time - except for the fact that one of the girls had asked for us to drop off some of the guests at her house afterwards...dumb me didn't realize that this other girl had invited these other kids(about 4 I think) to a sleepover at *her* house without inviting DD. Yeah, DD got over it but that sure didn't make the rest of that year any easier.

agnes!

 

[Cinderella94]

I turned 16 in August and I just had about 10 girls over, same thing I do every year. We went to the Cheesecake Factory first and then they spent the night.

 

[mercydisney]

DD's Sweet16 is in Aug. She does not want a big party. What she does want is 2rms for a bunch of her friends in the Nick Hotel. She also wants a tiara and all Hello Kitty accs. .

 

[FloridaMom]

My daughter had her Sweet 16th this past January. Huge party, "Alice in Wonderland" theme, over 100 guests, dj, country club and she got a convertible... so yes, it was a huge deal.
I always wanted a party like that and my parents could not afford anything close to it. So I planned one for her... she deserved it

My 11 year old is already looking forward to her party lol...

 

[clh2]

I picked out an AWESOME cake when DD turned 16. I did, however, allow her to pick out the flavor. The rest was a surprise. (I'll try to post a pic in a few minutes.)

And - and idea I got from my friends on the DIS was to give her 16 presents. Now granted - some of them were teeny tiny (i.e. pony tail holders, lip balm etc) but there were 16 things to unwrap. Other things - a college lanyard for car keys, a gas card, an i-tunes card, a starbucks card. a 4-piece luggage set (each piece wrapped separately) etc.

She LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the 16 presents.

 

[laurie31]

I picked out an AWESOME cake when DD turned 16. I did, however, allow her to pick out the flavor. The rest was a surprise. (I'll try to post a pic in a few minutes.)

And - and idea I got from my friends on the DIS was to give her 16 presents. Now granted - some of them were teeny tiny (i.e. pony tail holders, lip balm etc) but there were 16 things to unwrap. Other things - a college lanyard for car keys, a gas card, an i-tunes card, a starbucks card. a 4-piece luggage set (each piece wrapped separately) etc.

She LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the 16 presents.

What a great idea!

What's a golden birthday?

I turn 16 this year, but I'm going out to lunch and to the mall with my boyfriend and my mom. I'll use the money we saved to pay for Driver's Ed!!

It's when your age and your date of birth are the same.

A person's Golden or Grand Birthday, also referred to as their "Lucky Birthday", "Champagne Birthday" or "Star Birthday", occurs when they turn the age of their birth day (e.g., when someone born on the 25th of the month turns 25)

DD #1 had hers when she was 6. She loved Chinese food so we had her party at a Chinese restaurant. Either they don't get too many kids' parties at Chinese restaurants or they make BIG deals over golden birthdays in China, but they REALLY made a production of it. We had amazing service. They kept coming over to refill our drinks and would look at DD and say, "Golden Birthday...very special!" They put cherries all around her birthday cake for luck and sang to her in Chinese. It was really cool.

DD #2 thinks since she'll be turning 16 on the 16th that she'll get the Golden birthday stuff + the Sweet Sixteen stuff...and she's probably right.

 

[bombygriz]

Darn...wish I'd known about that when I was 8...lol!

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

My daughter turns 16 in September. She was given the choice of a party with friends and family - not too big, or a trip to Disney with her 3 best friends for 5 days. She chose the trip. We belong to DVC, so the room was "free", we had credits with JetBlue enough for 2 1/2 plane tickets, my dd and I have annual passes..the rest are getting tix through my job (cheap 5 day ph passes..better deal than undercovertourist!) and will be doing QSDP with one birthday celebration at Chef Mickey's..all in all it turned out to be cheaper than throwing a party.

 

[wvjules]

Huge range of Sweet 16 type parties. I think we're about in the middle. I'm also thinking of changing the back yard bbq to a resort area. My pap can't walk up steps and we have three levels with no bathroom on the lower level.