Ideas, Food, Games, Themes and Locations!

Can you believe you’re even looking at a page for teenage birthday party ideas?! Your baby is a teen!

Photo by Alex E. Proimos. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).

Let’s take a deep breath here. Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth because, Honey, you’re in for a wild but exciting and fulfilling ride.

Time to Celebrate

It’s time to celebrate that wonderful life you have guided and seen safely through the toddler, pre-school, elementary, and pre-teen stages. Teenage birthday party ideas can be as simple or creative as you wish.

Teens are ever precious to us and as we shift from “doing for” to “doing with” we experience the gratification of “doing” a tremendous job. But it isn’t over yet. Let’s throw some more grand and memorable kids birthday parties for our “babies.”

Themes are no longer necessary, though if your teen wants one, go for it! They may want to do a Survivor theme or Lost or some such reality show theme or a Fashion or Spa them. Let’s indulge them while the opportunity is still semi-offered.

10 Teenage Birthday Party Ideas to Getcha Goin’

1. Your teen may want a big blow-out with all her friends for either all or only a few of her teen birthdays. Be sure to let the birthday person make this decision. After all, a birthday celebration really is, “all about her.” It’s okay to want just an intimate gathering of close friends and family or one or the other. It’s all about what she wants for her special day.
2. Some families prefer to host one or two close friends for a birthday celebration and never host a large party, while other families will host the whole gang every year. It’s up to what the birthday teen wants as well as the “personality” of the family.
3. Another popular choice is to host a major party for the 13th, 16th and 18th years with the others being smaller scale.
4. Let your teen take the lead in choosing the activities, location, time, date and guest list. Taking on this task, with you as their guide, provides for many important “teachable moments” but more importantly some nice bonding moments as well.
5. A tricky part with teenage birthday party ideas is to ensure you are providing adequate supervision to your hormone induced adolescent guests. If your child is not too keen on the idea of Mom and Dad hanging around at their party here are some suggestions for you:
   1. Greet guests as they arrive. This sends a clear signal that a friendly adult is present and supervising the party.
   2. Make it clear to your teen which areas are out of bounds during the party to be relayed to party guests.
   3. For the duration of the party nonchalantly settle into a spot near enough to the goings on that you can hear . . . just that.
   4. Do a walk through about every half hour to replenish food and drinks (or make it look like that’s what you’re doing) all the while taking a mental head count of guests to make sure they are accounted for and engaged in appropriate activities.
   5. Take a casual walk around the house or party venue about every half hour as well. Poke your head into dark rooms and secluded spaces. If guests have moved into these areas, ask them to return to the party area.
   6. Keep in mind that while they are on your property you are responsible for your guest’s well-being and safety.
6. Where there are teenagers there is noise and lest we forget . . . 16 to 18 year olds can drive. You might want to give your neighbors a heads up that a party is goin’ down soon and pre-apologize for any inconvenience or disruption to their otherwise peaceful lives. Supplying them with earplugs may be in order, as well. Be aware of your city’s teen curfews, typically:
   1. 9th & 10th grade: 11pm
   2. 11th & 12th grade: midnight – 1am
7. For teens 15 and under it is best to have the party during the day on the weekend so there are no curfew clashes. For 16 and older having a party on the weekend in the evening is popular with adult supervision.
8. It’s time to accept that at this age it is no longer “cool” for Mom to send out cute themed invitations (though family members will probably humor you by accepting them).
9. Let your teen text, e-mail, or Facebook (inbox – so all 800 friends don’t show up) his own invites making sure he asks for RSVPs so you know for how many to plan. However, if it is to be a surprise birthday party or a formal party, parent sent invites are necessarily acceptable.
10. Set up different party “zones”:
    1. Video game zone or other activities
    2. Food & beverage zone
    3. Dance zone

Teenage Birthday Party Ideas: Eats ‘n Treats

Photo by Charkrem. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).

Teens tend to just graze especially when so much activity is going on around them. Set up a “grazing patch” for the gang by laying various and sundry snack foods on a table, kitchen island, or counter top.

Have extra chairs or mats set up where they can sit to eat. Bear in mind each teen will drink 3 to 4 cans of a beverage, one to two servings of the main entree and equivalent to half a bag of a given snack.

Speaking of snacks — here are a few ideas:

1. Chicken wings or nuggets and dip
2. Quesadillas, chips and salsa
3. Miniature pizzas or corn dogs
4. Pretzels, potato chips and dip
5. Fruit and veggie tray
6. Sliced pickles and olives tray
7. 2 or 3 varieties of triangle sandwiches
8. Mixed nuts
9. Popcorn
10. Build your own sub-sandwich
11. Cheese, crackers and sausage tray
12. Several liters of regular and diet pop, bottled water, bottled juices, iced-tea, lemonade (bottled or canned is safer on carpet and furniture).
13. Various salads: potato, macaroni, green salad, coleslaw . . .
14. Heck, just buy a few pizzas and lotsa pop and call it good, they’ll love it!

Looks a bit like a junk-fest, huh? As long as they don’t eat this way every day, all will be right in the world.

Teenage Birthday Party Ideas: Games

Games may or may not be called for as teens just like to hang out together. However, if in your party planning with your teen, she requested games here are a few for the two of you to consider:

1. Mummify — where in someone is gonna be enveloped in a lot of toilet paper!
2. Limbo
3. Scavenger or treasure hunt
4. Spoons Card Game
5. Chubby Bunny — See how many marshmallows each can fit into their mouths and still be able to intelligibly say,“Chubby Bunny.”
6. Crunch and Whistle — Each must try to get a whistle out of a whistle with a mouth full of crackers!
7. Ducky, Ducky? — A blindfolded player sits in a chair while a guest sits on her lap, blindfolded player says, “Ducky, ducky?”. Lap player says, “quack, quack.” Blindfolded player must guess who it is in two tries.
8. Food Sculptures — Each team gets a paring knife and toothpicks. They must create a food sculpture out of fruits & veggies and several fruit roll-ups in 10 to 15 minutes time.
9. “Honey if You Love me Smile” — This is a game where the person who is “it” goes around the circle and tries to make another laugh by saying the phrase, making faces, etc. If “it” has not made the person laugh within 30 seconds, “it” must move to the next person until someone laughs. Doesn’t take long!
10. Flash-light Tag
11. Water balloon fights
12. Wink Game (with cards)

See my kids birthday party games page for game instructions.

Teenage Birthday Party Ideas: Themes

Themes are no longer necessary, though if your teen wants one, go for it! They may want to do a Survivor theme or some such reality show, or a Fashion or Spa theme. Let’s indulge them while the opportunity is still semi-offered.

Here are some more ideas for you to consider:

A Luau Party	Glamour Shots Party
Decades Party: 50s through 80s	Sports Party
Beach Bonfire Party	Shopping Mall Party
Tea Party	Campout
Sleep-over Party	Video Game Party
Dance	Sweet 16 Party
Hollywood Party	Masquerade Party
Music Party	Seasonal Themed Party
Cooking/Baking Party	Murder Mystery Party

Teenage Birthday Party Ideas: Locations

 

While you’re planning the party with your teen ask him if he has a special place in mind he would like his party to be held.

Most venues offer affordable birthday party packages so be sure to inquire as to what is included.

Or check out their website for detailed information, some will even provide invitations with directions to the location. Be sure to reserve the venue at least 4 weeks in advance.

I’ve done some brain-storming for you. Following are some great teenage birthday party ideas for destinations, locations, venues, or whatever you wish to call your place to party. Check it out:

Home Sweet Home: Family room, backyard, garage, basement . . .	Miniature Golf
Rock Climbing Facility	Arcade Facility
Water Park	Sports Club
Amusement Park	Bowling Alley
Skateboard Park	Fast Food Restaurant/Pizza Parlor
Ski Lodge	Lazer Tag facility
Beach	Paintball Facility
Gymnastics Facility	Horseback Riding/Ranch
Go-Cart Racing	The Mall
Movie Theater	An Arts & Crafts Store; they will even have a specified craft set up for you
Batting Cages	Ceramic Studio
A Spa	Skating Rink; ice or roller
The Lake	The River

Teenage Birthday Party Ideas: Gifts

Ah, the age where gifts are fewer but you spend more money. Go figure!

One more idea to keep in mind, especially if your party is small or even one-on-one for a son or daughter, is a get-away trip. You might want to go on a camping, fishing or hunting trip together or go on a “road trip.”

When your kids get to the teenage stage, this chapter of your life together is racing to a close. With that in mind, any amount of time you can spend together having fun or enjoying an adventure will build a lifetime of memories. Or . . . you can just buy them an iPod.

The following list of teenage birthday party ideas for gifts is far from complete. It’s just here to get those brainwaves functioning at a slightly higher frequency. Be sure to stroll to the bottom of this page and add your ideas for everyone else to see. The form is just below the following table. Thanks!

Gift Cards or Money	Video Game Console
Music	Savings Bond
Clothing & Accessories	mp3 Player
Books, DVDs, CDs	Cell Phone
iPad	Musical Instrument
iPod	Food / Candy
Laptop	Video Games
Personalized Birthday Gift	Digital Camera
Video Camera	Portable DVD Player
Headphones	Bike / Sports Equipment
Clock	Watch / Jewelry

What are your Teenage Birthday Party Ideas?

I would absolutely love to hear how you created the ideal birthday party for your teen/s. Anything you share will be shared with the Birthday Hub community for the benefit of all. Please use form below. Thanks very much!