My daughter will turn 12 in a few months ( I know it's in a while I just like to plan ahead), I have gone completley blank on what theme! Before we have done a luau, dance party, movie night, pool parties (at our house), and some other like little kid-ish ones. I just want to have some theme ideas and how to plan that type of a party.... please :-) She isn't a real girly girl but we thought about the spa idea and she just wasn't really into that! Can you believe it!? I would love that! Lol
I would ask her what she would like. Let her choose her top 3 or 5 ideas and then you can go from there!
I was also going to suggest a spa party! Fun! You could DIY it or check into a salon. Cupcake places are still pretty big here and some of them have party packages that are pretty fun, maybe look into that?
You can do a scavenger hunt at the mall just give a heads-up to the stores you'll be visiting. And you'll probably want some extra parent volunteers, at least one or two so you can divide the kids into teams.
A hotel party would be fun too if she just invited a few close friends. You can do swimming and pay-per-view movies!
Ask her what she'd like, seriously! When one of my grandson's was turning 12 two years ago, he said a BBQ by the home pool would be fine, and maybe some of his friends could spend the night. And that's what they did, no theme. She's a tween, and more than likely has some definite likes and dislikes, I'm sure having a say in what she wants, if she wants a theme, the food, etc., would make her very happy : )
Once you know check the internet for ideas you can use. For the parties I've done, Harry Hotter, Elmo, Winnie the Pooh, Thomas the Train, Diva Girls (so fun, the girls had mini facials, manis and pedis,) Rock Star, and more I got all my ideas and recipes from sites on the internet.
BTW, my granddaughter is turning 11 in October, she went to a tea room for an older relative's birthday a few months ago, she now wants a tea party there for her birthday : )
What is she into? Is she a girly-girl or not? I would start by asking HER for some ideas and take it from there :)
My fav ideas for that age: rock star (they can play rock band or guitar hero if you have it, do fake tattoos, decorate tshirts) a spa party (hair/skin/nail treatments) or neighborhood scavenger hunt (I've never actually done this but my daughter's been to a few of these and LOVED it!)
I did a mall scavenger hunt. We had 2 teams of 3 girls. My husband stayed with one team and I stayed with the other. Each team was given $40 and were told what stores and $ values to spend with some other clues. One of the items on the hunt was to go to the photo booth and get a picture of the 3 of them. Afterwards back at home we put the girls names in a hat and picked an order. Then the first girl got to pick one of the items to take home. We ran threw the list until all the purchased items were gone. I had to do some prep work in advance to figure out what stores and what $ value and items would work from each store.
We did limo parties where the limo picked each girl up at her house, rode around town, went to a high end hotel in a good shopping/dining area.
Limo dropped us off at the hotel, the girls swam, etc then got ready for dinner. We walked to dinner then icecream then back to hotel (all easy safe walking). Afterwards they swam some more, came back to the room, watched movies and had room service bring snacks.
I had breakfast for them in the am, they all left by 10am.
I had a suite booked, the girls were never out of my sight. When we were at dinner, etc, hubby was with us. Hubby delivered the breakfast the next morning.
At 13, we did a huge dance party with buffet, dj, prizes, etc.
Ask her!
When our daughter turned 10 last summer, we let her decide who to invite to spend the night (we set the limit) and had them come over early in the afternoon. They had a few hours in the pool, then we made pizza (yes made it, it is so easy and girls that age love that sort of thing usually), and then my daughter wanted to make videos. She had just finished up a claymation-stop-motion video summer camp, and wanted to do that with her friends. So I bought packs of clay for everyone in multiple colors and let them make their own "things (people, animals, props, etc) and they build little "sets" out of cardboard and shoe boxes, and they used a computer program to upload video and make claymation movies. They had a blast.
Downloaded the video to discs for them to take home the next day.
Pancakes for breakfast!
:)
I would really ask her.... what she wants. '
At that age, they may want a "party"... or just an outing with their friend or friends.
Or even a sleep over.
