A Sweet 16 Party is more than just cake and ice cream
Sweet 16 parties are popular. You'll often hear of huge blowouts thrown for celebrity children that cost more than some people pay for their first house. However, sweet 16 parties can still be thrown on a budget and be fabulous without the high costs. Does this Spark an idea?
Theme
Deciding on a theme is probably the hardest part of throwing a sweet 16 slumber party. After you have chosen an overall theme, the rest of the party will fall into place. Before deciding on a theme, you must decide whether this party will be coed in the earlier part of the night. If members of the opposite sex are invited, that may affect your theme slightly.
After you decide on your guest list, you are ready to choose the theme. Start out by thinking about your daughter. What are her hobbies or passions? What are her favorite movies or bands? What is her favorite color? All of these elements can play an important role in finding the theme for the event. Some popular themes are a luau theme, a Mardi Gras theme, a candy theme or even a Hollywood theme.
If you are having trouble finding a theme, visit your local party store for ideas. It will have an entire section dedicated to sweet 16 birthday parties, and it will have a variety of themes to choose from.
Invitations and Decor
After you have chosen your theme, you must find invitations and decorations to match. Most party stores will be able to accommodate a popular theme, such as a luau. If your theme is more original, you may have to do a little more creative searching. Websites such as PaperStyle.com and AnnouncingIt.com allow you to order customized invitations and decorations, and they often have something to match almost any theme. One idea is to create custom Driver's License invitations with a picture of your daughter.
You can also use websites such as Flickr or Shutterfly to create personalized invitations that include a photo of your daughter, and you can add your own text with details about the party. Be sure to clarify that this is a sweet 16 slumber party, and outline what guests need to bring, such as pillows, blankets and towels.
If you are doing a luau, you can buy palm tree decorations, play island music and buy cups shaped like coconuts with little umbrellas to stick in your drinks. For a candy themed party, you can set up a table with several bowls of different types of candy, pass out candy necklaces and give each girl a Ring Pop to wear. For a Hollywood theme, you can spread out a "red carpet," post pictures of famous Hollywood couples on the walls and even buy a large "Hollywood" sign to hang on the wall. Give each girl a pair of sunglasses and take pictures of them, like the "paparazzi" all night.
Games and Activities
Because this is an all-night event, the sweet 16 slumber party will have to have several different phases of activities. In the early part of the evening, you will want to have a playlist ready with upbeat music and a speaker system so invitees can dance. You can even rent a karaoke machine so the brave guests can sing karaoke.
You can also buy low-cost drug store make-up and let the girls give each other makeovers. You can set up stations for hair, nails and make-up and let the girls rotate every 10 to 15 minutes. For boys, you can setup a video game or video game stations if you have more than one television or game system available. Games that involve multiple players are best so everyone can be involved. Another idea is to ask guests to bring their laptops and network them together or play multiplayer games online.
Later in the evening, make sure you have plenty of movies for when it's time for the lights to go off. Also, you can suggest games of truth or dare or a sports trivia game for boys. Most likely, by the end of the evening, the partygoers will think of games to play themselves, but it always helps to have a backup plan in case things get quiet.
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