16 Year Old Birthday Ideas

Maybe a special ring or a necklace from mom and dad would be nice. That would be something she could treasure forever. It doesn't have to a precious gem stone, but can be semi-precious and be just as special.
Or what about letting her pick two friends and taking them for a pedicure/manicure and a nice lunch.
Or do something special, Like a fancy dinner at a nice restaurant with just mom and dad.
Or maybe ask what she might like. You might be surprised that it is something small and affordable.

Have you considered trading a massage for jewelry? (Perhaps with someone that sells Cookie Lee, etc?) I can give you the name of some mom's groups on-line if you are interested in a forum where you can do that. Feel free to contact me off-line if you are interested. Good luck and happy sweet sixteen to your daughter!

If you want something that can include her friends, one idea is a grown-up, afternoon tea party with fancy sandwiches, served on your best china and silver, complete with lace tablecloth, etc. You might be able to rent a silver tea service if you don't have a friend or family member to borrow such things from --
are often used at churches for weddings.
Then as a special gift, either give her a special personalized teapot, or teacup to remember the day.

L.,

Of all my birthday's there are only two that stick out in my mind. For my 13th birthday my grandmother and my dad took me up to the restaurant in the Space Needle for lunch. I had a blast and felt really special for that day. I have no idea what the cost is, but your daughter will enjoy herself.

Melissa

I have two teenage girls and a limited budget so I have plenty of experience trying to come up with good parties.

On my daughter's 16th, when the kids would arrive, I took a picture of her with each kid. I then had the kid write something they liked about her or a memory...some sort of note for her to remember on a piece of cardstock. I then made a scrapbook of each person and other pages of the party itself.

When my kids get a certain age, they get harder to buy for and really prefer money. I hate handing over money, it seems impersonal somehow. So one time we went and got her birthday money in one's and hid them around the house.

She unwrapped a one dollar bill that had a clue as to where the next dollar bill would be. Her and her friends had a blast looking for each dollar and watching the pile grow. (It seems like more when the are ones). Or you can also tape the ones end to end to make a dollar "Cake".

I also got one of my daughters a build-a-bear which might seem kinda young for someone her age but it turned out ok. She happens to be a...not so much emo, but one that dresses differently. Her bear had skinny jeans, converse and hot pink w/ black polka dots shirt, and an ipod sticking out of its head just like her. It was her mini-me.

We also have a tradition we do at their parties. We go to the dollar store and get glow sticks for all the kids. That night, they will throw them all in the tree. The whole tree lights up and they all look forward to it each year. We have glow sticks up there from years ago.

On a 13th party, we did a snow ball fight in summer. Snow being pantie hose and flour. You cut a section of pantie hose, knot it and fill with flour, knotting again. They get quite messy after but we just blow them off with the blower.

Hope these ideas help. Mostly they just want to hang with their friends.

Have you asked her for ideas? She may have an idea in her head of what her ideal sweat 16 would be. You could find out what it is and then adjust for cost.

I don't know if you already let your daughter wear make up but some one gave me a great idea once for a teens birthday, to have a make up party. You know like a Mary Kay party or my personal favorite Motives. One that will teach the girls the right way to put make up on and that will also teach them what colors are best for them. My daughter is only 10 but I plan on doing this type of party when she is old enough to wear make up. If you end up trying it, please let me know how it goes. Thanks, C.

Her friends are very apt to do something for this special occasion, so whatever you do make it family oriented. You could all get dressed up and go to a nice restaurant for dinner. Make it a destination type restaurant, where you have to travel to get to, some place you wouldn't ordinarily go to. Make sure that the staff knows ahead it's her birthday and make arrangements for a cake and song. You can also send a letter out to all your friends and family asking them to write your daughter a letter on the occasion of this important day. They could relate their favorite memory of her growing up, their wishes for her, how they feel about her. If they have pictures of her growing up if they could send a copy along with their letter it would be fantastic. Then you take all these letters and pictures, along with your own, in a scrapbook or album. This is her life. A friend of mine made collages of her daughters for their 10th birthdays. This wall frame filled with different pictures at various events and ages up to age 10. It was a rite of passage in their family. Dad could get her a corsage for the evening. If you had some money, you could rent a limo, or somewhat less expensive, rent a luxury car that would accomodate your family, like a Lincoln or a Cadillac. Take lots of pictures and don't forget to write that note to put on the last page of her book when you get home that night, expressing all your joy and thanks for the 16 years that you've shared. She'll have lots of other birthdays with her friends, but this family event will be a foundation upon which she will build many more memories, ones that will pass the test of time. Congratultions on a beautiful daughter!!!

For my daughters 16th we did a spa day type of thing her and a best freind got nails done hair cut and such for the evening we booked 2 rooms (ajoining) at a plush hotel (on priceline so it was really reasonable) and let her have few girls over. She had the time of her life!

I agree that most kids will want to be engaged with their friends--this is their "rite of passage" so to speak.

One thing that isn't too expensive to do, but is time-consuming, is to create a "16 Yearbook": take all your favorite pictures of her growing up and have them scanned into .jpgs. If you have a high quality scanner, you can do this--if not you can take it somewhere and they will. Then you can use an online "photo book" site (my favorite is http://www.blurb.com/ they are very stylish and affordable) and create a book of her life from birth to 16. You can document the baby years with memories from her baby book, you can add lots of text, to make it a true book--not just a photo album. We discovered this after vacationing in Napa with my husband's family (all the siblings, their spouses, their kids, his parents,etc.) when we all finally got together at the same time in the same place! We made a beautiful book to document the time there and everyone liked it so much, they went to the site and bought their own copies. I think for a hardcover book that was about the size of a picture book, it was $30.

Give her 15 white roses and one pink rose. You can hang them to dry (before they fully open) and she will have them for years. It is not that expensive, they don't have to be long stemmed. I have found that some grocery store chains can have a good deal on roses.
Hope this helps, whatever you do on her birthday, have a great day.
Tam

Try having her friends go on a scavenger hunt around the town. A friend of mine did that on her 16th and I remember having so much fun....especially since she had gotten her license that afternoon and we were able to have the car! At the end have something really cool like a set of real birthstone earrings (found cheap at K-Mart Go 70% off fine jewelry!)

What about making a scrap book of her up until her 16th birthday. Include both each parent and her sibling. Ask her friends for photos of things that they have done together. And maybe a short story about the photos.

I remember being jealous of my sister's 16th birthday, and I'm 2 years older than her, but to this day she still talks about it. My mother arranged for a limo to pick up a few of my sister's closest friends(3 of them) and then surprised her by picking her up last. This all started around noon. To keep costs down you can have your husband or a trusted friend be the chauffeur. My mother gave the driver my sister's itinerary, but my sister was given a piece of a puzzle with a riddle on it. Puzzle pieces were nothing more than an 8 1/2 by 11 piece of paper cut into shapes of a puzzle with some decorations on it corresponding to the riddle. It was a scavenger hunt! The first place they went was out to lunch(the puzzle piece had an envelope attached with a gift card in it)and when lunch was over there mysteriously appeared another puzzle piece(limo driver handed it to her). The next clue had an envelope with vouchers that lead them to get a mani and a pedi. I'm sure you get the idea by now. My mom sent my sister and her friends out on a scavenger hunt to all of her favorite places. The last puzzle piece was a riddle ending her day with her girlfriends back at home. As if one surprise wasn't enough, my sister also got a surprise party. There was nothing more priceless than the way my sister glowed that day. It was some creative planning on my mothers part, but in the end it was so worth it. I'm sure you could get creative on cutting costs down to your budget, but I would think the hardest part is coming up with riddles. Good luck to you!

Well When my mom wasn't able to think of things,she would ask us indiscreetly like hey sweety try this on for me I want to know what it is going to look like on me since all girls were around her size.She was also on a budget and still is so it's not always the cost that counts it could be a doller and it may mean the world to her coming from you.I think anything you do will be great for her maby think of her favorite things or style and find a few low cost things that fit her style.she may still love it.Good luck
irish

For my 16th birthday we had a bonfire at Alki. We invited a bunch of my friends and roasted hot dogs and smores campfire style. I LOVE the beach and it was a perfect, and inexpensive way to have a big 16th birthday bash. FYI, Golden Gardens is also a great place to have a bonfire, or you could always reserve a covered picnic area at a park if you are worried about rain.

I don't know if you have the time for a project like this, but what about a scrapbook of favorite memories of you and her or maybe you could write her a little notebook of all your special times with her and the moments you were proudest of her? My mother gave me a ring for my 18th birthday and I still wear it every day, so maybe a special piece of jewelry, it wouldn't have to be expensive. Maybe you could find a nice ring or something at ShopKo for a good price.

Hi! A very thoughtful and inexpensive idea, secretly compiling "16 Letters from Family and Friends" to present to her on her big day. I did this for my sister's 40th and it was her favorite gift she received. Good luck!

Did you know you can rent ( for quite a modest fee)_ a public swimming pool for the evening??? -- they will show a movie- and the kids can swim and use inner tubes and watch the movie- I DO wish I'd known about this 15 years ago---

Blessings
J.

Hi L.,
What I did for my daughters 18 bitthday was have a dinner party. The girls first came over and did their hair and makeup, put on dresses and got ready. I set the table with my fancy dishes, glasses, table cloth, cloth napkins and ect.(all that stuff I recieved as wedding gifts and don't get to use often). I did hang black fabric down from the ceiling kind of making a draped wall to help make the room private, dark and to keep the little brothers from bothering them. Then I set tons of little votive candles just in the clear plastic cups all over the table. On each girls plate I layed a red rose accross the plate. I dressed in all black and didn't talk to much (like a watress). I served them resturant style with salads, main corse and the desert. We had sparkling cider and I really brain stormed to make everything special with the garnishes and everything. The girls really enjoyed it and my daughter still talkes about it and I really had a good time doing it. Yes, it did take a lot of my time but it was worth it! Good luck,
L.

I haven't read any of the other responses so I don't know if this idea was shared yet. For my daughter's birthday this summer I took her and three of her best friends on a scavenger hunt throughout town. The party was a surprise. I had all of her friends meet me somewhere and then dad brought daughter and we all surprised her. I then gave each girl a small bag (dollar store) that had a little treat in it, gum, and a clue to their first destination. My husband went ahead of us and hid a "totem". The girls had to figure out the location and tell me where to take them. Once we got there they had to find the totem, it was a funny cup. In the cup was a challenge they had to complete before getting the clue to the next destination. It was a hoot! We went to 5 or 6 places with the final destination a bowling alley where they had pizza and bowled. The challenges at each stop were so fun. The first stop - I had put a couple of dollars in each of the girls bags (total of about $10 or $12 dollars) the first destination was goodwill and their challenge was to put together an outfit with the money they had for my daughter to wear for the rest of the day. They found a hat, shirt, pants and shoes. We did an island theme so by completing the challenge they earned a flower lei. The next clue took them to Tropical Smoothie where they had to use the money leftover from goodwill to buy a smoothie and using four straws drink it as quickly as they could. They earned a wrist lei. I did really little rhymes for the clues and challenges. One stop led them to Home Depot, the bathroom department to find the totem. The challenge was to mummify one person (name drawn at random from the cup) as much as possible in one minute. By the time we got to the final destination each girl had on a flower lei on neck and wrist, a sarong (cheap material cut into triangles) a flower bikini type top (over their clothes of course) and were completely decked out like island girls. I took pictures at each stop so we could track the locations and their transformation. I bought everything at the dollar store so it was really inexpensive. It was an all day event but the girls had a blast! I got more comments about how it was the best birthday they'd ever been too or had. I had soooo much fun putting it together.

Happy Birthday!

Sweet 16 for us was an Alice in Wonderland theme. With the cake all crooked and a rented Queen of Heart costume. I took helium balloons and stuffed them with Candy and mini Aces. Only 5 Aces, out of 25 balloons, for the 5 door prizes. After stuffing blow them up with air not helium and they pop them to see if they get a door prize. Four pieces of Poster board taped together on the back and taped to the wall for a big birthday card for all to sign and write birthday wishes on them. Drew with makers on the helium balloons filled will helium, faces, designs, and etc. All decorated for Alice in Wonderland theme. Rented a Hall and had a blast. Hope you do in what ever you do.

My 16th was very memorable! I was serenaded by 4 handsome young men (college age). I was at an ice cream parlor. I was a very shy girl and these four guys came over and sang a song for me then I got to choose one to give me my sweet 16 kiss (respectfully done of course). At 45 I still remember it as if it was yesterday. Maybe you could find a local singer to bring her a rose and sing her a song at a place special to her...school, a favorite restuarant..etc. Good luck!

HI L.,
You can go and do Mom and daughter makeovers! That is always fun for me. I have used merle norman for over 18 years and they always do free ones. Sometimes in the malls at Macy's or highend stores they do free ones too. That is one thing you could do! Good luck. It sounds fun.

When I turned 16 my mom an dad bought me a really pretty ring with a small blue gem (probably aquamarine) in the center. I'm sure it didn't cost a lot of money, but it was really pretty and I thought that it was so neat and grown-up to get a real ring. I wish I still had it today, it was stolen out of my gym locker during my senior year while I was at tennis practice. :(