Girls 16Th Birthday

My daughter invited a bunch of her friends to Chuck E Cheese and they had a great time.

You could rent a couple of adjoining hotel rooms. The girls can swim, work out, watch movies and eat junk food.

On my daughter's 16th birthday we took her and a few of her special friends on a girl's overnight shopping trip. We stayed overnight at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Grapevine and then went shopping the the Grapevine Mills mall. The Embassy Suites has a special birthday/girls night package. It really wasn't much more (if any) in cost than the home parties with all the snacks/cake and goodies! I provided the room and the night with pizza, swimming in the pool, all night fun and the other girls brought spending money and their b-day gifts. Most of them just treated my daughter to goodies at the mall! It was a total success! They all loved it and she still says that was her best party ever!

When I turned 16, we all went to the Reunion Tower in Dallas dressed up in fancy dresses. We used to have Sports Banquets at school, so alot of my friends already had dresses. Before we left, we got the party platter from Panchos. At the Reunion Tower, we took alot of pictures by the fountains and on the outside deck. Then we went to the restaurant on the top floor and everyone got some cheesecake. We couldn't afford to get a whole meal there, so we ate before we left and then just got dessert. It was so much fun, and fairly inexpensive. It was a great memory. For my 17th birthday, we had a Mary Kay consultant come and everyone got a Mary Kay makeover. That was fun too.

When I was 16, my dad took me out for a special dinner. Just me and him. He took me to Reata's in Fort Worth. Then it was at the top of a building. It's not anymore (tornado), but It's still a really nice restaurant. He was such a gentleman. He said that he wanted me to know how special I was and how a man should treat me on a date. Never settle for less. After that he took me to a park where he gave me a special ring. It was a true love waits ring, but it was much prettier and nicer than some of the ones that just say "true love waits." I wore that ring until I gave it back to him during my wedding ceremony. It was my most memorable birthday ever. My dad rarely took me out or did special things with just me alone. It was great and made a huge impact on me. I think I also had a friend over to spend the night, and did other birthday celebration stuff, but after 11 years, the date with dad is the part I really remember.

A friend of mine rented a hotel room for herself(chaperone), her daughter, and 3 of her daughter's best friends. They spent the day at the indoor pool , had manis and pedi's at a local nail shop. I think they went to a brunch as well. They made it a girl's day out. You could do a version of this. I think she told me she found coupons to use for the hotel and brunch. All in all she s said that she spent very little in comparison to other parties they have had in the past. Sounds fun to me.

I second the Magic Time Machine in Addison, that is always a lot of fun. You also might do a fondue restaurant. I think the city of McKinney has an indoor pool that you could rent, a pool party in January would be pretty neat. Rent some rooms at the Great Wolf Lodge, then the kids could swim, send the boys home and have a sleep over with the girls. Or get a boys room and a girls room.

When you are ready for invitations I would be happy to help, take a look at my site www.WorksofaWink.com

Why not have a pedicure/manicure party/slumber party...

Take your daughter and about 5 of her close friends and have them get all dressed up, go downtown Fort Worth to a nice restaurant (or just Chili's!) then walk around and enjoy the sites. Stop at the Starbucks or marble slab. Then go to the movie theater there close to Bass Hall. Afterwards grab the horse and buggy and have them pile in and take a ride! They love taking pictures so I'm sure their digital cameras will be full of the fun at the restaurant (with a cake brought out - drop by the restaurant before the evening begins), then walking around and in the movie lobby on the escalators, then the fun ride in the buggy! They should have a wonderful time..especially your 16 year old!

Doe sshe like theatre... Live theatre? There are soem great shows coming to town. Think about her interests.... Does she liek scrap booking or to paint? A lot of places will do private bdays that are very differnt and fun. Cooking class? Photo cropping class etc. Something different. Even a grown up spa day.

My mom took me and some close friends to the Magic Time Machine for my 16th. We had a lot of fun. :)

What about a spa day or weekend. You guys could set the limit of how many people and either go stay in a hotel locally here for one night and go to their spa and out to a nice dinner or just skip the hotel and go to the spa and nice dinner

Hi C.: Wow, what a special b-day, the big 16, she is coming of age huh? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is taking a small mother daughter spa day, or maybe she and a friend. How about you and your daughter or friend going on a a mini getaway to Austin and do activities she would enjoy? Making an appointment to get a makeover, a new low maintaining hair style, and a visit to a make up counter to get lip gloss powder, is he isn't already wearing any make-up. And after her make-over, take her to a b-day dinner to her favorite resteraunt. Hope this helps!Have fun!

Take a few friends, and hit the mall for a scavenger hunt. You would have already prepared the shops for their arrival and prepaid for certain items:

First store-Claire's to pick up matching bracelets etc
2nd store-T-shirt shop for matching shirts
3rd store-nail shop for mani/pedi
4th store-1 hour phote for group picture
last shop-special shop such as jewelry, bookstore, etc for her gift

restaurant for dinner, cake etc.
End the night in a slumber party..

The scavenger map and clues make for a lot of fun.

I have a friend who had a slumber party at a hotel (she got two adjoining rooms) and the girls loved it. Also, if she like horses, you could do a trail ride. Or a limo ride to a favorite restaurant or movie... Good Luck!

Hi, C.,
As a mom who has raised 8 kids(4 boys, 4 girls), we have had a lot of birthday parties over the years.
Kids your daughter's age all seem to love games of any kind. The suggestions for a scavenger hunt are great. Also role playing games are a lot of fun at this age, especially if they get to dress up as their character. This is especially good if you have a mixed gender party.
If it's girls only, the spa day suggestion sounds like a blast. Even the mothers would want to get in on that one.
Be sure to get a couple of friends, relatives or neighbors help you with the planning, decorations, food etc. so you won't be doing all the work yourself. Teens often enjoy making their own refreshments and food, so maybe cooking together would be fun.
Whatever you decide, make sure your daughter helps in the decision making and planning. That is very empowering to a young woman and helps her understand the work and thought that goes into making an event happen, that it doesn't just magically happen by itself.
Be sure and have fun with it. You are making wonderful memories for you and your kids to remember and to use as a model for their future families. And take lots of pictures!
Good luck and have a great time.
B. G.

send out a request to lots of people from her life--friends, teachers, former teachers, church, etc etc. and have them write what they love about her, her strengths etc. Type up these responses, bind them in a book--however fancy/durable you are able to do. I know you were talking about the celebration part of her birthday and I'm not much help there because it depends so much on the teenager about tastes etc. I received something like this for my 40th birthday and you can't imagine how wonderful it is to receive and to pull out when you're having a really bad day! It's a lot of work but email makes it easier.

Hey C.
Just thinking and my daughters are still young...but what about a day at a spa with you? I know it isn't her friends but maybe she could have friends meet for dinner with with you guys later at a nice restaurant. I was just thinking how great it would be at my daughters 16 birthday to spend a day at the spa...and I mean the works...toes, hair, facial, massages...the whole bang!!! Just a thought but I am sure anything you do will be great

I had a friend who, for her daughter's 13th bday, took her and her friends out to eat and then when they were done, they walked outside and a limo was there waiting for them. They drove to downtown Ft Worth and took a ride in the horse drawn carriages.

How about a limo ride, spa day, dance?

We had a couple of parties for my daughter which involved a limo picking up each friend at their home, riding around town to popular places, enjoying the refreshments and music in the limo. When the limo ride was down, everyone was dropped off at our house and slept over. We did this for the 10 and 11th bdays and it was a hit. Limo rides limit the number of people in the party due to the max number of riders in the limo.

Spa day for some close friends? You can tailor the services to your desire. Massage, facials, mani'pedi's.

We had a big 13th bday party last Dec with a DJ, food and lots of friends having fun. I believe we are doing that again this year because it was such a hit last year. The kids loved it so much we had an end of the year party in June as well. They love the music, dancing and socializing with each other. NOTE: we did have an off duty police officer to help control the crowd if needed. This was worth the $100 we spent. Our rule was if you leave you don't come back in the party. That helped keep any "trouble" out. We had these parties at a private club.

You can scale any of these ideas to the price and entertainment level that you want.

Have fun! I will be planning the 16th before I know it...

For my 16th birthday my mother got me a birthstone ring. It was very special to me.

We played broomball and our group had a blast. It is ice hockey with brooms and a ball and you just wear tennis shoes instead of skates. You need
about 30 people to play and it is fun for all ages. I know
Dallas Galleria Ice and Plaza of America offers this service. My daughter still talks about how much fun it was.

Concert party at home- Go with glow theme-not same old mom's watching square dancing but like the parties in denton;). Buy or rent concerts taped and jam out. maybe set up kareoke- all video game systems seem to have a kareote game these days. Have lots of over sized candy for the "sweet 16". Darker the house and turn on some black lights. Maybe a strobe light or two and glow sticks. Velvet glow posters (all available at walmart or $ store). Glow jewlery from clair's. Have the party catered by her fav. restraunt or do some good munchies.

Strikes in frisco and plano super bowl have late night glow bowling also. It is fun, there is music and pool and not all the little kids-
or
Find where a new band is playing and check it out. There are clubs that will let escorted kids in. Check out the Observer free mag from Chipolte or barnes and noble ete- It has listings of bands and where they are playing by genre. You could call the venue and ask about the atmosphere. It would be cool to find some live misic and expand their horizons.
or
Have a party at the hard rock cafe.
Hire a Dj and rent a hotel conferance room.
Hire a live band - checkout eizenbergs skate park website for some local young bands.