Ideas for 12 Year Old Girl's Birthday Party

Totally different idea: My 11-year-old invited 10 friends to Feed My Starving Children where they spent 2 hours putting together meal kits for impoverished children. We actually did cake & presents afterwards right there in a back room. And the crazy thing was - the girls LOVED it. Wanted to keep doing it even after their "shift" was over. There's a FMSC in Chanhassen & Eagan.

I recommend a "nature" birthday party at Woodlake Nature Center in Richfield. Don't know if that's too far for you, and if your daughter would consider herself too old for it, but it was a winner for my kids.

I have heard that the Regis hair school does parties. I'm not sure what it all entails. Their website doesn't say anything about it, but I have had a couple of friends talk about it. The girls were able to get their hair and nails done. I believe the salon is over by the Rainbow off hwy5. I could be wrong, but you could call.

Hi K.~

Just an idea and it may not be something she is interested in but my 10 year old niece had her birthday party at Ben & Jerry's on Excelsior.

A.

Hi, K.. Three of our four kids were born in February, so I know that finding fun birthday places in the dead of winter is tough!

One of the best birthday parties we've ever done for our 10-year-old daughter was to take a group of her friends to Feed My Starving Children. This is a non-profit organization that provides nutritious meals to starving children around the world. Your daughter and her friends will learn a bit about hunger and poverty, then spend the bulk of the 2-hour shift actually packaging the meals.

My daughter absolutely loved doing this, and I was so proud that it was her idea to celebrate her birthday this way. It certainly helped take the focus off of self and presents! The Chanhassen Feed My Starving Children facility has a little conference room that you can use for gifts and cake (you supply) if you request it. Their website is at:

www.fmsc.org

Best wishes, and Happy Birthday to your daughter!

We took 5 boys to Grand Rios for my son's tenth birthday in November. What about the Water Park of America?

Here's an idea: Go to the Eden Prairie mall. You can hang out at the food court, then send all the girls shopping! Make sure they have a cell phone and they check in every 15-30 minutes or so. Give each girl like $10 or so, and they can shop together and have some independance. It depends on your comfort level & the # of girls you want to invite, but its an idea. My daughter went to ____@____.com had a lot of fun (it was about 5 girls). The mom said she spent less money just giving the girls cash, then she would have spent on all the decorations.

How about the Bead Monkey-in SW Mpls (or something like it), the girls can make their own jewelry. Or maybe a paint your own dishware place... Good luck!