Throwing a Birthday Party for a 13 Year Old Girl!?!?

Updated on January 04, 2012
C.S. asks from Chandler, AZ
23 answers

Hello All!
My boss just called and he wants me to put together a birthday party for his daughter who is turning 13. He is a single dad, and is at a loss to what she wants. So since i'm a girl, I guess I should know right? WRONG!
I wasn't your "typical" 13 year old, that we have nowadays. I read books, did horsebackriding etc.
This girl is going to be picked up in a limo with 10 of her friends and taken to a water park.
Afterwards, they are coming to the house, that I have to decorate-but not childishly!! I have daughters, but not older ones.
Should I do pink and white? pink and purple? balloons? crepe paper? signs? WHAT?
I have until Friday night to figure this out.
THANKS MAMAs!

1 mom found this helpful

What can I do next?

  • Add yourAnswer own comment
  • Ask your own question Add Question
  • Join the Mamapedia community Mamapedia
  • as inappropriate
  • this with your friends

So What Happened?

Oh my goodness! Thank you all so much for the overwhelming help and advice I received on this request!!
I was able to contact the dad about her likes and dislikes. (Giving him a few ideas you gave me) He said hot pink
and zebra accents would be exactly her style.
JoAnns had inexpensive ribbon and window paint in Hot pink and zebra.
We did "girly food" like strawberries, gumballs, tarts and a beautiful cake that matched the pink theme.
You can see pictures on my site www.completeclean4u.com Look under photos.
I wrote down TONS of ideas for when my own girls turn 13, just another few years away!
Thanks mommies!!

Featured Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.H.

answers from Phoenix on

I would do a helium balloon/ sparkly lilac and pink decorations (yes crepe paper and signs) with lots of yummy food (teenagers eat a lot) and music/ a place to dance. Maybe karaoke? Set around the early-teen game questions for them to talk about. Someone could be there to help them with face painting and nails? Think Hanna Montana, though they might think they are too old for her.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.H.

answers from Albuquerque on

Maybe instead of doing pink...do a themed party??? Maybe disco or award ceremony type theme. That way you really don't need to know what she likes...just how to decorate the theme!!

More Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.T.

answers from Phoenix on

Ok, I have a 12 1/2 and a 14 year old. They say it depends on the individual girl. One says pink and white may be too girly, maybe black and pink?? The other said, what about blue? Both think the crepe streamers, balloons, and signs would work. Have fun! Maybe find out from Dad, see if he knows her favorite colors and go from there, or if there is something particular she's into and create a theme from there.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.C.

answers from Phoenix on

For my daughter's 13th, we had a movie night theme. We had a red carpet leading up to the front door & took each person's photo as they entered. We hung gold and silver stars from the ceiling and decorated with movie posters, clapperboards and rope lighting. We rented a scary (but age appropriate) movie, had pizza, popcorn and those movie theatre boxes of candy. Gift bags could include a bag of microwave popcorn, and a movie ticket or gift card for a movie rental. Fun and easy. Oh, and the kids also played games before the movie started (Twister was a big hit!)

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.J.

answers from Phoenix on

I think you really need to find out more about her likes of colors and whether she's into the feather boa and pink kinda stuff or not. Both of my girls are definately not. Try to find out a little from one of her friends or a relative maybe. My girls like crafts. At one party we had the girls decorate white pillowcases with fabric markers (put a piece of cardboard or plastic bag inside). They had a great time signing each others and it was a great take home gift. Or you can buy some wooden picture frames (craft store)and they can paint them, glue jewels on them or whatever little things you find (scrapbook stuff). Then take a group picture of all the girls at the party, print the picture off and put in the frames for them to take home. Also, try checking out www.familyfun.com for great party theme ideas, games, cakes, crafts, etc for her age. They really have some great ideas.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.T.

answers from Phoenix on

Its seems like lately the teens like pattern prints. Like, zebra with hot pink. Definitly balloons! Does he know anything like her favorite colors? what she is interested in? hobbies? you should be able to get more of a color scheme and ideas just from what she likes to do. Good Luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.K.

answers from Phoenix on

Being a MOM of a 15 & 12 year old please do not do crate paper that is so not IN (as they say).. You need to find out what she is into & do a theme party.. EX: Twilight,Jonas Brothers,Hannah Montana ETC...Then have everything eveolved around that. If this is what he is doing for her 13th I would hate to see what comming for her 16th... I can see the waterpark & party but a Limo at 13.......

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.K.

answers from Tucson on

Hi,I have a granddaughter who's going to be 13 next mo.She's really into music.She also likes Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana music,movies,etc.She also likes the Jonas Brothers.Maybe get a CD player and play music.They can both sing along and dance to the music.Flowers would be nice instead of balloons.Maybe go to Wal-Mart & get some teen idols posters to put on the wall instead of balloons. Have a cake decorated with a rainbow,guitars,butterflies and have written on top of the cake-"You rock"-(then put her name.Will need ice cream and sodas too.Surprise gift door prizes for her guests (friends) would be nice too.Having a couple of games to play will help fill the time too.Maybe pin the tail on a famous singer.A Mexican Pinata filled with candy & prizes is fun too.Hope these ideas help some.Have fun and good luck!Let us know how the party went.OK?

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

T.

answers from Phoenix on

If you need a cake, I do custom cakes. I could go along with the previous response's theme idea and make a zebra and daisy cake. I just did a cake for a 14 year old girl...she is into skateboarding so I did a skateboard cake. See if your boss knows what his daughter is into. Some girls are not into the girly stuff, like flowers and painting fingernails, as they may be more into sports and such. Let me know if I can help with the cake! T.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.B.

answers from Phoenix on

I would definitely decorate the house with pink, purple, black, and silver balloons. You could put together some fun goody bags with some bath/body/mani/pedi products. You could have a massage therapist come and do 1/2 hour massages for the girls or have someone come over and do mani/pedis for the girls! As a craft while they wait for mani/pedis or massages they could decorate their own flip flops....get some plain flip flops at JoAnns and some glitter beads, ribbons, etc to glue on. I work at a salon, we could arrange for someone to go over their house, or call your own local salon. :) Order some subs or pizza and drinks (I have a great recipe for a sparkling cooler) and brink a teenage chick flick too! Hope that helps!!!!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

G.D.

answers from Flagstaff on

First I'd question if that role is in your job description. I'd ask his daughter what she wants, it's her party.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

W.E.

answers from Phoenix on

I was going to say hot pink and black with white accents is really fun you can dress it up or dress it down.... If she likes performing I have some sparkly black top hats that you you can use to decorate with. You can have them for cheap! My daughter is 13 and we did a red carpet party for her last year soooo fun. I have friends that do wedding videos and we did a short video of her life so the party was a "Movie Premier" and my daughter was the Star! We had other friends video her friends arriving all decked out like movie stars, and they also pretended to be poparzzi (spelling?)snapping pictures and interviewing them about how well they knew the "Star" We had her friends sign an autograph book for her, Then we had her arrive last in one of my son's friends cute little sports cars. We gave them feather boas, we made homeade cherry limeaides and put them into champaign glasses. I had my teen age sons and their friends dress in shirt and tie, black pants and they served the refreshments.... way cute! We played music they liked and then watched the big "Premier" After ward they opened the gifts, played some games and did their nails. It was so great! My favorite party I ever planned! Can you tell I am a little proud of it :)

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.T.

answers from Phoenix on

I also never had a birthday party that demands that kind of decorating, but I think you are doing great, the colors are just right (White, Pink and Purple crepe paper roll for garland and the same for the balloons. The banner would be great with Purple letters of the wordings and Pink flower decorations on a white background. She would just love that and white tabloe covers with Pink and Purple skirts. Oh pretty is that, I on't know maybe it is different with other people. Pink flowers for centerpiece and find out what she likes to watch as far as teen idols or what is her favorite game and put that on a poster for her and guests to play a game with.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.E.

answers from Phoenix on

WOW, C. you have so little time. In the future this website has responsible priced items and good quality - they ship pretty fast too. www.wrapwithus.com

Anyway, do as suggested find out her colors, my girls hate pink!

What I did for my daughters sweet 16:

Theme colored plastic table cloths. Decorated with clear glass vases (Michael's 99 cents each) and long stemmed clear suckers (party city has them like 15 to 35 cents each). I put 8-10 suckers in each vase. If you do the flower theme, the vinyl flowers would look great under the vase). You might want to put the clear beads (in your color theme) in the bottom so the the vases don't fall. Took balloons and the balloon weights in purple and silver and decorated the tables with balloons too. Then got votive candles (ours had sweet 16 - purchased from above website) and the confetti in theme colors and scattered the confetti with 5-6 votives per table (light them close to the time everyone gets there). I put m&m's in tulle with ribbon around them to decorate (another edible decoration). The room looked amazing!

Then I decorated a table as people walked in the door with the theme items (our was hawaiin) I put balloons, a guest book for them to sign in (for a 13 year old party I would put one of those clear plastic things that people can write best wishes on - ask at the craft store - sometimes they are like mirrored, clear or black and you can write with certain pens on them - the kids have a blast with this!). We had a DJ and let the kids dance (we had ours at a rec room). We also catered from Aloha Kitchen, they gave us lots of food and everyone loved it. A really great cake and it looks really pretty too (it was gone in a flash- so if it's a big party I'd make two - looks pretty too) Is punchbowl or some call it truffle cake) It's easy to make you have to make it the day before so you can let it set. Email me if you want the recipe it is so easy to make - ____@____.com it's fruity and refreshing too.

Whatever you do - it should be great. I hope your boss plans on giving you a big bonus for such a short notice.

You can also find out if they want to do games like pictionary or other games. I know there are lots of cool ones for that age group, ask around.
Take care,
K.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.H.

answers from Flagstaff on

Can you not ask the birthday girl what she wants? If it is possible to involve her and ask her what she would like, I think that would be best. That way you don't have to be responsible for picking out things you think she will like and end up having her not like it. If it is to be a surprise and you can't ask her, ask her dad how her room is decorated, what design of bag/backpack does she use, what colors does she usually wear, what kind of music does she listen to, etc. Quiz the dad to find out all the details. If he is a single dad he should know these things about his daughter to help you with the party.Since they are going to a water park, a Luau party theme may be a good idea.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.C.

answers from Phoenix on

ask him who she is into? Hanna montana or johnas brothers? probably Jonas Bros. There gonna want to eat, maybe rent a few movies, is it a sleep over? at that age they like boys, they will be private & giggly. they play on the computer & text message. they probably will want to be left alone.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

E.B.

answers from Phoenix on

well im 13 and im throwing my own party if i were u pink and white out of those choices streemers yah ( no party hats but no signs ) just think of what you would want if u were turning 16 cause every 13 year old wants to be 16 just saying and what the heck is crepe paper? hehe :} -anjelica

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.C.

answers from Phoenix on

I would decorate with bright colors. I recently saw a party that was hot pink with zebra print accents. You could go get a few yards of zebra print fabric to use as table cloths. You don't even have to hem the fabric-just get hot pink ribbon and once you put the fabric on the table tie each corner with a hot pink bow. Make sure the seams are kind of tucked under before you grab each corner to tie. Use hot pink balloons, hot pink plates, etc. A huge vase filled with hot pink gerber daisies could be the centerpiece. You can make a birthday sign with a 12x12 piece of zebra print scrapbooking paper-print the letters out on hot pink paper and glue or tape to the top of the sign. Punch holes in the top and use coordinating ribbon to hang the sign on the front door. You could have tables set up for doing nails, pedicures, make-up etc. I know I always liked that when I was that age. Good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.M.

answers from Phoenix on

If it were me, I'd try to talk to the girl a little to find out what she likes. My 10 year old still loves pink and purple, but who knows what she will like in 3 more years.

Here are a couple of ideas to throw at you:
Have a more grown up type of party. There is a place that will come to your house and do manicures and pedicures on the girls.

Every girl likes to play dress up, get their hair done and stuff like that. Maybe contact your local salon and see if they accomodate parties. I know a lot of the beauty schools do, so maybe that is an idea.

If she isn't very girly and likes video games, there is this company that rents out an RV by the hour that is outfitted all the most popular video game systems and video games. They even include an attendant in case there are any problems. (It was $150 for 1hr but $300 for 3hrs)

If she likes jewelry, maybe take her out to buy charms, beads and equipment ahead of time, and have all the girls make a bracelet or necklace as momento of the occasion. (if you live in the east valley, check out artjems.com)

I guess what it all boils down to is knowing the girl and what she likes.

Good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.H.

answers from Phoenix on

I am right along the same lines at Wendy E and JC's responses. I think hot pink, black and white is a trendy and hip color scheme. You could get feather boas from the craft store for the girls to wear. You could also get jewelry supplies in those colors and they could make their own bracelets. If you have the time you could take a trip to IKEA and find things that match the color scheme. Their stuff is usually pretty cheap. I threw a 70's party for my hubby and got vases that I filled with bright blue and green sand and set little votive candles in matching colors on top of the sand. I also found a really cool vinyl shower curtain that I cut up into funky flower shapes and put in the center of the table cloths under the vases. Looked cool. Possibly they have something funky and trendy in hotpink/black too. They usually have super cheap big picture frames that you could buy and either blow up pics of the girl from kinkos to hang around the party space, or just blow up zebra prints, black and white flowers etc... You could also get small unfinished frames and the girls could paint them. I like Gerber daisies and putting a few in a vase with a zebra print ribbon tied around the vase would be really cute. IKEA might have some cute hotpink/white/black plastic serving bowls for snacks too.

A TOTALLY DIFFERENT IDEA: If they are girly girls, you could set up a spa room. Instead of worrying about birthday decorations you can decorate the room to feel like a spa. Tons of throw pillows on the ground, mood lighting, spa music, fresh flowers etc... you could get a bunch of pedicure supplies and individual plastic tubs and they can sit around in a circle of chairs and have a pedicure party. You could play spa music and have small snacks. They could drink a fruity drink in margarita glasses or champagne glasses rimmed with sugar. If you wanted to go all out, you could have cucumbers, masks, facial steamer (they have them at Target) etc... When they are all done they can do their hair and their makeup on each other.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.D.

answers from Phoenix on

Check out this website www.gocreativejourney.com. You could do some really fun stuff such as create a banner for the b-day party based on her favorite interest, which would also end up being something to could hang in her room, or even just a super large customized photos. You would want to know what her interest are, for example, if she loves fashion, you could have a customized picture done of her as a fashion model on her favorite magazine cover, etc. or if she loves a particular sport, etc. Good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.R.

answers from Albuquerque on

When my friend's daughter turned 13 they did a pizza/cooking party. Each kid had a small pizza crust and they all put on their own stuff and baked them, and then they did the same for decorating cookies. Music blaring and video games and NO boys.

Have fun with it.

See ya!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.K.

answers from Phoenix on

My daughter's favorite birthday is one I wasn't even at!! I was in Chicago undergoing medical treatments so my twenty something cousins had a makeover sleepover for her. All of her friends got their hair done and makeup done (by the cousins so no expense!) Then they got to have a "project runway" style fashion show. Next the party guests were split into teams and each team got to makeover one of the cousins (there were 3). Then THEY had to do a fashion show. It apparently was the hit of the year because it has been over a year and girls still come up to me and tell me how much fun they had a my daughter's party!

Also...beware of using pink unless you are sure she likes it. My daughter is very girlie BUT hates pink! Blue is her favorite and she is very adamant about no pink.

For Updates and Special Promotions
Follow Us

Related Questions

Related Searches