Remember that the importance of a birthday party is way bigger to a 4 year old than a 12 year old. Last year when my daughter turned 12 we went to a place in Newton called Create a Cook. We split up into groups of 3 or 4 and decorated birthday cakes. The girls came up with decorating themes. We brought all the cakes home and lined them up on the dining room table. I ordered pizza then we had a water balloon fight in the backyard as well as a balloon popping contest. I tied a balloon on each girls ankles (2 per girl). They ran around trying to step on each others balloons. When they were tired and soaked, I collected their clothes and threw them in the dryer. I had a stack of my husbands big t shirts which they all put on while having their cake then watching a movie with popcorn in our playroom. Not sure if your party is in the winter, but if you need to stay in, you can scratch the outdoor activities and play charades in teams. The girls had such a great time, and it was really inexpensive! Cakes were only around $8.00 each. I send big wedges home with each girl as a "goody plate".