Need Help in Fayetteville, NC with Ideas for a 13 Yr Old Girl Party, ASAP!!!

L.,
I'm in the area, so I understand how hard it is to find something fun to do. Have you considered a fun sleep over at your home? I have many fond memories of sleeping at friends' homes when I was a kid. Girls love having time to get together and talk, do hair, paint nails, watch movies with cute boys in them, and eat fun foods. While they may be too old for pin the tail on the donkey, they can play card games, truth or dare, and/or make friendship bracelets. My mom used to order pizza or make my favorite--lasagna! Then we'd have a full ice cream bar with 3 flavors of ice cream, sprinkles, cherries, hot fudge, strawberry topping, nuts, and a must have--whipped cream in the can! In our house, that was a real treat. Rent them a couple of cool movies or take them out for a matinee showing. I can't wait till my daughter's old enough for a big sleep over. Have fun with whatever you decide.

Greg's in downtown Fayetteville also is a place where you can paint ceramics. His selection if items is somewhat different, and the place is smaller (which I personally like). Just to point out another option.

If your daughter likes to try new things - has she done rock climbing before? There are two places in town that offer that opportunity and both offer birth day packages: The Climbing Place downtown on W. Russell Street, and Redpoint Climbing on Raeford Rd.

However, I would talk with her a bit more and find out what is going on... She really may not want a party for a variety of reasons. I don't think I would disrespect her choices and throw her a party when she says she does not want one. She is getting older and more mature and has likely given it some thought.

If she does not want a big party with friends, she may still want a special family birth celebration... Ask her what she would like. Turning 13 is really special, she is becoming a teen, turning into a young woman - maybe she'd love some special mother daughter time?

Here is a link to an article that I really liked: http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/family_ti...
Her daughter is younger, but there is no reason to not do that with a thirteen year old. And how special would this be if it s a first - whether it develops into a regular ritual or only for very special occasions? If I had a daughter I would SO be doing this.
If you don't want to do the home spa, consider taking her out for a day at the spa, just the two of you, you can both get a massage, get a facial, get your hair done, manicure, pedicure, whatever she might like. And then you come back home and have cake in style, and celebrate together with the rest of the family.

Thirteen is a rights of passage where you go from pre-teen to teen. Since she does not want a party, but you do, you should think about having a get together.
You can have a slumber party with all her friends. Start early, where they can have dinner and a cake before you move into the festivities, that does not include you.
You can also look into having a social with both gender friends. This would happen during the day. If you do not already have one, you can rent a WII and wide screen TV. You can get two, that way you can have different tournament stations. You can have a corner where there is a card game going on. Another place where you have a scrabble tournament, a chess tournament, an arm wrestling tournament, etc. That way no one gets bored. They can move around from station to station. You can even have a hula hoop tournament. You can open station by station as the guests roll in. That way you can promote it as a game tournament instead of a birthday party.
You can even serve pastries instead of a birthday cake and just have one especially for her so that she can blow out her candle(s) and the rest goes to everyone.

Good luck and God Bless,
R.

HI L.,

Is your daughter artistic? There's a ceramics place on McPherson Church Rd., "Just Clayin' Around". They do birthday parties where the girls (or boys) get to paint a piece of ceramics. It can be a lot of fun. It takes about a week to get your finished piece back, but they have a wide variety and if you let them know ahead of time, they can try to get some pieces that you like to choose from. You can bring your own food, too. The movies are also a good choice, if there's something out she'd like to see.
Good luck and welcome to the teenage years! L.