Things to Do at a 17 Year Old's Party

A friend of mine recently had a birthday party for her 16 year old daughter. She rented a clubhouse with a pool in the area rather cheaply and had a scavenger hunt and ordered pizza. Good luck!

I have a 14 yr old and we have 2-3 parties a year for teens.

The group of teens who come here LOVE to dance. We always get a good DJ, simple snack foods and they have a ball. The DJ has fun games for them which keeps them busy and we have prizes for the winners of those games. Our prizes are usually $15-$10 Itunes cards.

I don't know about your teen but I know with daughter and her friends, they just like to hang out together. There is not really a good place for a large group of teens to do this. It is one way we can help them hang out, have fun and be safe. Our last party had 60+ teens here.

One thing we do that some parents do not do is......hire an off duty police officer to be around. It is SO WORTH the money which is around $100. He cannont enforce house rules but he can enforce basic rules, curfews, etc. Word spreads fast about parties and at our last one some guys our daughter did not know from high school showed up. It was much easier politely saying no to their entrance with a police officer here.

Another point with the officer, our rule is if you leave you don't come back. That helps keep the ones who might want to slip something in undre control. Have we had to enforce that? Yes, it is not fun but stick to your rules.

We use Bill Cody's Party Time Productions for our DJ service. He has other entertainers as well. www.partytimetexas.com

Have fun...I am planning the Halloween party as we speak!!

We recently went to mixed group party (adults and older teens) and we played Wie. We set up in teams and played 3 or 4 sports and then got points for the number of wins-it had some very friendly competition and was a lot of fun! You could also have a cooking class. Everyone could help chop vegetables or saute something or assemble something. We did this once with making pizza from scratch and then the kids got to enjoy eating their creation. (model the class after what they do at the Central Market cooking classes) Have fun.

You could have a Great Race or Survivor party. Or you could have them do some activity that they are into. So if your daughter is into athletics plan an obstacle course and race in 2, 3 or 4 teams. We went to an Olympic party during the summer Olympics and it was a blast for the kids. Hint though, plan 2 more activities than you think you'll have time for. If they are into music plan a karaoke knight. Artsy folks, buy two sheets of plywood, the kind without too much grain to it and set them up in the back drive way, putting down a drop cloth, and allow them to paint two murals. Or mix it up and if they are athletic, do the mural thing and then have them sing karaoke.

we have a lot of bday parties at home for my teenage boys -- last year, I sent them out on a scavenger hunt, the first one back got a prize, it kept them busy for about an hour. then they ate pizza and watched a movie.... my youngest teen will have friends over and they have video game time - taking turns on various games, seeing who can get the higest score. They usually have a lot of fun.

Good Luck, you definitely need to keep those teens busy...

D.

Just worked with a cool kid this summer, a college music major, age 21, and he reminisced about one of his favorite memories - - a MY LITTLE PONY party when he was 16!! It was fun and crazy, with the party plates and pinata and hats all with "my Little Pony" decor. Dancing with a DJ would be fun, too.

Don't worry too much about planning activities, these things pretty much take care of themselves at that age. Although the prior moms who wrote had some really great ideas! We have a swimming pool & surround sound sterio in the backyard & a basketball court on the drive in the front...have plenty of seating for small groups to talk and watch. They are more into looking at who wore what & talking about other girls & guys than anything. Pizza delivered is always easy (Cheese & Pepperoni) or if your husband loves the grill, then Hotdogs & hamburgers with plenty of chips & drinks would work too. 12 guest is really easy! (And # of kids: we have had min 30 & max 60 before with all three of my girls!) No worries mate!

We did a video scavenger hunt. 4 teams of 6-8 each, and we watched the videos afterwards and voted on the best video. (Bonus - everyone got to see themselves on TV and see what happened on all the other teams.) It was great.

My really good friend hired a Las Vegas style company for her son's 15th birthday party. They brought in Black Jack and roulette tables, and set them up in the garage. She served 'teenage' food, sodas, and bottled water. They company provides the gambling chips. At the end of the night, my friend provided goodie bags for everyone, and a prize for the top winner of the evening! The kids loved it. This was actually her second time to do it.

Do you have a wii? Maybe they could have a contest? If you have dance/dance revolution, sing it, guitar hero or something they could take turns playing each other in a tournament style?

What about having someone come to paint nails, do pedicures, and/or massage? If you get professionals it will cost more, but check at the nail schools to see if they could come to earn hours for less of a rate.

Movie, popcorn, snacks?

My husband and I are professional clowns living in Anna. We offer facepainting, balloon sculptures, comedy magic shows,friendship bracelets, along with fun interaction and games. We've entertained at birthday parties and large events like the Plano Balloon Festival.

Our prices are very reasonable (we have four great kids of our own so we know how expensive things can get)and we do our best to work within a person's budget.

I know that you may be thinking that your daughter and friends are too old for a clown, but we performed at a 7 year olds birthday party on Saturday and his teenaged sister and her friends said that they wanted us at to come to her birthday party. I thought that they may have been kidding around, but they weren't. All I could think was COOL!!

Please feel free to take a look at our website at www.freewebs.com/bubblesandwowza for samples of our work.

Give us a call at ###-###-#### if you have any questions at all.

Hope you have a great party whatever you decide to do.

Hope to hear from you,

K. Schmidt
Bubbles the Clown
Bubbles and Wowza, LLC

I remember for one of my party's when I was a teen, we did cheezy games, but they were lots of fun (one of my most memorable party's.) We did how many big marshmallows can you fit in your mouth, guess what's in the bowl- we had noodles, jello, different gooey things and we were blindfolded. That's all I remember now, but hope that helps.

I don't know when you are planning on doing the party, but my daughters birthday is in November when the New Moon movie is coming out...so we are doing a Twilight/New Moon party.
Gonna have pizza at the house, go see the movie, then come home for a sleepover (girls only of course)

A scavenger hunt is a great idea...may have to see if we could work that in...