We have never officially done a birthday party for our son. First, because his birthday falls on a major holiday, most of his friends are out of town. Second, well he's a boy and has never been that interested. Well this year, he decided he wanted a party, so we are planning a birthday/back to school party. He has invited a lot of kids and that's fine because we are renting out the local community center and pool.
The problem Im having is decorations and deciding how much food/cake to buy and serve. We hired a DJ so the kids can dance and hang out for the first hour and a half, and then swim the remaining time. Does anyone have any ideas as far as keeping large amounts of kids entertained? So far Im thinking it's a mixed party of about 50 kiddos.
We are going to do a Luau theme. Help.
In my experience boys don't want or care about decorations, especially teenage boys. Save that money for food because teenage boys love food!
Sweet mother of pearl!! No decorations!!! He is a man now!!!
Seriously when they hit teens they want their parties to be like what they perceive adult parties to be. Since he isn't married I wouldn't do a lot of Luau decorations, maybe the umbrellas in the drinks, stuff like that. Swear to bob, look at how your husband would have a party if you weren't involved, ya know, bachelor style.
Both my older kids had parties at thirteen. Both of them were bonfires because they have early spring birthdays. Both were coed. The worst that happened is the boys in my daughter's class messed up our dryer vent rebounding off the side of the house playing basketball. Yeah, trying to impress the girls who didn't even notice. :p
Oh yeah, if it is coed, watch the boys, they can do some really stupid things trying to impress girls. :p
TF has some great advice as well. We didn't have issues with trying to drink until 16 but that doesn't mean you shouldn't look out for it. My daughter had the prom after party, we hired a cop to sit on our driveway till three in the morning. They could come in but could not leave.
Decorate with his school colors and the school Mascot.
Ask for RSVP's so you will have an idea of how many are attending.. then you can decide how much food..
Cake freezes.. also you can send plates of cake home with the kids.. Just place hunks of it on paper plates covered in Saran Wrap.
Order Pizzas to be delivered. Have some Veggie platters with dip, Fruit kebabs.
For drinks, use plastic cups.. In school colors and have them write their names on them with Sharpies.
Swimming and dancing sounds like fun..
A Limbo contest.. Bingo..Dance off.. Also just a drawing where they put their names in a hat..
Make sure you have some fun prizes. I would purchase some school shirts to give away.. Free movie, bowling or skating passes. Ask the places if they will give you free passes for this back to school party.
visit www.orientaltrading.com. They have a ton of Luau stuff.
- beach balls
- sunglasses
- mini bottles of sunblock
drinks - water, gatorade, sodas
food - chips, fruit, cupcakes, LOTS of PIZZA
ice cream sundae bar with lots of toppings (probably no nuts - allergies)
games -
http://www.orientaltrading.com/tropical-trophies-a2-34_15...
limbo contest
hula hoop contest
cannonball contest
dance contest (guys/girls)
I probably wouldn't do any games since the boys probably won't want to participate.
However, you could do contests like:
-how many baskets you can make (have one of those free standing
basketball hoops outside
-some baseballs & mitts to throw the ball around
-maybe a limbo contest for the girls (boys can participate if they want)
-maybe if you can figure out how to do a video game up on the wall w/2 ppl playing at a time. They can get 5 mins to play at a time then switch?
Some boys can eat a lot so be sure to have a lot of food on hand:
-pizzas
-hot dogs
-chips, pretzels
-several dips
-pigs in a blanket
-mini sandwiches (just have mini hoagie roalls, salami, ham, turkey,
sliced cheese, mustard, lettuce, onion, tomatoe slices)
-water bottles & sodas in an ice cooler or bucket
Ask him what he wants to do. Hit up the local party store.
Well, most kids that age won't dance together so they'll need some songs they can do line dances to or some kind activity like "YMCA" by The Village People. I mean, who doesn't hop up and do the "Y", "M", "C", and the "A" anytime that song comes on....even us old grannies.
I think you'll do a good job. Most of them will just be in the pool area the whole time and you won't have to worry about too much except food.
If you have access to the periodicals section of your local library find out if they have the first few years of Taste of Home magazine. They had a section in the older ones called food for a crowd or feeding a crowd, most of the recipes are for at least 15 and a lot of them are for 100. I have used nearly everyone of them at one time or another.
If they don't have them see if it is possible to borrow them through inner library loan. They are a wealth of ideas.
One of the very first ones has a chart that gives suggested amounts of just about everything.
Like for a meal with ham, how much ham to buy for X amount of people. If you have X amount of side dishes then estimate they'll eat this many Oz. of meat per person, or if you're having something like meatloaf, how many pounds of HB meat to buy to serve how many people. They are really accurate charts.
People don't RSVP. It's becoming an outdated idea all around. I think just plan on the number you invite and if they come wonderful, if not...well, you have left overs for a couple of days. You might want to have something like hot dogs and buy a ton of them, put them in the fridge, you can freeze whatever is left over and use it as needed.
So far it sounds like you have a good plan.
We've thrown DJ parties and they are a hit. The DJ does a lot of entertaining with different contests, etc and we always had prizes for the contests he did (usually a $10-$15 ITunes or Starbucks card).
One thing we've always done, if the party is at home or the country club, is hire an off duty police officer (about $100, here) and the rule is.... you leave the party for any reason, you do not come back in...
This helps to keep kids who might be good kids from trying anything like alcohol or tobacco, drugs, etc. Just a good precaution and we like it, especially when the party is at our home. We've had as many as 120 kids and you need more than a few parents who are just socializing to keep eyes on them. Plus, when the kids see the uniform, they know we mean business in following the rules and keeping order. I am the type that will not hesitate to ask someone to leave, call a parent to come get someone, etc.
At this age, they usually don't participate in a lot of games, they do their own thing within their little groups to socialize, etc.
Figure out the food when you get a feel for your RSVP's. MANY people ignore RSVP and when they do, I politely call them and ask if so and so is coming to the party because I need a head count. I especially did this when I had to lock in my number at $20 per person 3 days in advance.
As for food, we've done pizzas, make your own tacos, soft drinks, lemonade water and a punch that I make that daughter loves... plain sherbet in a punch bowl with gingerale poured over it. They LOVE this and I usually plan for 2-3 batches of it.
Decor... give everyone a lei when they come in, etc. Oriental Trading has a lot of cute things and it is economical as well.
It sounds like you already have a good plan in the works. Happy Birthday and back to school!!
