Tween Birthday Party Ideas
My twins turned 9 over a week ago. Their birthday was on a Saturday, but we had family in town and lots of activities going on that weekend so we couldn’t plan a party. We did go out to dinner with family though. And dad took them bowling while I took our teens to see a play our community theater was putting on. I was hoping that would be enough.
Of course it wasn’t.
I’ve been battling a sinus infection and had a midterm last week (and if you give me a few minutes I can probably come up with a couple more reasons why I procrastinated) so I really put off the birthday planning. You know what happens when you put off birthday planning. TWO sleepovers. With lots of LOUD kids. That’s what happens.
We have boy/girl twins so, of course, they don’t have the same friends. That meant we had a boy party on Friday night and a girl party of Saturday night. And, yes, it was just as traumatic as it sounds. For me at least.
So I’ve decided we need to start brainstorming ways to celebrate birthdays that don’t involve sleepovers.
First I dug in to the Weary Parent archives for inspiration where I found 13 ideas for a fabulous tween birthday party. These great ideas include:
- Bowling
- A movie
- Swimming (either indoor or outdoor)
- Snow tubing
- Mini-golf
- Rockwall climbing
- A sporting event (college, semi-pro or pro)
- Community theater
- Ice skating or roller skating
- Cooking at a make & take dinner establishment
- A cookout or picnic at a local park
- A trip to a local museum
- Volunteering at an animal shelter
Some other great Weary Parent ideas that can be done at a rented community center or a local park are a make-your-own-pizza party or a French dinner party. Or if you must have it at your house, have a a camping party (where the kids stay outside).
If that’s not enough some additional ideas for a tween party are:
- Have a scavenger hunt at the mall (or a park).
- Play laser tag.
- Play paint ball.
- Take a trip to a local amusement park.
- Go to a fun center (a grown up Chuck E. Cheese, such as Enchanted Castle in Illinois) where they have video games, bumper cars, go-karts and the like.
- Go to the zoo.
- Get facials at a local salon.
- Or manicures and pedicures.
- Go hiking at a local park.
- Play a game of football or soccer or go golfing.
- Take a self defense class.
- Have a Hawaiian themed party at the beach.
- Go sledding in the winter.
- Make pottery at a pottery store.
- Make jewelry at a bead store.
- This time of year go to a pumpkin patch.
- Take a trip to an apple orchard.
- Visit a farm. It’s a great place for hayrack or tractor rides. Some local dairy farms even let kids milk cows.
- Rent a room at a restaurant and have your own Tween Idol. Bring a karaoke machine and Mom and Dad can be Paula and a much nicer version of Simon.
What other ideas do you have? What not-at-home parties have your tweens had?
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The pizza party is a great idea!!! That sounds like so much fun.
I was actually looking forward to the sleepover parties in the future because the outside-the-house options can be so expensive. But the mall scavenger hunt or indoor swimming options sound like fun too.
I’m not a parent of tweens, but when I was about that age I quit having big birthday parties and instead started doing something special with just one friend. That way we could do things like go out to eat or go to a concert without it being too expensive.
Those are great ideas. It’s best to just rent somewhere and let other people deal with the ideas and mess.
Thanks for the ideas.
Those are great ideas, a big thing for tweens are here and bowling birthday parties.
Go camping and make smores and tell ghost stories. Kids love that.
rockin blogtober
I love so many of these ideas. I have two sons, ages 9 & 11 and it’s so hard to come up with good ideas. The past couple of years, the kids opted to go away for a special family weekend in lieu of a party. They always want a hotel with a pool, so they can swim and we usually let them choose some activity that they want to do, so we choose the hotel based on the location of the activity. Since we don’t go away often, this is a big treat and in addition it usually runs the same as a party would cost if we had it hosted outside of our home.
Swimming pools always work (in summer.)
All great ideas.
please count me in..thanks
All your ideas are sooooo great, a pizza party is always fun!!!
I always loved scavenger hunts!
I have a boy just turning 13. I love the idea of the camping party. (I’m not sure how the neighbors will feel though.)
We usually have sledding parties because the party is in January. Sleepovers are fun too.
Gracie’s last sleepover did me in. I was exhausted. We’re having the party somewhere else next year
A Friday night trip to the local high school football game is a great idea for tweens. Tailgate before the game. Tie balloons on your vehicle and have birthday cake before the big game!
Great ideas!
These are great ideas. My tween has a birthday coming up. Will definately reference this post for ideas.
Okay, this sounds really weird but I’ve done it before so I swear it’s legit. You mentioned snow tubing but here’s one that not a lot of people think about, Ice Blocking. To do it, you buy some large blocks of ice at the local store, you then fold up a towel and put it on top, after that just find a grassy hill, sit down and have fun. It’s kinda off the wall, but a ton of fun, especially if you have a birthday in warmer months but love winter activities. You just might want to warn people to bring a change of pants.
I don’t have teens/tweens, but I remember these things from when I was a tween/teen:
-OCTOBER: Local Rec Dept. Haunted House and then home for punch, pumpkin carving, & Halloween games
-DECEMBER: We went Christmas Caroling around the neighborhood, headed home for cider & cocoa, and opening of the gifts
-OTHER: Picnic at the Park, Playground, and Baseball Game
-I have a Neigbor that does this: (Spring or Fall) Rents a Projector and shows movies projected on her garage door while the kids watch from her driveway. She serves movie treats like candy bars, popcorn, and sodas.
Both of my childrens B-days are this month so thank you so much for all of the ideas.
Surprises are always great !
Thank you so much for offering this wonderful giveaway.
I would LOVE to win !!
Thanks for the great ideas!
cjnedrow@gmail.com
I have a big 16th birthday party to plan for my daughter in December, so I’ll have to return here when I have more time so that I can read through all your ideas. However, I am thinking about renting a building in the community for that party. Usually, though, I host the kids’ birthday parties at home, but this will be a big one for her.
Since my oldest son’s birthday is in the fall, he loves to have a wienie roast. The kids roast hotdogs and marshmallows while the adults visit and watch the children play. It truly is a lot of fun… and cleanup and cooking is so much easier.
I only have a five year old but we did have a fun gymnastics party and the scavenger hunt sounds like a lot of fun.
a scrapbooking party works for girls. you can do it at home or as a class at a scrapping store.
The bowling idea works well. We’ve done it a couple of times with our kids and it’s worked out well because the kids and the adults enjoy bowling.
decorating cup cakes at a cupcake shoppe, they have one in my town
star gazing at an observatory
geocaching or Letterboxing
Thank goodness those days are gone for me………not really Trace Adkins is right. You’re gonna Miss this……… great ideas for those that need em though
Tween years are definitely tough. Hope I win the suprise.
OH BOY
Great ideas.
You are a much nicer mom than I am. I could never have two sleepovers in the same weekend! Thanks
I want to win!
I absolutely love Suprises! Thank you so much for the chance to win! I love the treasure hunt at the Mall idea! Very cool!
Wonderful ideas. I will have to remember them for the future
I have 8 yr old twin boys, and we had their party at the local park. I was at the end of the school year but the weather was great (HOT!) so we had alot of BBQ food, finger snacks,activities and water games. The kids all had a blast on a budget!
I think a party outside if the weather is nice is a great idea!
My boys just want to have a couple of their best friends spend the night, so they can play video games all night.
We took our twen group to the local beauty college. Inexpensive and the girls all got fun hairdo’s, nail’s painted and a little bit of makeup. Then off to a local park when we took lots of pictures of the girls. A quick trip to Walgreens and we printed all of the pictures and then made some scrapbook pages. A great day and the girls still talk about it a couple of years later.
Hope to win your suprise.
My nieces love jewelry making parties.
My tween just turned 9 on the 5th. We gave him a movie theme party. I rented out a small local theater, and invited about 17 kids.
Actually this is my eldest daughter’s idea that started with my eldest grandaughter’s 7th birthday. By age 7 she had so many toys their garage was half full of discarded toys so instead of a party they stuffed a couple of bags full of toys, most of which were almost unused as she had had so many she never did play with any of them very much and took them to a day care center in their church which served low income and working mothers. They had a great time and were invited to stay for lunch. Since then my 15 year old and 10 year old grandaughters spend the weeks before their birthday thinking of how they can celebrate by helping someone less fortunate than they. They have so far gotten their ideas from their church employees and soon the two smallest will have their 5th and 6th birthdays and are anxious to start on their own.
I like the outdoor parties you suggested, like going to the apple orchard. I think that would be pretty fun. Thanks for the contest!
Great ideas for a tween party. Such a rough age to plan for I will keep these in mind
want to win this
Tween years are still a few years away in this house, but thanks for the ideas
These are really great ideas! My twin cousins are 12 & I’m pretty sure they would get into a whole bunch of these!
you have so many great idea, I don’t know that I have anything to add. maybe do something like manicures for girls.