Ideas For Her Sweet 16th Birthday Party
Posted by The Chocablock Events Team on Aug 21, 2020
Throwing a party for teenagers is difficult at the best of times. There is a very fine line between a celebration that your daughter and her friends enjoy, and a party that is not quite for 16 year olds. Girls of this age are fiercely independent and yet also still a slave to their peers which can make Sweet 16th party planning tough.
The concept that we had to get our head around when organising parties in our daughter’s teen years was that up until the age of ten or eleven, costume parties were awesome but suddenly they became lame. Worse still, until that time you may have prided yourself on being the Queen of party planning and then out of nowhere you’re told that your services are no longer required! What the…?
The Art Of The Deal
So when it comes to ideas for a Sweet 16th birthday party, you have to develop an almost Machiavellian knack for coming up with ideas that she hears and absorbs and then believes she came up with herself. Sometimes reverse psychology works, “Kim Kardashian had a sweet 16th slumber party, but you don’t want to be like her, do you?”
For anybody reading this thinking that they don’t have to do something this underhanded, well you’re not living in reality, because the teenage years are about negotiation, not telling kids what to do. Sure, you can throw the party you want to throw, but she just might hate you forever for it.
One quick point, we’ve seen some blogs recommend a surprise party as a means of avoiding this confrontation. Forget it. In the modern day and age of social media, it can’t be done. Unless the girl in question has a tight knit friendship circle, somebody finds out they’re not invited and they then ask the oblivious birthday girl why not. It happens all the time.
Start Low
The best strategy is to start low (10 friends in a room with music, or 6 friends, movie and popcorn) and then work your way up. Over the days that follow you approving a party, she’ll start to get ideas from friends and the web and the party will start to take shape in terms of colour schemes, themes and ideas. This lets her take ownership for it and you then help facilitate it.
Sweet 16th Colour Themes
You’ll find that the colour ideas she comes up with will be more aspirational in terms of maturity. Whatever colours she suggests, you can make it work. Embrace it. Take the challenge. If it’s aqua, salmon and white, you won’t be the first to make it happen.
When it comes to decoration, less is more and even if your party has no theme or no colour scheme, you can go for a simple pink and gold, or pink and white colour palette that you can run through a beautiful balloon garland hanging over a dessert table. A simple party banner in matching colours makes a great photo opportunity for guests.
“Nobody eats”
On the food front, she will tell you, “nobody eats” and that just a bowl of chips will do. This just isn’t true.
Fruit platters are an easy option, look fabulous with any colour scheme and can be grazed throughout the party. Teenagers are the cookie generation, so organising some personalised cookies from Chocablock is a great idea to lay out on a tray on your dessert table. If the party is small, one of Chocablock’s DIY cookie kits can be a fun way for the kids to spend some time in the kitchen cooking up some fresh cookies for them to enjoy later while watching a movie.
About two hours in, they’ll be ready for some real food, so presenting a cupcake tower with some custom cupcake toppers, some spring rolls with chill sauce and some homemade sausage rolls are always a hit. Again, less is more. So much for “nobody eats”.
No matter what you decide, Chocablock has the personalised decorations and party favours you need to design the perfect Sweet 16th.