My dd Sammie is going to be Sixteen on October 11th we are planning her party for the weekend before due to Homecoming though. Usually she has a sleepover which she would like to have this year down in our basement, we have a totally cool basement with pool table and 101 inch screen tv, the girls can watch movies, and she would like to get the Dance Revolution game for the Wii to play at the party. What ideas do any of you have that I could make it special for this year, we have a trampoline outside that they could jump on also. She wants to have the regular finger foods, chips, pretzels, dip, pizza rolls, and I thought chocolate covered strawberries would be a nice touch. I want to make some goodie bags for the girls to have and of course decorations, but I am wondering what other ideas any of you might have that I am not thinking of?

By Dramamamma on Sunday, September 21, 2008 - 06:28 pm:

You could get some different nail polishes and mabye some facials and they could do facials and pedicure/manicures.

Maybe some Mad Libs magazines??

By Jjandmom on Sunday, September 21, 2008 - 09:02 pm:

Get small gifts and wrap them and have them play a game now you have it now you don't. Are you gonna be coaching them ? When I had my daughters there was about 45 people here including my aunt and all and we had a blast playing that game.

By Mom2three1968 on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 07:30 am:

I'm not really sure if she would want to play a few games at her party or not, I think that she would like to have it just the girls and not mom hanging around, but I'll have to see about that.

By Annie2 on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 12:11 pm:

Decorating pillow cases has always been a big hit here. Buy white, cheap cases and fabric paint, then the girls can take them home in the am.
They can decorate cupcakes, make a video, make their own pizzas using store bought crusts, rent campy scarey movies from the year you were sixteen.
My dd had a small sleepover for her sixteenth birthday, too. I bought the supplies for them to do their own thing and I stayed out of the way.
Your basement will be a perfect haven for the girls to be themselves and they will make their own fun.

By Kaye on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 01:33 pm:

Honestly my dd for her 15th wants space.

We will probably rent a movie, make her a movie haven, do lots of popcorn, special candies etc.

They do a lot of make up/nail stuff, but I don't ever supervise that.

By Mom2three1968 on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 03:23 pm:

Annie,

love the idea of the pillowcases! we will do those, I thought about renting Sixteen Candles with Molly Ringwald, I need to look at scary movies from back when I was sixteen, do any come to mind for around 1984? I am drawing a blank!

By Tayjar on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 03:39 pm:

Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street. Those were all big when I was in HS. Also, St. Elmo's Fire, Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing (that might have been college).

Sounds like fun.

By Tayjar on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 03:44 pm:

Oh one more thing. You could get disposable cameras. That way, there will be pics from the night but you won't have to be in their "space".

Another neat idea is to get a small scrapbook. On one side of the page, a girl can write a birthday message to your DD. On the other, you can paste a pic of your DD and her friend. Do this for each girl. Heck, each girl could decorate her own page if you want. That would be a nice keepsake for your DD.

By Kate on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 04:11 pm:

Wow....I'd definitely NOT do scary movies, and if you do I'd make certain you run the titles by each and every parent to make sure they are okay with it. I would not be and would not allow my DD to come if those were being shown. I'd even run Sixteen Candles by them....you want to be safe rather than sorry, and not want parents angry at you.

I like the disposable camera idea a lot.

By Kaye on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 05:42 pm:

I think at 16 you get to quit running movie titles by parents.

I also love showing old movies, much less sex in them. Todays shows can be so raunchy!

By Yjja123 on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 06:06 pm:

I agree. 16 is old enough to see a "scary" movie.

By Tayjar on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 06:10 pm:

I agree. At 16, they are only 2 years away from going off to college where they will be able to do what they want. A scary movie should be the least of a parent's concerns.

By Mom2three1968 on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 08:21 pm:

Thank you all for the great ideas! I also like the disposable camera idea, and the scrapbook idea, that would be really nice, I could decorate the outside of the scrapbook and present it to them when all of the guests arrive so that they can make their entries. With all due respect I agree that at sixteen they should be able to see a scary movie. I think that I'll try and choose carefully. Or just let her choose what she wants see as opposed to choosing for her, I think it will be a lot of fun!!!

By Yjja123 on Monday, September 22, 2008 - 08:51 pm:

Here, the dollar store has scrapbooks.

By Bellajoe on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 08:02 am:

DO they like chocolate? You can do a chocolate fondue where they can dip all kinds of stuff in melted chocolate! YUM!

Make or order a pizza, have popcorn, etc.

Sounds like lots of fun!

other scary movies: Chuckie, and Scream,
A lot of those older "scary moves" are so fake it's funny.
Psycho was a fun one to watch with my friend when we were teens because it really was not that scary, compared to those nowadays.

By Pamt on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 10:43 pm:

When I was 16 I would not have wanted anything planned or my parents involved. I would have just wanted to hang out with my friends. Yeah, mom could provide the food, but I would have handles everything else.

As for good scary movies that aren't too violent, I would suggest Psycho, Rear Window, or any Alfred Hitchcock movie. The Others with Nicole Kidman is rather creepy as is What Lies Beneath with Harrison Ford. 1408 is an interesting Stephen King movie that was out the past couple of years. Play Misty for Me is an older creepy movie. I tend to like psychological thrillers more than true horror movies personally.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 11:31 pm:

My kids wouldn't have chosen a scary movie. I don't think they would choose it now. It's not that I wouldn't allow it. That just isn't there favorite genre. (Not mine, either, though.)