Sweet Sixteen Party Ideas

Birthday parties can be fun, no matter what age you’re turning. But for most, a Sweet Sixteen is the most important birthday for young people, particularly girls. A girl’s Sweet Sixteen is an indication of adulthood, which one spends with family, friends and other important people in their lives.

Choosing a theme or a location for a Sweet Sixteen can be the difficult part, some may want to celebrate it traditionally at home, and others may want to throw a dance or have a formal dinner party.

1. Masquerade Ball

If your plans are to host a large party, then renting out a hotel ballroom or hall is ideal. Summer birthdays could have the option of hosting the party outside, if the weather permits.

Balls are usually formal or at the least semi-formal events. If you plan on having any formality, it would be best to inform your guests of the dress code in their invitations. Gowns would be recommended for the girls, and suits or tuxedos for the boys. The whole point of a masquerade is to dress in costume as somebody or something your not. Requiring masks to be worn or providing masks are essential to pulling the masquerade theme off.

This theme revolves around dancing, so hiring a DJ, playing CDS, or setting an iPod on shuffle will enable the guests to enjoy the night. A suggestion would be to have a special dance that the birthday girl shares with her dad or with her boyfriend while the other guests watch.

Hiring tarot card readers, and entertainment could create a more authentic masquerade.

Color Combinations: Red & Black & Gold, Teal & Silver, Dark Green & Black & Silver, Dark Purple & Gold.

Attire: Girls should be dressed in gowns, and boys in suits. Masks should be mandatory for all.

Food & Drink: A heavy meal may not be the best if you want to have your guests dancing. Providing a buffet-style appetizer selection leaves eating up to the guests.

Rather than having a cake, if you’re hosting a lot of guests, a variety of creative cupcakes matching your color combination could be fun.

Have a large variety of drinks, i.e. juice, pop, fancy non-alcoholic cocktails, i.e. Margaritas. They are fancy, fun, and 100% legal.

2. Spa Sleepover

A small, intimate gathering of 5-8 of your closest friends would be a great idea if a laid-back party is what you prefer.

Sleepovers, in tradition, are filled with staying up late, watching movies and eating junk food. With a spa sleepover, you and your guests could give each other manicures, pedicures, and facials and even do each other’s makeup. Setting up chairs with personal foot washers, and tables with an assortment of nail polishes, and lotions could make your spa sleepover a night to remember.

Play a chick-flick in the background, or sit around to watch one after all your spa treatments are done. Some of my favorites are: Freaky Friday, A Cinderella Story, John Tucker Must Die, The Devil Wears Prada, Maid in Manhattan, Hitch, The Notebook, 50 First Dates, etc.

If you want your guests to bring their own sleeping bags, make sure to let them know in advance.

Color Combinations: Pale, relaxed colors like white, pink, teal, etc.

Attire: PJs, Sweats, etc. Make sure your guests bring a change of clothes for the morning.

Food & Drink: Appetizers and finger foods go over well at sleepovers. If you and your guests are very hungry, ordering pizza may be preferred. Don’t forget the junk food!

Veggies and dip, finger sandwiches, fruit, homemade fries, chips, candy, popcorn, etc.

Juice, pop, mocktails, etc.

A small cake should be plenty for up to 8 people. If you’re creative, then making it yourself could be fun.

Party Favors: A selection of spa items, i.e. Nail polish, nail file, hand cream, face masks, make up and similar body stuff.

3. Vegas Casino Night

If you want to pull off a Vegas Casino party, then everything must be over the top. Casino themed parties always work best with a larger guest list (100+ people). For this theme, you’ll need to rent out a large ballroom or open area.

Have numerous card tables offering blackjack, poker, and an assortment of slot machines and other traditional casino games to keep your guests entertained. At the front door, as your guests arrive, have someone handing out little bags of casino chips which they can play with and a raffle ticket for the raffle at the end of the night. Rather than awarding money to winners, offer a prize table of sorts with a selection of prizes they can choose from depending on how many chips they have.

Setting up a bar that serves mocktails and a selection of drinks can add to the fun. Have an area for a sit-down meal or a buffet-style arrangement of appetizers.

Color Combinations: Black, white and reds are usually casino colors.

Attire: Semi-Formal for both girls and boys.

Food & Drink: Either a sit-down meal such as hamburgers, etc, or a buffet-style arrangement of appetizers available at any time throughout the night.

Offer a bar serving non-alcoholic drinks or have waiters go around with a selection of drinks on their trays.

A large tiered cake decorated casino-style with chocolate coins and fun colors will attract everyone’s attention.

Party Favors: Whatever prizes the game-players win throughout the night. You could also offer a little bag of gold chocolate coins.

Invitations

Invitations can be handmade, store bought or custom designed. They should match your party’s theme and color combination. It’s important to indicate what attire guests are expected to wear, the time of the party, the location, and even directions on how to get there.

Depending on your theme, invitations can be really fun and creative. Below are some suggestions for the themes we’ve gone over.

Masquerade Ball: On fancy paper in the shape of a small mask, or even on a real mask.

Spa Sleepover: On a sticker on a bottle of lotion or on paper invitations made out to look like a pillow.

Vegas Casino Night: On fake scratch cards so that when the guest scratches out the boxes, information on your party will be revealed. Another idea would be to put the party info on little VIP cards.

Make sure you take lots of pictures or even create a small movie using a movie camera. No matter what you’ve chosen as your theme, and whether your party is big or small, a sweet sixteen birthday will always be one to remember.