BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Party Planning Teen Party Ideas?

My son is turning 16 in January and we are going to be giving him a party to celebrate with his friends and family.
I'm looking for help, suggestions, tips, opinions, advice from anyone willing to give it. I've been looking online but I'm not having much luck finding sites that have ideas for teen type parties that aren't too babyish.

We will be renting our local clubhouse from about 7pm until midnight. I plan to put a white carpet out for them to enter on and I will have someone at the door checking the guest list so no one crashes the party uninvited.

He has decided to have a Black & White Party. Everyone will be encouraged to dress in B&W - casual, dressy not formal.

I will be setting up a picture display of B&W photos of my son and his friends next to a B&W guest book so they can write something for him to keep. Any other decoration ideas would be so very welcomed too!

I will be serving finger foods but I need ideas on what might be a good hit with the teens.

We will be having 2 table top chocolate fountains (one milk chocolate, one white chocolate) - I'm looking for ideas on what I should buy for them to dip into the chocolates.

Decorations will be B&W but I need ideas for centerpieces. I was thinking of also putting small white votive candles on the tables and stringing white lights around the room and plants to make it more festive.

I will be making up a bunch of gift bags for each guest to take home. I plan to put a $5 gift card to either Jamba Juice or Starbucks along with ONE movie ticket to our new theater. I'm going to have my nephew make up a bunch of CD's with music that will be played at the party and put one in each gift bag in a custom made CD case. I need more ideas for inexpensive but different items for both males and females.

We will be getting a DJ for the night but I'm wondering if I should plan a few simple prize type things to give out. I'm afraid these kids are too "old" or think they are too cool to play "games" so does anyone have any ideas on other ways to give out prizes? I'll maybe do a door prize with a ticket hidden under a chair or something. I'm drawing a blank on any other ideas.

I'm going to put a basket of inexpensive white and black flip flops in the girls bathroom for them to take with a little note telling them to give their feet a rest (from their heels) while dancing <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I'd love to come up with some other unique and fun things to make this party special.

I have not decided on the invitations either.. B&W but not sure what design.

Thanks in advance for all of your help! <img src="/images/graemlins/heart.gif" alt="" />

Let me begin by saying...WOW!! You have a real knack for party planning and it sounds like this is going to be a spectacular party for your son!

I have made some notes on the advice you asked for and I'll do some research and post back in a couple of days. I am in Canada and this is our Thanksgiving weekend so I'll be off eating lots of turkey..YUM!

You're off to a great start - B&W parties are so cool!

Hi Kelly,

Thank you so much! If you come across anything, please let me know. I can use all the help anyone wants to give. My son is a good kid and really deserves to have one special birthday night with all his friends. Why not #16, ya know? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Have a terrific Thanksgiving, gobble gobble, and thanks again!

Thanksgiving was wonderful - thank you. I ate way too much turkey as usual, but it was great to see the family!

So, I hope the party plans are coming along nicely. I managed to find a few ideas and I hope other forum readers will help you out with even more tips.

You mentioned having a display of B&W photos of your son on display - why not have a local photographer or a talented friend take some B&W pictures of the guests as they arrive - or candid shots of the party goers as they eat, dance and celebrate. You could also put mini B&W disposable cameras on each table as both a centerpiece and for guests to use throughout the night.

We all know that teens love to eat so I think a great centerpiece idea is to use anything edible! A big bowl of Oreo's for instance fits the theme and would be a tasty treat for the guests. Put them in a sparkling silver bowl so it will reflect the light from your candles and mini lights for a really festive touch.

For your chocolate fountains, here are a few suggestions for dipping: pretzels, rice krispie squares, marshmallows, cookies (oreo's again would be neat), fruit, or angel food cake squares. Be sure not to use any fruit that is too watery like watermelon, or the chocolate will become diluted and get too runny. Also stay away from crumbly stuff or little bits will be floating in your fountain! - EW YUCK!

I think you're on the right track with your gift bags. Gift cards and tickets are the way to go. I think for door prizes and/or gift bags, you could use iPod or cell phone accessories, maybe a cool t-shirt or an inexpensive piece of sporting equipment. Use your son's interests as a guide.

As for invitations - perhaps you could use an online service like Evite to send them to your son's friends and family. They have a great variety of styles and I'm sure something would work for you. It is a great way to send invitations in this high-tech world!

I hope some of these suggestions help. You really have some great ideas of your own and I am sure the party will be a great success! I hope other party planners will post some more ideas here to help you out! Good luck!

To enjoy a party best way is to steal draw attention to yourself. This can be done by performing certain activities like .... good Jokes, Shayris ( Urdu term ) etc ...

It would be a perfect party in which you are the center of attraction .. So next time you party make a note of this and get prepared with a bunch of good jokes ..

for Shayris, SMS , Jokes etc browse through http://www.ozoneball.com/Fun .... and Steal The Show !!

Cheeeeeeers !!!!

iam planning my niece's 18th bday and the theme is b&w and rhinestones the centerpieces are glass bowls withb&w personalized m&ms B&w lollipops and b&w candy sticks standing in the bowls .b&w tyedyed balloonswere really cute the lollipops you can special order at hammondscandies.com and the sticks are about $12. asimple invite would be black cardstock with vellum ovelay or a nice B&w paper at your local scrapbook store.good luck with the party

the gift card and movie ticket are great ideas for teens

What a great idea for a party!

My kids love to dip marshmallows, apples, pound cake, oreos, and strawberries in chocolate. To counteract all that sugar your finger foods could include mini sandwiches, cheese and crackers, vegetables with dip, mini quiches, pot stickers, anything that can be easily eaten.

Have you thought of having karaoke? This could be a way of giving out prizes. Or how about having a contest to pick the favorite b&w picture from those that you will be displaying. The winners could receive one of the prizes.

As for centerpieces, I think that if you got red roses from Costco or Sam's Club, they would look very beautiful bunched together in small vases. The red would add a punch of color and drama. You could also do just white roses in silver vases.

I believe that sweet sixteen means a girl gets her first diamonds, how about handing out "diamond" body jewels or temporary tattoos for the girls in their goody bags. Boys could get some kind of silver key rings. I've used disco ball necklaces and $ bling necklaces before in party bags and they were a huge hit. The kids also love those disco flasher items as well.

Hope this helps and if I think of something else, I will post!

I sympathize with you as you can see from my post for help!

I didn't mention we ordered things from Oriental Trading, beads and rubber bracelets for the DJ to hand out. We also got pins to scatter on table, but DJ could hand them out too.

We ordered bubble bottles and will put a personalized label on them. Yes, Karaoke is a good idea.

We got coin gum and wrapped mints.

Go to Orientaltrading.com....they have over 500 black and white items, even gift bags. They have a black and white bandana, tablecloth, so much more. Real inexpensive too.

We ordered organza bags with feathers on top from papermart.com, a nice idea for gift bags.

Windycitynovelties.com has lots of blinkies and other stuff.

I'm always online with this party planning, so feel free to aim me [email]Roron@aol.com.[/email] Hope this helps.

Rona