And there I was. An awkward silence as my 14 year-old looks at me with fear in her eyes. LOL Just kidding. About the fear. Kind of. A flood of images entered my brain followed by a long sigh which equaled: "I'm not ready for this." After I got over the initial shocking reminder that my little princess is turning into a little woman I said to myself... alrighty, well, heck. If we are going to do it we have to do it right. After all, I have a reputation to up hold here!
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| The famous party planning board! |
After a conversation with my teen, mostly over text, in the same room - may I add... we had the perfect theme.
Frost Lounge. A dance club for teens. Complete with a bartender, DJ, lights, fake snow, s'mores, snow cones, grilling, fire pits and of course, heaters!
Did I mention her birthday is in January? AND did I mention I'm not having that many kids in my house? Mmmm no thank you. Time to get creative!
First off, kids at this age - you don't know if you're going to embarrass them or not. One minute they are a little kid acting like a lunatic at Target and the next they are too cool for school and too big for birthday invitations.
SIDE NOTE: If you didn't know already, your kid is on social media. Twitter. Tumbler. Instagram. Snapchat. KIK. YouTube. All kinds of good stuff. Do yourself a favor. Get an account and stalk their butts. Everyday. Watch a two minute video on each one and learn the basics. Set up a Google alert on them! You won't believe what you'll find out. We have to keep them safe right?
So where was I going with all this? Oh yeah. Birthday party! Social media! So against all invitation morals, I created social media invitations. It's pretty much a sin not to have something beautiful to hand out but... just this once. I did give her some to hand out but nothing as elaborate as I normally do for the kid's birthday parties.
I created a hashtag for her party so that every image on social media with that hashtag could be found. During the party we took photos and posted them to social with that hashtag so the kids could find them. It was pretty cool the next day to search the tag and find all kinds of fun photos the kids took with their own phones.
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| Social media graphic. |
With social media, posting the invitations just once doesn't work. We had to post a teaser image three weeks out. A save-the-date about two and half weeks out. The final image about two weeks out or so - each one adding a little more excitement to the party. We meaning I gave the images to the little woman to post and use her party hashtag on all her social media networks. It was a hit. I was able to search the hashtag leading up to the event and see all the comments about who all was coming and how they couldn't wait. They even had a countdown. I also posted some teasers along the way on my social accounts which Zoe (aka my daughter) re-posted or her friends did when they saw them.
So I might tweet: Talking to DJ about the par-taaaa #zoesbday (or) Heaters-Check. Fire pits-Check. DJ-Check. Bartender-Check. Almost party time! #zoesbday (or) The countdown is on. #zoesbday
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| This was still a really pretty invitation, printed on thick white cards stock - the address, map and RSVP information was on the back. |
Earlier in the week before the party I had to go paint the rock. Her two best friends helped me. What school has three rocks? Really?
Sneaking into her school and helping her friends pull of the entree lunch room singing happy birthday to her was pretty priceless too. :)
Decor was easy and super cheap. If you hit up the after Christmas sales at Target and Walmart at 90% off - snowflakes, white and blue and JACKPOT!
The night of the party my brother and his good buddy came over in black security shirts and stood at the front door as the kids were all dropped off. Just like a real club, the kids were asked to show their ID and asked if their name was on the list. It was hysterically. The funniest part was our big Great Dane, Sully. She loved a flashlight and she would follow the light anywhere. When the girls that were spending the night walked up with their overnight bags, my brother would say, "young lady we are going to have to search your bags" and then when he shined the flashlight in the bag Sully would put her nose all in it. It was a hoot! The kids had a good time with it!
Another cheap way to decorate is blowing up balloons and tying them together in bunches. You can start earlier in the week and they will last for days as long as they are in the house and around 70 degrees. Helium can get expensive. I just picked up an electric balloon pump and boom.
The DJ was the most expensive thing but if you want a great party, get a good DJ. The music and the tightness of the space creates the atmosphere. If the atmosphere isn't right, the party won't feel rocking! I always draw out a party floor plan depending on how many guests I think I'll have. By arranging furniture and entertainment areas you can make the party feel right.
The bar area was silly cute. We had signage where the kids could order whatever type of drink they wanted (non-alcoholic of course), complete with garnishes. They were eating it up.
I was a little worried about the kids being cold but they danced their butts off so everyone stayed warm. The fire pits and heaters were all around so it worked out great. There were corn hole boards set up beside the dance floor for those who didn't want to dance too.
There was a quick backdrop set up for photos with friends!
This is what success looks like.
But this is even better.
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