Have a luau-themed birthday party with fun water games.
At 13, birthday parties are moving away from the typical pin the tail on the donkey type games. Teenagers may want more clever party ideas and something that their friends will like that will also make their party stand out. Embrace the digital age with a photo scavenger hunt that sends guests all over town, splash and dance in luau fashion or let everyone act out their inner drama queen (or king) at a murder mystery party. Does this Spark an idea?
Digital Scavenger Hunt
Send the birthday guests on a whirlwind run around town collecting pictures of themselves with items on a scavenger list. Break your party guests up into three or four groups. Each group will need a parent driver and a digital camera. Set a time limit, one to 1 1/2 hours works depending on the length of the scavenger list, and send each team out. While the parent is responsible for driving, only the teams are allowed to give directions and take photos. When the time limit is up, each team turns in the camera and has pizza, cake and ice cream while points are tallied and the winner is announced. Items you might want to include on the list are: take a ride on a 50-cent kiddie ride in front of a supermarket; teach someone the macarena or chicken dance; kiss a black dog on the nose and wear a police officer's hat.
Water Luau
For summer birthdays, setting up a variety of water games is a great way to have fun and beat the heat. Decorate a large yard or grassy park area with Hawaiian-themed decorations like tiki torches, tropical flowers and hula tableware. Invite guests to wear swimwear and provide leis (real or fake flowers) for each person. For games, have a water balloon toss, a limbo challenge and coconut bowling, where a coconut steps in for a bowling ball and plastic, 1-liter bottles filled with water serve as pins. You can also have a water slide challenge, putting out a slip and slide and measuring to see who slides the farthest. Set the mood by playing Hawaiian music and serving tropical punch with the cake.
Murder Mystery Party
For the teen who loves drama, a murder mystery party may be just the thing. You can purchase one of dozens of boxed murder mystery game sets to make planning easy or develop your own storyline with characters, motive for murder and secrets or clue to be revealed. Choose your favorite setting and encourage your guests to dress up. Some ideas for themes include 1920s themed mystery, 1960s hippie theme, Titanic theme or Venetian carnival theme. Hold the party at your house and decorate one room in your theme. Plan a menu that will let your guests mingle and ask questions of one another. Finger foods are best. Before dessert, have each guest write who she thinks the murderer is and place it in a box. Reward those who guess correctly after dessert with a small gift bag or gift card.
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