<p>Happy memory - My grandmother made “sweet 16” corsages for all granddaughters, flowers and many ribbon’d sugar cubes. My aunt crocheted afghans for niece/nephew hs grads … she’d take us to the car trunk and let us pick which one we liked from her stockpile. </p>
<p>Summer parties are nice - you don’t need to factor in possible blizzards into the planning. (My kids have winter birthdays. I hesitated to plan anything far from home to avoid stress of bad weather driving.)</p>
<p>I have a 24 yr old and 22 yr old…sweet sixteen’s were not a trend with their age group…but now that there is a show on MTV ( ? ) it has become the norm ?</p>
<p>I just don’t like the idea that this has become almost expected</p>
<p>MizzBee, Thank you for that link! I had searched for something like that a while ago and didn’t find anything so comprehensive!</p>
<p>lje62- No, I don’t think so.</p>
<p>I have three kids and in our house, kids have a “friends party” every three years starting around school time and we set it up so it hits the big years- 10, 13, 16 and then that’s it, with the exception of something small at graduation. I think it is nice to celebrate those milestones of “two digits”, becoming a teen, and the 16th birthday.</p>
<p>My parents surprised me on my 16th by having friends meet me at a restaurant. It was awesome. Parties don’t have to be big or too expensive to be special.</p>
<p>I don’t mind having some kids over , but I’m not digging the idea of having something elaborate and requiring special attire. I think that graduation is more of a milestone than turning 16 . I think my daughter would be ok, as long as peer pressure isn’t coming into play and all of her close friends are having soirees</p>
<p>My D had a sweet sixteen dance party. At the time, we just called it her 16th birthday party since the term “sweet sixteen” was not as common. She and her high school friends loved to dance any chance they got. The challenge was to find a DJ who didn’t play “lame music.” The kids still talk about that party. Her claim to fame was that the cake came from Charm City Cakes (Ace of Cakes from the Food Network.) It was before anyone knew who they were.</p>
<p>“I have a 24 yr old and 22 yr old…sweet sixteen’s were not a trend with their age group” - I think that varies. I have a 23 year old and a 20 year old, and it seems that both of them attended sixteenth parties (usually girls). Usually they were mellow home parties. I only recall one that was formal in a restaurant. None were over the top… I have heard a few incredible stories about prom and homecoming dances in Denver though (one included a “limo” ride in a helicopter).</p>
<p>Just another option - I had a party for my b/g twins … So nothing “sweet 16” in theme. We rented an outdoor bouncy house and the kids had a blast. I set up tables with various candies, had a cotton candy and popcorn machine, and served hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken. Also had “toys” for them to play with – old fashioned games, volleyball, croquet, etc.</p>
<p>I had a party in our backyard too. DD didn’t want a Sweet Sixteen (I never did so I understood) but she decided to have one because she’d been invited to so many bas/bat mitvah parties and sweet sixteens and wanted to reciprocate.</p>
<p>We have a poor so the festivities started about 4 with kids in the poor. Later, when it got dark, I rented equipment to project a movie on a big outdoor screen. I missed the old drive-ins and I figured the kids’ never got to go to one so I would copy that. I showed Yellow Submarine because it’s bright and colorful and if kids were milling around they really wouldn’t be missing anything.</p>
<p>I served specialty pizzas (we had a very good place).</p>
<p>We have citronella candles and bug repellant.</p>
<p>All the paper plates, napkins, etc. were in bright, neon colors from the movie.</p>
<p>I had a cake make that was replica of the Yellow Submarine and we gave home-burned copies of the soundtrack as a favor with varied bright coloroed labels that said DD’s and name and the date.</p>
<p>Her birthday is the first week in July, but I did this at the end of June. Prom was on Monday and our party on Saturday night so juniors and seniors came – about 40 I think.</p>
<p>We had a cooler for canned drinks with a recycle receptacle next to it, a freezer with ice cream and ices, and a rented popcorn machine at night for the movie theme.</p>
<p>It’s eight years later, and the kids are still raving about the party.</p>
<p>It was cost-reasonable for so many kids. It was young and light-spirited and didn’t involve the parents having to get the kids at 1 in the morning. It was over by 11.</p>
<p>Scavenger hunt with adult drivers…pool party…high tea…Advice: No surprises. Kids have fluid friend pool.</p>
<p>Wow, I am really surprised that many of you have said Sweet 16’s were not a trend back a few years ago. I wish I had been so lucky. My D 20 went to a bunch of them a few years back. They were usually large, formal wear parties at catered places. I don’t recall any being at home. There were also a couple spa day sweet 16s with dinner following . We were kind of happy when that ended. It starts to get expensive and after a while you have to pick and choose what to attend.</p>
<p>D herself, did not want a party. Instead, we rented a house at a small ski resort a couple of hours away for a weekend and invited close family and three of her closest friends. It was a total of 16 people, ironically. The house was setup where they had the lower level to themselves. It was like a large slumber party. On one of the nights, I had setup a surprise birthday dinner for our group at the onsite hotel. We also had an amazing cake with penguins and snowmen that I got a bakery near our house to make for her. It was the highlight of the party. We also made a small photo montage that included a photo of each person that was at the dinner sharing a moment in time with her. It brought back a lot of memories for all of us. In the end, This was so much less expensive than any party and lots more fun. Since it was the end of the ski season both the house and ski tickets were at off season prices but we still had snow for skiing and tubing! The hotel nearby allowed us to use their pool and hottub. </p>
<p>D2 wants to have a tea party for her 16th birthday next year for about 20 friends. Still in the planning stages but it sounds fun and reasonable. She has already started getting invited to some Sweet 16s and I am dreading the next year of invites. A recent one was at the local firehouse, which seemed to be pretty reasonable. They had catered food and a really good dj.</p>