Get Ready, Set Party: Teen Birthday Party Ideas

A birthday celebrates who you are, but more importantly what you're about to become. A teen birthday party is the ideal chance to show a unique style. Get ready to introduce the teen in your life to the best teen birthday party ideas.

A teen will want his/her friends to talk about the party from high school to the first reunion. A tradition that never dies, for girls and boys, is a slumber party. Create the invitations by adding details that represent the birthday teen such as basketballs, ballerina slippers on pink paper, etc. Bring the PJs, play games, eat and just have fun! To liven up the night, get silly string and a walking game of Marco Polo. Depending on when the birthday is, have the party outside. Get a tent and double the fun. Please remember to rake the yard for any debris about 2 hours before the party begins. As far as food, having the guest of honor's favorite foods! Healthy items are usually not a part of the menu, but with the right pizzazz all will be well. Try things like veggie pizza, fruit smoothies in special glasses, and of course the cake! That famous cake should be a picture cake of the wackiest picture of the birthday teen available.

Teens LOVE to dance! Why not have a Dance Off Teen Birthday Party??? Get the latest music (no more than six months old and no graphic language). Bring everyone to the center of the floor. Turn up the music and dance! Give prizes for the craziest dance, slick move, biggest crowd pleaser, best girl dancers and best guy dancer. Finally have a dance off for the best dance of all, by a guy or a girl. The craziest dance consists of moves that make everyone laugh hilariously as if to say "OMG!!!" Slick moves are the moves a dancer or dancers can replicate from music videos, the Grammys, the American Music Award shows, etc. If the dancer at the teen birthday party can mimic the professionals, he/she deserves the award. The biggest crowd pleaser will have everyone jumpin'. He/She/They usually get the teen birthday party started. Have the best guy dancer and the best girl dancer battle it out for best all-around dancer. Add a twist to this Hall of Fame teen birthday party. Bring in a karaoke machine and let them form music groups. Choose 3 adults (yes, they can be parents!) to judge the competition. Give away CDs and T-shirts of the latest music groups. The cake should be a CD or a gold record with the name of an award winning song written diagonally across. The invitation should have dancers in the latest ensembles on the front. Remember to have at least 2 cameras on hand with big flash bulbs to make the winners and runners-up feel famous.

No one wants to be famous in paintball-a famous target that is. But the overall game can be fun and make a great teen birthday party. Create a cake with huge splatters of the teen's favorite colors all over it. The invitation should have the word "Paintball!" on the front and splatters of paint on the inside. Just imagine 12-15 teens full of energy, ready to party and have a good time. Pile them into the car/van and bring them out to exert that energy. Set the time of the actual paintball activity for at least 2.5 hours. An inside venue is good, but an outside paintball party is suburb. Imagine trees, rough terrain, sweat, tears, lots of high energy and yelling! Make sure all participants are able to handle the high impact stings of the paintballs. Remember to tell the teen birthday party-goers to wear old clothes and shoes. Keep all gifts out of the shooting area-and the cake too! Parents should remember kids will be kids. Learn the rules of the paintball game and the full establishment BEFORE the party. Let the teens know bullies will not be tolerated. After 1.5 hours of sheer paintball fun, cut the cake and open the gifts. Let them use the cake energy in the paintball field.

On any field, you're bound to have a good time. A sports teen birthday party is perfect for the active teen in the house. Make the party a decathlon: running for a ½ mile, swimming one full lap (if a pool is available), and bicycling one city block. For those not interested in a decathlon, have a game of flag football or even the old stand by-kickball-ready and waiting. Invite the parents to join the fun. Have a father-son football game. Invest time with a mother-daughter cheer-off at the father-son game. First aid kids are not a bad idea for sport parties. No matter the sport, all teens are in for grueling fun. The cake should have at least 3 sports on the top. The invitation should have the birthday teen's favorite sport on the inside with a statement to bring swimwear, and an extra set of clothing.

After all is said and done, the birthday teen will have an event to remember!