Tween Birthday Party Ideas: Cooking Party

What's the recipe for the perfect tween birthday party?

1 cup independence
1 cup hands-on, messy fun
6 cups deliciousness

Tweens will love this cooking themed birthday party where they will be able to really dig their hands in, create, compete and above all enjoy food and crafts of their own creation. From recipe-card invitations, cooking games, and fun favors this guide will give you all you need for a truly delicious tween birthday party!

Tween Birthday: Party Invitations
Recipe-card inspired invitations are sure to excite. Purchase pre-made recipe cards at paper store with matching envelopes or make your own with these easy to follow instructions.

Makes 18 Invitations:

Supplies:
18 Large Blank Index Cards
18 Matching Envelopes (available at paper or office supply stores)
Colored Pens
Puffy Paint

Instructions:
1. At the top of the horizontal card write: Mattie's Favorite Recipe: A Super-Tasty 11th Birthday Party!! (insert your own birthday boy or girl's name of course!)
2. Using the ruler create lines on the rest of the card.
3. On the top half list the ingredients such as: 1 Birthday Girl, 12 Best Friends, and a Ton of Chocolate!!
4. On the bottom half list the instructions such as: 1. On Saturday July 17th at 1pm 2. Come to Mattie's House 3. RSVP 4. Get ready for a cooking and eating extravaganza!
5. Using the puffy paint create "spills" to make the invite look like real recipe-card. Draw small arrows and label what kind of spill they are such as brown fudge stains, or red strawberry sauce.
Tween Birthday: At the Party
At the party you will want to divide your guests into three to four groups. A fun way to decide this would be to draw silverware the spoons are one team, forks another, and knives another (just make sure you use dull butter knives!)

Each team will have a designated station. You and your tween can decide on the menu ahead of time. There can be a Nacho station where the team can cut up olives, lettuce, and tomatoes, grate cheese, and pile chips high to go into the oven, a pizza station where the group can come up with their own wild combinations on pre-made crusts, and a pie making station where one group can make instant pudding to fill individual graham-cracker pie crusts and then decorate them with whipped cream and toppings. Each station will make enough food for the whole party.

You and your tween can customize the menu, anything goes! In planning try to make each station take about the same about of time so that at the end everyone is ready to eat!

Enjoy the food and after you sing happy birthday host your own pie-eating contest with the mini pies! Just remember hands behind your back and to get a lot of photos!

Tween Birthday: Favors
Have guests personalize their own apron's or chef's hats when they first get to the party. Or pack favor bags with home-made treats, a wooden spoon, and the recipe. There are also fantastic cookbooks on the market for cooking with your kids if you want to go for a pricier favor.