Anonymous wrote:One kid heard about Midevil times and became obsessed and asked to take his three best friends to that. So DH took them. We've done a lot of sleepover parties. We have a pizza oven in our back yard and hired a guy from the local pizza place to come over and teach the kids how to throw the dough and make pizzas. I thought they'd find it a bit babyish but they all got into it. Mini-golf has also gone over well.

Medieval times! I forgot about that place! GREAT IDEA.

None of my kids (all boys) wanted birthday parties after elementary age. Instead, they were happy with a family celebration or having a friend or two for a sleepover.

Dave & Busters

Summer bday but my tween liked her pool party last summer. Wants to do the same thing this summer.

I have two sons and at that age they didn't care about parties anymore so I stopped planning them. Mostly they'd just want to invite a few close friends over and play video games all night. So that's what they did. I'd order pizza and have plenty of snacks on hand. And cake of course.

One kid heard about Midevil times and became obsessed and asked to take his three best friends to that. So DH took them. We've done a lot of sleepover parties. We have a pizza oven in our back yard and hired a guy from the local pizza place to come over and teach the kids how to throw the dough and make pizzas. I thought they'd find it a bit babyish but they all got into it. Mini-golf has also gone over well.

It's a tough age. Some are ready for and want co-ed parties. Some don't.

My son did a movie in the back yard at 12 with about 8-10 kids (boys and girls). At 13, he just had a friend sleepover.

It also gets very tricky for them socially on who to invite so sometimes they want to just avoid all of it. That's why my son didn't want a party at 13.

Anonymous wrote:I'd love ideas for a winter (early feb) bday party. We've done paintball, skating, horseback riding... there just aren't too many options outside of home this time of year.

One year we sent the invites at birthday time but for a March party at adventure park.

Around that age my son stopped wanting to do parties. He'd do an activity with a friend -- amusement park, movies, etc.

I'd love ideas for a winter (early feb) bday party. We've done paintball, skating, horseback riding... there just aren't too many options outside of home this time of year.

Tweens, home with a handful of friends.

At that age, we weren't really doing "parties" for our kids. After elementary school, they weren't into it.

We don't do parties anymore just small outings. Summer kid likes to take 2 buddies to Six Flags; winter kid likes the movies.

My 12 year old picked blacksmithing at this place, but we haven’t done it yet

https://whiteflintcreations.com/

My 15 year old picked Kennedy center tickets for him and one girl.

My 12 year old nephew picked this:

https://fareharbor.com/embeds/book/riverriders/items/43681/calendar/2023/03/?flow=672198

Which was a huge hit.

Before Covid my now 15 year old picked to take a few friends to Whitetail.

Basically that’s around when we transitioned from “invite everyone” to inviting a few friends for something more expensive per kid.

I have two boys turning 12 and 14.

Where did your tween/teen have their parties?

For the first time, both kids don’t seem excited to plan their upcoming birthdays. They are not sure what they want or who they want to invite.