Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was my party in the 80s as an 11 year old!!

Find something "sexy" for an 11 year old??

Different generation. How I miss the 80's.

Wow, I never heard of this before.

Definitely contact the mall management and make sure it's okay. Hopefully they'll look out for the girls a bit, too, and they'll know that if someone complains of "suspicious" behavior, that it's really just a bunch of girls looking for clues behind every trash can, and nothing to be worried about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mall may not permit it.

Yes they do. My daughter went to one last year and they had lunch at CPK. She had a blast. Montgomery Mall does with approval and even gave out directories. Get over it old ladies. We all ran around in malls in middle/high school growing up. Tons of fun!

Op here! Good to know they do this at Montgomery Mall as this is one of the mall we were considering. Lunch and cake at CPK afterwards should work out just fine.

Anonymous wrote:This was my party in the 80s as an 11 year old!!

My mom gave us $5 cash and a list of things to find such as
something:
to wear
to read
sexy
square
that smells
flowers
something red
......

I think there were 20 items. I don't remember the scoring but you wanted to have the most items found with the most money left over and the least number of items purchased. We had teams of 2 -3. I think my mom assigned them. This was a surprise party for me.

I remember our "string bikini" 99 cent undies that were red checkers - it was our sexy, red square underwear - back then it was a racy purchase! We also bought a Christmas sympathy card that we drenched in the perfume counter.

Find something "sexy" for an 11 year old??

Anonymous wrote:Ahh please don't let your kids run around the malls like that!

Run wild? They're shopping, just like everyone else there. Do you never shop with a group of friends? Perhaps they are a bit silly and giggly, but before I let my tween girls wander off on their own with friends I remind them of the need to be respectful of others and let them know that if I see any inappropriate behavior when I randomly check in with them then they will have lost the privilege to shop on their own for awhile.

I can see how this could get wild, in which case I would completely support any annoyed shopper reporting the party to mall security and security asking the parents to accompany the girls or have them leave.

However I don't really like or understand the expectation in your post that tween girls shopping on their own will be wild, ill mannered brats. Kids generally live up to our expectations if we are clear in advance about what those expectations are, so I think having the expectation that you seem to could contribute to the problem if our culture expects that kids will be brats instead of expecting them to be decently behaved, respectful fellow shoppers.

Anonymous wrote:Interesting ideas but do you let your 11 year old wander around in the malls?

NP here. Yes, but either I am at the mall too just in a different store/the food court or they're with friends and another parent/guardian/responsible adult stayed instead. Luckily my girls are close in age (and are therefore usually friends) and both are part of a group of friends where the parents see mostly eye to eye on these types of issues.

Check in and departure times are agreed upon before the kids and adult split up. They know not to leave the mall, to stay with their group if originally in a group, and to leave the store/area if something makes them uncomfortable. They are told where the responsible parent will be within the mall so they can come find them if needed, and at least one person in the group has a phone so we can keep in touch if there's a need to change the meeting location or if they need the parent to come find them.

They also know that I/the other parent could at any time randomly run into them in the course of our shopping and if they are showing themselves unable to exhibit appropriate behavior they will lose the privilege of wandering around without an adult for quite some time.

Anonymous wrote:Mall may not permit it.

Yes they do. My daughter went to one last year and they had lunch at CPK. She had a blast. Montgomery Mall does with approval and even gave out directories. Get over it old ladies. We all ran around in malls in middle/high school growing up. Tons of fun!

This was my party in the 80s as an 11 year old!!

My mom gave us $5 cash and a list of things to find such as
something:
to wear
to read
sexy
square
that smells
flowers
something red
......

I think there were 20 items. I don't remember the scoring but you wanted to have the most items found with the most money left over and the least number of items purchased. We had teams of 2 -3. I think my mom assigned them. This was a surprise party for me.

I remember our "string bikini" 99 cent undies that were red checkers - it was our sexy, red square underwear - back then it was a racy purchase! We also bought a Christmas sympathy card that we drenched in the perfume counter.

fun!!!!

Mall may not permit it.

Ahh please don't let your kids run around the malls like that!

Interesting ideas but do you let your 11 year old wander around in the malls?

This really isn't an option for you but I had my daughter's 12yr old birthday at Dave & Busters and incorporated a scavenger hunt in White Flint Mall since I felt it was safer and not as crowded. It was SO much fun!

We did $10 power up cards and dinner buffet at Dave & Busters. Then I purchased colored bandanas (2 for $1) and split into teams of 3-4 girls. We had 23 girls total.

I went a few days before to get some current ideas but most of the ideas came from "trick" questions trying to figure out the store they need to go to for the answer. I printed out a copy of the mall directory to them.

It was probably in the top 2 of my daughter's fav b-day parties. The girls LOVED it.

My niece would like to do this for her 13th birthday and I'm trying to help my SIL plan it. Tell me what you did: did you have to notify the mall about the party? How did you decide what items they were going to find? Did the kids go off in pairs, individually, groups? Anything info you want to give me would be greatly appreciated!