Blueridge Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Greetings all. My daughter is turning 16 on Tuesday. I have no plans for anything beyond a simple, quiet party with homemade cake and a few small presents. Our income isn't what it once was, and I seem to have lost my imagination for planning celebrations. Please give me some simple but meaningful ideas to make her day a special one. She deserves it. So anything at all that would make it more than just another day. Something we could do for her...anything I could make for her...some place inexpensive we could take her to...something special but cheap for a special gift (that doesn't look cheap). Anything. Thanks so much for lending me your ideas and creativity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5KidzRUs Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 (edited) for my daughters 16th bday I had a surprise birthday party. I bought a chocolate fountain - it takes only a few bags of chocolate chips - the fountain was around $10 in a consignment shop - new I think they are around $45-$65. I put fruit, pretzels, pound cake etc around it and made a huge bowl of fruity soda drink. Then I got one of her friends to burn some CDs for music. I secretly invited every friend I could think of - this is something that you can also enlist one of her friends to help with. My friend decorated while we we out and it was a huge surprise. Fast forward two years - for her 18th bday I took her skydiving - woohoo! :) I hope whatever you do - that your daughters bday is magic!! :grouphug: Edited August 1, 2009 by 5KidzRUs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey Mom Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 I had a surprise party for my DD at her place of employment. She was working at one of those franchise indoor bouncehouse places (Pump it Up). Dh coordinated it with her boss. She was scheduled to work on her birthday, and she was really irritated about it. Meanwhile, I was in email contact with one of her good friends. I enlisted her help to spread the word to her other friends. I baked her a four-tier "topsy turvy" cake. Each layer was a different flavor: orange, strawberry, lemon, and white. She and her friends LOVED it. They said it was like eating Trix cereal. LOL My Dh was to bring her to "work" that evening. I was already there, and we were all hiding in one of the arenas. When she walked in, her boss gave her the stink-eye and said, "you're late!" DD felt horrible. But within seconds we all jumped out and yelled, "SURPRISE!" We pulled it off beautifully, and everyone had a great time. The gift we gave her was an electric guitar signed by Barlow Girl and an amp to go with it. She LOVED it. My SIL is a photographer, and she had taken DD out on a photo shoot under the guise of SIL testing some new equipment. At her party, she had a photo board display that all her friends signed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandpsmommy Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 It's hard to know what to suggest without knowing a little bit about your daughter. What does she do for fun? What are her interests? What kinds of things does she enjoy? Also, what do you mean when you say cheap presents? This means different things to different people. Some people would consider $5 to $20 cheap, while others would consider $100 cheap. Having said all that, here are some ideas. Are there any little things that don't cost much that she delights in? For example, colorful socks or flip flops with a fun pattern, a certain kind of candy or chocolates, a favorite flavor of gum, etc.? When my sister was 13 a family friend gave her 13 different small packages to unwrap. The first package contains 13 small items, the next 12, the next 11, etc. If you could think of several inexpensive items that she would enjoy you could do this with 16 different packages. Obviously the package with 16 items needs to be something inexpensive. Maybe you could do candies for that one. The package with just one item could be something more expensive, such as a book, cd, outfit, or gift card. The ones in between could be things like 2 of her favorite candy bar, 3 cute pairs of socks, 4 of her favorite flavors of chapstick/lip gloss, 5 fun hair accessories, etc. How about a day of her favorites? Make her favorite foods for breakfast, play her favorite music, let her choose an outing destination. It doesn't have to be anything expensive. Check around and see if there is anything inexpensive or free around your area to do on that day. There are a lot of festivals going on around here right now. And our nearest art museum is offering free admission this month. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coralloyd Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Maybe a manicure/pedicure or getting hair done. You know a day out with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 Y'all are so creative! I'm already seeing some possibilities! It's too late to pull of a surprise party, but that would have been fun. Our time is limited since all 3 daughters are acting in a local play right now, including her birthday. She loves acting, reading, all things medieval and Irish, and just being vivacious. We are rather isolated in the woods, though, with not many friends to call upon for help. We now live far from family, which is always sad at holiday and birthday time. Do you think that an *IOU* certificate for a bedroom make-over would be a cheesy idea? She could pick out paint, etc. I wonder if I could find enough little goodies to wrap 16 small presents?? Neat idea to have them in a pile in the table center. :) I really appreciate everyone's inspiration! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabeline Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Maybe a few of the sixteen presents can be related to the bedroom make over. One could be a few paint chips for her to pick out a new bedroom paint color. Another can be a few bedspead pictures from a catalogue. They don't have to be the ones she had to pick from but just an idea that she can pick out a new one. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 DH takes the day off from work, and he and the birthday girl go out for lunch and a movie. Not too creative but it helps them feel special. One year he took our Mustang loving girl to the car lot and test drove a brand new mustang. She loved it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey Mom Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Y'all are so creative! I'm already seeing some possibilities! It's too late to pull of a surprise party, but that would have been fun. Our time is limited since all 3 daughters are acting in a local play right now, including her birthday. She loves acting, reading, all things medieval and Irish, and just being vivacious. We are rather isolated in the woods, though, with not many friends to call upon for help. We now live far from family, which is always sad at holiday and birthday time. Do you think that an *IOU* certificate for a bedroom make-over would be a cheesy idea? She could pick out paint, etc. I wonder if I could find enough little goodies to wrap 16 small presents?? Neat idea to have them in a pile in the table center. :) I really appreciate everyone's inspiration! That's a great idea! I did that for my DD for Christmas one year. I gave her gift cards from Home Depot (for the paint), and Walmart (for the bedding). She loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Y'all are so creative! I'm already seeing some possibilities! It's too late to pull of a surprise party, but that would have been fun. Our time is limited since all 3 daughters are acting in a local play right now, including her birthday. She loves acting, reading, all things medieval and Irish, and just being vivacious. We are rather isolated in the woods, though, with not many friends to call upon for help. We now live far from family, which is always sad at holiday and birthday time. Do you think that an *IOU* certificate for a bedroom make-over would be a cheesy idea? She could pick out paint, etc. I wonder if I could find enough little goodies to wrap 16 small presents?? Neat idea to have them in a pile in the table center. :) I really appreciate everyone's inspiration! I don't think the *IOU* for a bedroom makeover is cheesy at all. You may not be able to give the actual makeover on her birthday but give her the vision. Then write out the steps to make it real. My dd received a small poster of a fashion illustration from Joann Fabric's. I was able to use coupons for it and a frame. It had pink and black in it. We took it and ran with it. Now she has a a beautiful, sophisticated room for very little money and some hard work on both of our parts. We painted the walls together and had a great time. (You could even do just this part for her birthday-look for paint sales) She made her own dress mannequin. She pulled some amazing fashion illustrations off the internet and placed them on black card stock to create a frame. A vintage black wig model (head) came from a local thrift shop for $7. It sports a floppy Audrey Hepburn-style hat ($2). An old painted black chair got a fresh apple green remnant for the seat. You get the idea. I'll wish you good luck but know that you'll do just fine and that your dd has an awesome mom. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 You could make her a scrapbook of baby photos and more recent ones. Buy her knitting needles, yarn, cute bag and teach her to to knit (or needlepoint). Give her a coupon for a manicure/pedicure with mom or a friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margo out of lurking Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Ginger, I don't have any ideas, but I might be using some of these for my dd's birthday in a few months. I think the bedroom makeover is a TERRIFIC idea, and it makes it a lot more fun than "just" buying the package with the comforter, sheets, etc. and hoping she likes it (which is what I was contemplating for my dd). I also love the 16-gifts idea. Hey, I am sure I know what theater she's at. Will you send me a private note offlist and tell me when it ends? I hope you have a lovely day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in St Louis Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Can you get her family and friends to each write her a small note expressing how much they love her...then put them in a small scrapbook? You can give people an index card to write on and it is less overwhelming than a "whole page." Then you can put all the index cards (and perhaps even some photos) in an inexpensive brag book. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 I wish someone would give me one! When my oldest turned 16 (and that was 14 years ago), I duplicated everything that we had done for her FIRST birthday party! We invited just immediate family who lived in the area (which probably totaled 4 people) and she had a couple of friends and we had a BIG BIRD CAKE, and paper products, and I duplicated as closely as I was able from her first birthday. And we looked at photos from her first birthday and tried to remember who was there and figure out how old they all were by then. It was fun!:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandpsmommy Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Y'all are so creative! I'm already seeing some possibilities! It's too late to pull of a surprise party, but that would have been fun. Our time is limited since all 3 daughters are acting in a local play right now, including her birthday. She loves acting, reading, all things medieval and Irish, and just being vivacious. We are rather isolated in the woods, though, with not many friends to call upon for help. We now live far from family, which is always sad at holiday and birthday time. Do you think that an *IOU* certificate for a bedroom make-over would be a cheesy idea? She could pick out paint, etc. I wonder if I could find enough little goodies to wrap 16 small presents?? Neat idea to have them in a pile in the table center. :) I really appreciate everyone's inspiration! I think the IOU certificate for a room makeover is a fabulous idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 When I turned 16, my parents took me out to a nice dinner. We went to a French restaurant that my French club had visited previously. It was nice, but not particularly expensive, but with such a different air than where we typically went. DH's family has a tradition of taking just the birthday child to dinner without siblings. The specialness was that the child had the attention of the parents to himself. A nice gift for this age might be a nice pen (there are some you could have engraved - our family likes Cross pens) or a special book. I've also been asking my parents to give my kids scrapbooks with stories of their own childhoods or with pictures of the grandparent and child together. For my birthday a few years ago, my mom gave me a scrapbook with a nice collection of my baby pictures. Maybe you could gather together pictures of your dd at various ages, along with your thoughts and memories of those days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margo out of lurking Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Are there any little things that don't cost much that she delights in? For example, colorful socks or flip flops with a fun pattern, a certain kind of candy or chocolates, a favorite flavor of gum, etc.? When my sister was 13 a family friend gave her 13 different small packages to unwrap. The first package contains 13 small items, the next 12, the next 11, etc. If you could think of several inexpensive items that she would enjoy you could do this with 16 different packages. Obviously the package with 16 items needs to be something inexpensive. Maybe you could do candies for that one. The package with just one item could be something more expensive, such as a book, cd, outfit, or gift card. The ones in between could be things like 2 of her favorite candy bar, 3 cute pairs of socks, 4 of her favorite flavors of chapstick/lip gloss, 5 fun hair accessories, etc. Resurrecting this thread. It's been in the back of my mind ever since reading it, knowing that my dd would soon celebrate her 16th bday. Over the past few weeks, I chose 16 different presents suggested by Terri's post quoted above: a package of Sweet 16 donuts, $15 gift card, package of 14 hair bands . . . 6 pairs of socks, 5 packs of gum, 4 shirts, 3 notebooks, etc. We had to get creative with a few of the numbers, which was part of the fun. Her bday was yesterday. She doesn't enjoy opening presents in front of people (understatement), and my parents were visiting from out of town. Dd was a little surprised to see 16 presents waiting for her, but she quickly got into the spirit. I did exactly as Terri said, numbering the packages, with dd starting at #16 and working her way down. She LOVED it, really, really loved it! Thanks, Terri, for a terrific idea and for making dd's 16th bday a truly special one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 (edited) I wonder if I could find enough little goodies to wrap 16 small presents?? Neat idea to have them in a pile in the table center. :) I really appreciate everyone's inspiration! We just had a 16th party for Dd and one of the things I had the guests do was bring 16 of something. It was so fun to see what they came up with. She received a tiny box with 16 jelly beans, a money tree with 16 dollar bills, 16 tiny stuffed animals made into a wreath, 16 mini nail polish/lip balm in a basket etc. OOPS I just realized this was an old thread. Sorry. Edited October 5, 2010 by Quiver0f10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoughCollie Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Resurrecting this thread. It's been in the back of my mind ever since reading it, knowing that my dd would soon celebrate her 16th bday. I'm glad you resurrected it because I hadn't read it before and it is one short year + 2 weeks until my DD turns 16. This will be fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Y'all are so creative! I'm already seeing some possibilities! It's too late to pull of a surprise party, but that would have been fun. Our time is limited since all 3 daughters are acting in a local play right now, including her birthday. She loves acting, reading, all things medieval and Irish, and just being vivacious. We are rather isolated in the woods, though, with not many friends to call upon for help. We now live far from family, which is always sad at holiday and birthday time. Do you think that an *IOU* certificate for a bedroom make-over would be a cheesy idea? She could pick out paint, etc. I wonder if I could find enough little goodies to wrap 16 small presents?? Neat idea to have them in a pile in the table center. :) I really appreciate everyone's inspiration! I had my dd's surprise party 6 months after her birthday. It is embarrassing that I am/was so unorganized but it sure was a TOTAL surprise! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 Now THAT must have been exciting! Thanks for sharing. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoughCollie Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 OOPS I just realized this was an old thread. Sorry. Don't be sorry. What was old has become new again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Not sure if this is going to help, but this is what I did when my dd31 turned 16. I RECREATED the theme from her first birthday party -- which was Big Bird and Sesame Street. I pulled out all the photos, ordered a Big Bird cake, had Kermit the Frog hats for everyone to wear - you get the idea. I found Sesame Street music, and we played alot of the same games that we had played at the first birthday party. She loved it! AND......I'll bet if I scroll through the previous pages, I will see that I answered this the last time this popped up.:glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 We got out the guitars, piano, singers (everyone) and had a birthday jam with all the old birthday songs. "You're Sixteen, (You're Beautiful and You're Mine)", "Birthday" .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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