Very excited (almost) 13 year old with heights set high with bday party and we are skint...HELP!!

[3littlemincemeatpies]

As title said my beautiful, creative daughter turns 13 in a few weeks and has been counting down and and planning her birthday for the last 6 months and is so excited about it.

The trouble is we are absolutely skint and I’m now worried what to do about it and how to make it special for her.

She desperately wants a party, either booking somewhere or with lots of friends staying over but all the places she has suggested have been way over budget and we don’t really have the space for the amount of friends she wants for stay.

Have had the idea of stage/theatre part as she is G4 piano, sings and is at stage school so is really quite into games, role play, acting and singing but I’m not sure how to turn this into a party and how to make it fun for everyone...

My sister is a principal for stage coach so I could deffo get some game ideal and having got a sprocket for her Christmas, thought we could have a prop corner to do selfies with bit does anyone have any other ideas or suggestions as to how to keep the party in theme, food, games etc or can think of anything else that a group of 12/13 year olds would like that would be cheap to carry out...

Also do girls this age still expect party bags?

Sorry title should say heights!!! 😂

FFS sights...

Is there a hall, sports club near by you can hire?

Cater the food yourself, perhaps do an afternoon tea type thing?

And if they are into theatrics, do a murder mystery game (or similar) whilst they are eating it?
Those games are about £10 on Amazon I think.
I would think that might make them all feel very grown up?

Definitely think it would have to be at home, if I hired somewhere that would be the whole budget and would rather spend that making it good.

I find it such a tricky age, bring back pass the parcel, face paints and cake!! 😂

My daughter basically did pass the party, face paints and cake for her 13th birthday party.

I planned a treasure hunt around local area (including silly challenges, taking photos of things etc).

She planned a pass the parcel with forefeits.

They played some silly games (chocolate game, eating jelly baby out of flour, eating donuts off string etc, think there were some party board games too).

They did each others makeup (and ended up looking like clowns)

Then they had pizza, popcorn and cake and watched a film

(and no, they don't expect party bags at this age)

Rather than a sit down meal/buffet do hot dogs if there are cooking facilities? And the birthday cake for afters. Also they don't need party bags

Depending on where you live you might find a hall quite cheaply. I hired the Brownie hall for a birthday party and it was only £25.00 to hire, it was the cheapest part of the party, had a good size and well stocked kitchen and several toilets too.
For my DD's 13th birthday I took them to a nail salon, where they talked non stop for 2 hours while everyone had their nails done, it wasn't expensive, then they went for afternoon tea at a local coffee shop. They laid on a lovely spread, just sandwiches and cakes but very nicely done, and the girls felt very grown up eating and drinking with their newly done nails!

How many does she want to sleepover. They can all squeeze into a small floor space in sleeping bags. There won't be much sleeping anyway. Just a large supply of films and snacks.

Thanks all for you great ideas, will deffo run them by her.

I should mention we have left it kinda late in the day to organise with her birthday being a week on Monday, although guess I could make party for the following weekend, which would coincide with next payday

Unfortunately the sleepover is just a no go, I don’t mind her having a friend to stay as she has a sofa bed in her bedroom and she does often but she has two younger sisters, one of which bedrooms downstairs, we also have a dog, who although is lovely sleeps in the down stairs hall and I would petrified one of the girls disturbed her or thought it would be a good idea to pet her in her bed in the middle of night.

My mum has suggested a teen version of Prosecco pong using sweets in cups which could be quite cool and thought I could make mocktails, I have also seen I can get a red carpet on Amazon for £5 which could tie in...

Any other ideas on a budget that I could do? How long would you expect a 13 year olds party to last?

An at home 5 Guys burger bar is alway a hit at ours when dd has had a birthday (she’s 16). - and cheap!

I second the murder mystery party idea. There are free scripts
www.thespruce.com/free-murder-mystery-games-1357635

You preassign characters to the invited kids and they come dressed as their character. Then you run the script. My DD went to a party like this and she was a socialite and famous artist who loved high fashion. She had a great time.

Can you pay a make up artist to come to your house for a couple of hours?

Stagecoach ran a murder mystery for us which we did at home based around a dinner party. The girls all had parts to read out / act and had to dress up/figure out who did it. Ask your sister!

Can't the friends stay if you empty one room of furniture and they all bring sleeping bags?

Would they all enjoy writing and staging a play that you film for them?

There are loads of ideas online for party games for tweens and teens and most of them don't cost anything.

Can you divide them into teams and they have to make a short movie? Show them at the end and do an oscars ceremony??

we have a small house and DD had all the girls in her class for a sleepover - think there was 9 of them. they all slept in the lounge diner on airbeds etc.

these are all great ideas, I especially like the make a movie and oscars idea...

First things first I need to get invitations out, I looked to buy movie clapper board invites which looked amazing but we’re going to arrive a few days before party and worked out quite expensive, has anyone seen any think like this in the shops or similar theme of any suggestions how to make?

My DD13 had a party at home last year so I can relate. The selfie stuff is a good idea - we got an inflatable frame and lots of selfie props/accessories together - feather boas, silly hats/glasses plus those props you hold up (Poundland and eBay is good for those). We then basically left them to it while we hid in the other room!! It was kind of odd as it was the first year we didn’t have any involvement in IYSWIM.

As long as you’ve got drinks (mocktails sound good complete with the umbrellas!), snacks and food (pizza/hot dogs/chips etc) plus music they’ll be happy to chill out together. I bought everyone flamingo/pineapple inflatable cup holders for their drinks and some funky straws - all from Poundland. The party lasted about 3 hours and then 2 of her closest friends ended up staying over (but we hadn’t planned it that way).

Instead of a party bag we gave everyone a coloured mason jar with lid/straw (cost something like £10 for 12 from EBay) that I filled with lip gloss/balm, small nail varnish and sweets. They all loved them. Hope this helps and good luck!

A similar idea to the murder mystery idea - I wonder if you could do your own "escape room" at home. I haven't been to one yet but have had a look at them online and I gather you have to solve puzzles and challenges? You could combine this idea with murder mystery/stagecoach expertise.

I think after they have had an activity they could have pizza/chips/salad or burgers whatever (check for vegetarians/vegans) birthday cake and then they could chill and chat with either a movie or watching their favourite youtubers/music on you tube etc (if you have the facilities).

Good luck whatever you decide to do

One other thing - do not under estimate how they eat and drink!!

How much that should read.

Thanks @Puffinhead that’s exactly the kind of thing I was thinking about. I also thought about trying to come up with a game with props kind of like a film star/movie charades but your probably right in that they will be quite happy being left to it!!

You’re welcome 😊 We had about 10 girls and my the noise they make - we were happy to hide out in a different room!

do you have a budget in mind, OP? you could do a Hollywood theme night – put some cheap red fabric in the hallway,let them all do each other's makeup and get some props for the selfies, buy some of those proper popcorn holders, set up a pic n mix table, put her favourite films on a projector, string fairy lights about the room and do 'make your own pizzas' or a takeaway. or do your own version of the Oscars/Grammys complete with performances, speeches and those cheap little Oscar statues! that probably sounds totally naff, sorry

Given it is so close, do you know how many people are free? The short notice might limit the numbers enough to make a sleep over viable.

If you do something at home in the evening, offer to take everyone home - other parents will appreciate it and you have more control over the end time.

If you tell people your budget and other parameters (numbers, timing etc) people will help with good ideas.