What activities do your pre-teens do when they have friends over?

[EvilMama]

DD has been to a friends house a few times recently. They've made a gingerbread house and baked Christmas biscuits etc. It's about time I invited back, but I do not engage with Christmas activities before the first weekend of December and family birthdays are out of the way. What sort of thing do your 12 year olds do when they have friends over for the afternoon? Parents are clearly trying to keep them off gaming, so I suppose I should try too!

Make your own pizzza
Decorate your own cupcake for later
Football goal/net in garden
Obsticle course set up in garden
Allow a bit of time on x box

They cook their dinner so DD and friend did a stir fry the other night but we've done make your own pizzas before and other things. DD is is older now at 15 but we always did similar but I just did the oven bit. They get the kitchen to themselves, play some music.
Rice Krispy cakes

Sorry, not helpful at all, but I think that's brilliant. My 8 yr old DS had two friends over for a sleepover last night. They chased each other around the house on rollerblades with nerf guns and then had a stuffed animal fight in bed. Madness. I'd love it if they wanted to bake. They did flip a pancake or two each this morning, most of which hit the floor.

And a movie of their choice

My DD was a a teen now but karaoke and the dance game on you tube was popular.

Is a teen not was

Make overs that are playful so not seriously going out in it. Films.

Usually make your own pizza then popcorn and a movie 🍿 🎥❤️

Just leave them to it and let them make their own entertainment. They knock on each other's does all the time and just hang out either on phones, drawing, PS, reading, making crafty things etc. So long as they are sensible and don't make a mess, I let them get on with it.

I don't even mind a mess within reason. Friend in question is a boy and we have decided for now not to allow children of the opposite sex in their bedrooms to save us some hassle in the teenage years! That limits them to the (open plan) kitchen/dining/living area. It's generally afternoons, so not including a meal time.

@BeachHutsAndDeckchairs what sort of crafty things do they do? I might need to update our craft cupboard a bit as it hasn't been touched in ages.

Mine meets friends to go fishing or the park. If at home they just do screens, smelling/spraying fragrances and giggling as far as I can tell!following for suggestions though. Ds likes cooking but I don’t think he’d want to with friends. He does have a candy floss machine they’ve used before.

I must admit they see them on tiktok 😵 but things like how to make a snowflake and similar things out of paper. We have so many types of paper, from bog-standard printer paper to origami paper, stock card to holographic stuff, aged paper, handmade paper etc.

They learned how to knit so knitted some mini Christmas jumpers (but the tantrums when they went wrong and missed or dropped a stitch etc were epic) so we have all that equipment.

I showed them how to sew and helped them make a pillowcase.

The polymer clay worked well, too, and the current trend is making dangly things with charms.

They do it for hours if in the right mood and can be left to it. They're good at tidying it all up, usually, and need limited input other than the knitting debacle.

Making soup & bread rolls
Salt Dough Christmas Decorations are timely

they could go to the park ?/ my teen goes with her boyfriend and mates all the time and they love it

Get a couple of cheap white t shirts, and some fabric paints, and do a design your own tee. My DD did this a couple of times, and enjoyed it, but the tees ended up as pyjama tops!
Something to do with gardening. Planting herb pots, or strawberries or tomatoes.

It's mainly involved:
Screaming at Taylor Swift concert videos
Screaming Taylor Swift songs in the hot tub
Screaming at more Taylor Swift concert videos
Eating so many sweets they're on a sugar high before more screaming at Swifty nonsense.
Occasional outbreaks of making friendship bracelets
Getting the Alexas to play terrible songs in siblings' bedrooms

Mine are currently in the garden playing sardines…my 12yr old dd has 2 friends over and my ds(9) is playing with them too.