To ask your top tips for a 16 year old's party - this Saturday!!!

[loveyouradvice]

Hi... I've been so chilled about this... so much else going on from GCSEs to work commitments and sick mother ....

But I've suddenly realised I do have 70-80 teenagers turning up at our house to party on Saturday night...

DD has bought disco lights - a mate has done playlist - we're ordering range of beer and cider (and champagne for midnight when it actually turns into her birthday) with not much to munch on beyond crisps, popcorn and sweets and guacamole/hummous.... we're putting away anything breakable and covering the downstairs loo floor as we've been warned by DD and her mates that it "could get really manky".

She's lined up 4 mates to be the "bouncers" if there is any trouble ..and laughingly said all her male mates are small or tall and gentle but the two girls are pretty feisty!

We have guest list - and I'm allowed to be on the door for the first hour and then instructions to vanish so DH and I will be watching telly upstairs - and occasionally glancing out of window to see what actually is going on!

Oh and she's said we should put a "Private" sign half way up the stairs but be a bit relaxed so that only her closest mates go up to first floor. Luckily we have bizarre outside loo (70s decor!!) as well as inside one so should be enough.

They are basically nice kids... but they are 16 and demob happy after exams! And I know some of them are quite capable of getting slaughtered though DD is pretty moderate in her drinking and feeling very responsible.... but she isn't one of the feisty girls, much gentler.

So..... what are your top tips? What have I missed? What do you wish you had known before hosting teens at home?

You need:

Sick buckets

Condoms

Deaf neighbours

The police on speed dial.

Good luck!

my tip:

Don't do it!!!

and another tip.

Don't do it.

ok

tips:

1. the bouncers will be crap and will let anyone in. with spirits, drugs and anything else.
2. Don't let any "water" bottles in the house. They'll be vodka
3. Reallyy? 80 kids?!
4. Don't go out. You'll still miss the alcohol, but you'll be there to send the kids home. At 8.30
5. don't bother with any food. it'll end up in the carpets. Or vomited up.
6. Yes, go and suck up to the neighbours now. They'll hate you. And quite possible call the police. Ahem.
7. take all their phones off them now and ban them from posting anything on social media. ever. There'll be 760 friends of friends turning up otherwise.
8. clear the whole area. Lock your bedroom door, with anything valuable in it. Be prepared for a swamp of booze on the floor. You'll be finding fags and bottles (and worse) in the garden for ever. And under the bath. And under the sofa.

Mine were nice girls too. I made the mistake of not allowing one party, but then doing it again with daughter number 2!! Daughter number 3 had one, but she was 11 and it was lovely. No more.

We've had police, knives, vomiting, snogs, lost phones, crying, stampeding in and out of the house, nos (is that how it's spelled), probably more, vodka - lots of it.

Yup its the vodka that worries me .... and if suddenly too many mates of mates turn up. Easy enough to turn away chancers... not so easy mates of mates if you want to keep your reputation in school!

No I will not be supplying condoms................

Hadn't thought of having sick buckets - SO OBVIOUS! Will leave them strategically by doors into garden, etc...

Yes, feeling deeply nostalgic for her 13th birthday party.... 40 sweet kids finding it dead exciting to party until 10.00 and help themselves to as much popcorn, self-serve Fro-Yo and fizzy drinks as they wanted.

My daughter insisted no one would eat at her 16th birthday party I didn't argue with her (no point) but they devoured the pizzas I provided, and then they made pasta in the middle of the night!

I think that is incredibly irresponsible (and I'm not a pearl clutching mother of babies - my youngest is 16).

You are on very dodgy ground inviting teens into your house and providing them with alcohol.
You are being incredibly selfish to all the surrounding homes, inviting 70 - 80 x 15 and 16 yr olds to part in your home and garden.
You are being very naive if you think your almost 16 yr old is going to be able to 'police' her own party when she's invited this many 'acquaintances.'

They also ate several kilos of mini Easter eggs which I got at Lidl (cheap but not bad) and played extensively with a big set of magnets I keep out for visiting primary school age kids.

Been there and done that with only 20-30. There will be vomit. Some (or most) of these kids are not used to alcohol at all and will end up decorating the walls and furniture, even if the bucket is next to them.

Good luck op. come back and tell us how it went.

My initial reaction: oh fucking hell.

Get loads of pizzas delivered. They will get eaten.
Boxes can be puked in. (Yes. I know).
Lots and lots of washing up bowls and buckets.
Be able to drive them home yourself. Some will need to go home.
Don’t supply alcohol. You are on VERY dodgy ground there. They will bring their own.
Empty your fridge/freezer/cupboards. They will go through them.
There will be a lot of comings and goings.
Not all of them will drink and some will find it quite unpleasant. Make sure there’s space to get away and make them a brew.
Loads of soft drinks/bottled water.
One brought fireworks. I was furious and took him home. (Letting them off in the street.)

They are kids. Some won’t be 16 will
They? They will be arseholes. They will also say ‘thank you for having me, sorry about the mess, would you like any help clearing up?’ because they are good kids.

My DS has a 16th party. Fucking horrendous but I don’t regret it and am glad I did it for him.

Good luck 👊🏻

I did this.

Big mistake even though we had FOUR professional bouncers.

Fights broke out. Some who couldn't get in threw small fireworks in.

There wasn't even any alcohol!

Never again.

I would have plenty of food tbh, pizza will always get eaten and maybe have some plain bread on hand to make toast in case any teens decide they need to soak up their alcohol. And plenty of soft drinks

One of my friends removed all the furniture from their living room and covered their whole downstairs in essentially sticky back plastic. I would do that tbh unless you have wipe clean floors throughout. People will be sick, put vommit buckets everywhere + bin bags. Loads and loads of loo roll. Remove everything you can and block off the upstairs. I would stay in maybe upstairs so you can take anyone home if necessary.

You are very brave!

Why would you be giving alcohol at a party to 15/16 year old kids that aren’t even yours.
It’s irresponsible and you are trying to hard to be a cool mom.

Tbh I would also potentially get some vommit cleaning up stuff and rubber gloves. In my experience if someone is sick someone else will often attempt to clean it up, so I would probably make sure there was cleaning stuff to hand specifically for that.

Bloomin heck providing alcohol for underage drinkers you are taking a huge risk! Be prepared for any consequences

Fingers crossed none of the neighbours call the police because then you'll have an awkward conversation about under 18's & alcohol.

I'd personally ditch the alcohol they'll smuggle it in anyway so save your cash & order pizzas or curry & rice from the local takeaway to soak up the alcohol.

have lots and lots of cold soft drinks available, we did big tubs of ice cubes filled with cans and plastic not glass bottles, food if you can afford it, also be obviously home and be prepared to call parents to collect their teens!

I thought they’d maybe sneak in a can or two of cider.

I was naive. So very naive. They brought Litre bottles of vodka and cases of beer. They ask strangers to buy it, some have fake ID, some have older siblings. All the old tricks still work.

I made sure they all got picked up by adults at the end of the night. I didn’t want anyone wondering off. Some I took home earlier. But we only had about 35 all in all.

Take the eggs and flour upstairs for the night and make sure NOTHING valuable is left out at all (tablets, laptops etc)

If you have a booze cupboard I'd empty that upstairs too

A mate had humous at hers

When I was 16 to be honest that's absolutely all we cared about.

Nothing to do with freedom, booze, or trying to get to second or third base. We just used to spend evenings looking for hummus. Good plan

Loads of toilet rolls, yes -
But not all at the same time. They will get hurled around the garden.

Wow, you are brave OP.

Foolish

Very very foolish

But marking my place for the aftermath.

I would think that if my 16 year old son was going to a party with adult supervision, the adults wouldn’t be providing alcohol.

Chips
Pizza
Coke
Lots of cold water and ice in this weather but not alcohol.

We had about 50 round post GCSEs. It had its moments!

The worst was the older (18 year old) gate crashers invited by one girl who DD had made a huge mistake in inviting. Having been turned away at the gate, they climbed in over a fence from our neighbours field. DH ran over to stop them but slipped on the decking and hit his head on a brick wall. The ambulance refused to come because it was at a party and there had been an “argument”. I had to take him to A&E where he had a brain scan. Blood everywhere. So no adult with them at all when we left. The party ended there and then. The guests were very upset and the gatecrashers scarpered.

So, an hour checking off guests is totally useless. We are secluded and difficult to find. Don’t let DD invite anyone you do not know or who is a casual acquaintance. The girl who knew the gatecrashers was a late addition and duped DD. They hadn’t seen each other since primary school. They saw each other in the local town the day before the party. I knew her mother from school and other siblings but in the meantime this one had changed into a wild child - who knew?

They will misbehave, get drunk and have sex. They will spill things, be disgusting in the loo and will fall asleep and vomit. You’ll never get rid of them. Get all the parents’ phone numbers and ring them if you cannot get rid of their offspring. 12.30 - they’ll just be getting started! The majority will be fine but a minority are a nightmare.

Other DD had a small party jointly with a DS of a neighbour and only 15-20 attended. Ended up with another gatecrasher who knew the neighbour’s DS burning down our old summer house! The Police decided “having a word” with him was good enough!

Good luck!

My 16 year old asked if she could have a house party for her 16th. I said "No chance" and I meant it! Not in a million years would I have agreed... You are very brave OP. Hope it goes well...