If you’re the parent of a teenager, you know that the teenage years are full of coming-of-age milestones– some great and some not so great! One of the greats is much anticipated (by your teen) and often feared (by you): the 16th birthday! Sixteen is the legal age of driving in most states and marks only two more years until your baby is officially an adult. That is why your 16th birthday is so important! Check out the best teenager gift ideas
To commemorate this important teenage occasion, here are 29 birthday ideas how you can celebrate Sweet 16
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Play Laser Tag (or Paintball)
Laser Tag and/or Paintball is an awesome idea for an active 16th birthday. Teenagers can be occupied for hours with these activities, and will be ready for lots of easy, greasy party food (think pizza and fries) when they finish. Most facilities for these events also offer a party room where you can eat and open gifts, so you’ll get the full party package when you make your booking.
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Sleepover
Keep the celebration simple but memorable with a sleepover. Instead of a cake and full-on party with decorations, you can hit the grocery store for some snacks everyone can munch on as they play games, tell stories, and watch a movie. For younger kids, try a “sleep under.” The kids stay for snacks and a movie, but all go home to sleep.
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Fly Somewhere for the Weekend
You can fly the friendly skies for less than the cost of a birthday party these days. Bare-bones flights can be as low as $20 per person one way. It’s a great way to make your child’s birthday a huge event without spending an equally huge amount of money. If your family budget can’t handle everyone taking off to some other city, let your child pick a parent to go with them this year. Celebrate onboard the flight too with fun activities to keep you entertained until you reach your destination.
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Take in a Movie
Keep an eye out for kid-friendly movies coming out at the theater or being released on DVD. That way, you can take in a movie for the birthday. If you’re planning a movie night at home, make it even more special. With a little extra prep like popcorn and movie snacks, your home movie night can become an event.
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Spend the Night in a Hotel
Grab some clothes and head to a hotel for the night. Make the celebration one they’ll always remember while keeping it on budget. Try the name your own price options that let you decide what you want to pay for the room. The downside is, you don’t get to choose the hotel where you want to stay. But you can select the quality, location, and price, which could work out perfectly for one night away.
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Invite a Friend Along
An informal get-together is perfect for little kids as opposed to extravagant and expensive parties for 20+ kids. Think of it as a mini playdate. With just a couple of friends to celebrate the birthday, your child gets more quality one-on-time with their pals. Take the kids out for pizza, hit the arcade, or play mini-golf. Whatever your child likes to do is what they should get to do on their birthday.
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Host a Family Dinner
Some of the best birthday memories are made with your family around the dinner table. Take your child to their favorite restaurant and don’t forget to ask the server to have the staff sing “Happy Birthday” to your child. Another option is to plan their favorite homecooked meal. If there are relatives that are nearby or especially important to your child, invite them too!
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Hit the Skating Rink
Skating may have been more popular when you were a little kid but it’s still something fun you and your family can do together on your child’s birthday. Hit the skating rink for a couple of hours. It doesn’t matter if you go roller skating or ice skating. Be sure to let the rink know you’re there to celebrate a birthday so the DJ can announce the birthday and play a special song.
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Have a Spa Day
Even the youngest of ladies enjoy a spa day every now and then. If you have a daughter celebrating a birthday, she’ll love having a spa day with you to celebrate her big day. Book a day at the spa for the two of you well in advance so you don’t run into an overbooked spa that can’t accommodate walk-ins. Make sure the spa knows you’ll be bringing in a child and her age in case that particular spa has a rule about minors. Or plan a home spa day and give each other facials, mani/pedi, and serve fruity drinks.
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Go to a Sporting Venue
For the sports lover, take them out to the ballgame. Buy tickets to your child’s favorite sport for their birthday. If you can’t see the professional teams where you live or the tickets are too pricey, take them to a college or high school game. It’s all about the atmosphere and you can help root for the locals. If they’re a sports fan, there are plenty of sports-themed gift ideas to make the birthday even more special.
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Play at the Amusement Park
A birthday will be one big thrill ride if you take your son or daughter to an amusement park. Many parks have perks you can buy in advance to save money, such as discount food, parking, and ticket packages. If your child has a birthday in the winter months, you can still visit the amusement parks or try an indoor water park. Even though some parks reduce their hours in the offseason, look at the schedule calendar online and you’ll often find open dates around the time schools are out for certain holidays.
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Go Bowling
The bowling alley is a great place to take your child on his or her birthday. Make the day special by incorporating this idea with dinner at a favorite place and some of the other ideas on this list. They don’t have to do just one activity on this list to celebrate. You have many options and a bowling alley is a great place for your whole family to have fun together on a special day.
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Get that driver’s license (or permit)
Depending on your state’s driver’s ed requirements, your teen’s sixteenth birthday may be the exact day you can take them to get their much-longed-for driver’s license or driving permit. If you’re ready to let them on the road, celebrate Sweet 16 by taking a trip to your local DMV office. If you’re not familiar with the license application process in your state, be sure to check out http://www.dmv.org/teen-drivers.php to get prepared!
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Throw an outdoor movie party
A great idea for when the weather is mild, an outdoor movie party is a casual but unique way to celebrate Sweet 16. Besides the birthday teen, a large movie screen is really all you need for the main event! Rent an outdoor movie screen and the necessary audio-visual equipment, fill the backyard with blankets and pillows, and let guests chill out while watching the guest-of-honor’s favorite flicks.
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Go out to a fancy dinner
Keep your celebration exclusive: Commemorate this milestone birthday by putting on your formal wear and dining at a nice restaurant with only close family members. A fancy dinner out is an intimate, mature way to honor the birthday girl or boy. Depending on your venue, it may also be a less expensive option when compared to a party filled with dozens of hungry teenagers!
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Have a pool party
If your teen is turning 16 in the middle of summer– or if you can rent an indoor swimming facility nearby– then you can’t go wrong with a pool party! A Hawaiian or beach party theme adds another element of festivity to a pool party, and many decorations following this theme can be purchased easily at a dollar store. Giant, fun pool rafts are also a big seller right now– from unicorns to flamingos to floating pizza slices– so make sure you have one or two on hand for guests to lounge on!
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Have a “Remember when?” nostalgia party
Sixteen isn’t old by any means– but the days when your baby was actually a baby are long gone! On their 16th birthday, take a walk down memory lane by watching a marathon of home movies and looking back through your library of family photos. You can also ask family members to share their favorite memories of the birthday teen.
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Go on a mini getaway
Most birthday budgets don’t allow for a “bucket list”-type vacation across the globe– but you can give your teen a mini getaway to celebrate their birthday in an out-of-the-ordinary way. Bring some family members, or a few of your teen’s closest friends, and book into a local hotel for a night. Order room service, hit the pool, and visit the spa. A mini getaway is a special birthday treat and a great alternative to the traditional birthday party.
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Stage a mystery party
You don’t have to be an amateur sleuth or budding actor to enjoy a mystery party! Based around a script where guests play characters, mystery parties are entertaining in more ways than one. Not only do your teenager and friends get to work together to solve the mystery, they can also dress up in costume, role-play their parts, and bring their own props. My Mystery Party even offers teen mystery party boxes ready to go. Mystery parties are a picture-perfect activity your teen will spend the night Instagramming!
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Have a gaming marathon
If your teenager is a video game junkie, feed their hobby a little bit this Sweet 16 by getting friends together for a gaming marathon. Whether they’re playing the hottest games of today, or going retro with old school systems, your teen may love the opportunity to plug in and veg out– for, say, 16 hours of gaming goodness!
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Build a bonfire
Light up the night with a celebratory bonfire. A laidback option, a bonfire lets friends and family gather around to roast hotdogs and marshmallows together. Teenage parties involve a lot of hanging out, and a casual group gathering around the backyard fire pit is a cool way to accomplish your birthday celebration. But safety first: keep a fire extinguisher on hand just in case!
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Go Go-Kart racing
Even at the legal driving age of 16, you may not be ready to let your teenager on the road just yet! Plan a fun way to get them behind the wheel without the worry by taking them Go-Kart racing for their sixteenth birthday. A classic but still popular pastime, Go-Kart racing is an apt birthday activity for an up-and-coming teen driver.
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Visit the amusement park
Is your teen a thrill-seeker? Set them loose in an amusement park! Whether they enjoy riding roller coasters, eating the concessions, or playing arcade games, there will be no shortage of things to do when your teen and friends spend Sweet 16 at an amusement park. Not sure which park is the best? TripSavvy will help you locate great theme parks and amusement parks by state.
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Go to a concert
For music-loving teens, going to a concert may be the perfect birthday gift. Is their favorite artist going on tour? Can you find a local music festival being held on their actual birthday? Get tickets and take in some live music for their Sweet 16! If no concert venues are taking place around your teen’s birthday, a quick alternative is a backyard “concert”: hire a live band, or set up the karaoke machine so teens can belt out their own hits!
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Plan a “favorite” party
Does your teen have a book, movie, decade, hobby, etc., that is their absolute favorite? Plan a party around it! Guests can come dressed as characters from the book or in the style of the decade. Decorations, music, and even food can be tailored to suit the theme. Celebrate your teen’s big day by turning it into an homage to their unique “favorite” thing, whatever that may be!
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Break out of an Escape Room
Escape Rooms are a hot trend in the retail-entertainment industry, and they just seem to keep growing in popularity! With the help of family and friends, willing participants are locked into a room and must complete various puzzles or solve clues in order to beat the clock and unlock the door! There are plenty of Escape Room themes to choose from, from crime scene investigations, to Sherlock Holmes’ plots, to “rescue missions” and many more! With over 2,800 Escape Rooms worldwide, a quick Google search should help you find the Room closest to you.
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Start a Cake War
Skip the birthday cake-baking for Sweet 16 and let your teen do the work! In the style of the many cooking competitions on TV, let your teen and their friends have a bake-off. Fill your kitchen with go-to ingredients, then let the teams of cooks bake their cake of choice, decorate it, and offer it up to a panel of “judges” before everyone digs in to enjoy. It may get messy, but it will be totally memorable!
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Play Laser Tag (or Paintball)
Laser Tag and/or Paintball is an awesome idea for an active 16th birthday. Teenagers can be occupied for hours with these activities, and will be ready for lots of easy, greasy party food (think pizza and fries) when they finish. Most facilities for these events also offer a party room where you can eat and open gifts, so you’ll get the full party package when you make your booking.
Conclusion
No matter which way of celebrating the 16th birthday party you opt for, make sure you consult with your child first or even let them lead the way. This is for sure will make the sweet 16th day unforgettable.
