Each year when the time for birthday parties arrives I do my best to make them as fun and exciting and different as I can. I like to think I’ve done a pretty good job of it over the years and we have done some awfully fun stuff but as they have gotten older it has become more of a challenge.
Finding something that will be enjoyed by a group of 12 and 13 year old girls is not quite as easy as something for a group of 5 and 6 year olds. My balloon making skills are of very little use these days. So what to do?
As always I ask the girls for the theme of their parties and then we expand upon on their ideas with a bit of brainstorming. My youngest came up with the suggestion of a cupcake decorating party and it was fairly simple to put together and went really well. Unfortunately just trying to get a straight answer out of a teenager is not as easy and we went back and forth through a number of suggestions without getting any closer to a decision.
Finally after what seemed to be an absurd number of discussions the realization that The Hunger Games would be released on DVD shortly it was decided a simple movie night would do. Except I don’t do simple and of course we had to expand on the idea and make it into something more. So how do you make a simple movie party more exciting? Outdoor movie night!
When all was said and done it was the best way to watch a movie you can imagine. For my husband and I memories of the drive-in theatre came flooding back, for the dozen or so girls sprawled out around the screen wrapped in sleeping bags it was a new and unique experience.
