Your baby girl is growing up! It’s hard to believe, but her sixteenth birthday is right around the corner. You don’t want to get too close to crunch time before you start planning for the most important teen birthday party of her life. The key to planning a great party is to ensure that the many pieces of the party come together and work hand-in-hand as one cohesive theme: the location, the decorations, the invitations and the party favors. Keeping track of all these aspects and staying focused during the planning process can be difficult, so here we have laid out a step-by-step guide to help you stay on track and ensure you’re daughter sweet sixteen will be one to remember. 1.Choose the type of party you want to have. The possibilities are endless, but a few ideas include: a pool party, a hotel party, a theme party, an ice skating party, a slumber party or a surprise party. Once you make this decision everything else should start to fall into place. 2.Decide on a location. Think about whether your house would be suitable for a party. If you don’t have the space or if you’re not comfortable with a group of teenagers running wild in your home, consider another venue. Is your yard adequate for an outdoor celebration? If not, maybe choose a park.

A large part of this decision will be based on the type of party you decide to throw, for example if you are having a skating party you are limited to a skating rink. 3.Determine how many guests you’d like to invite. Sit down with your sweet sixteener and have her create a two lists, a “must be invited list” and a “possible” list. You can then pair down the list based on how many guests your venue will allow, or how many your budget calls will allow. 4.Coinciding with whatever theme you choose, it’s time to pick out the decorations. If you are celebrating in a venue besides your home, visit the venue and decide how you are going to decorate, then acquire the appropriate materials, this will greatly depend on your budget. Along with decorations you will also want to pick out some personalized sweet sixteen party favors, candy is always a great choice. 5.Send out invitations. Choose an invitation which is consistent with the theme of the party, or pick out something trendy. Come up with a catchy or humorous statement; something that grabs the invitee’s attention. Also, you may personalize things with a picture on the invitation. If you are planning an activity (for example, going to an ballgame, a movie, or an amusement park) you’ll want to map out directions, contacts and work out the transportation and include this information, so the other parents will know what is going on. 6.The next step is the cake of course! Regardless of the type of celebration that you choose, it just not a birthday without a cake! You’ll want to order this in plenty of time for the party.

Think about the type of cake (white with chocolate frosting, chocolate with vanilla frosting etc.), how it is to be decorated, and what special message to the birthday girl you’d like the cake to display. 7.As the party comes to a close, sweet sixteen favors can leave your guests with a sweet taste in their mouth as they are leaving. Have something special that your guests can take with them for the memories. One great idea I have seen is theme-wrapped candy bar with the guest of honor’s picture on it, but maybe a picture of Justin Bieber would do even better. Looks like you’re ready to have some fun with this very special teenage birthday party! Be sure to have a video camera handy, or at least a good digital camera. The kids will most likely want to share their experience with their Facebook friends. And, of course, your girl and your family will want to go back and review these cherished moments over the years.