Sweet Sixteen Masquerade Party Tips

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Sweet Sixteen Masquerade Party Tip #1: Choosing The Venue

Venue for the sweet sixteen masquerade  party is the first thing you must consider. Are you going to rent a hall, an apartment clubhouse, have the party at home, or have a backyard party complete with strings of lights, brightly colored lanterns, and tables and chairs?   If you do opt for a home party, you can clear your patio furniture and use the patio or deck for after dinner dancing.  The possibilities are endless.

Sweet Sixteen Masquerade Party Tip#2: Choose Your Sweet 16 Color Theme

A  sweet sixteen masquerade party should be colorful. Think Mardi Gras!  Brilliant purples, iridescent greens, shining gold and deep ruby and sapphire are a few choices to think about.  No masquerade party would be complete without masks.

You might choose to make the all of the masks black with brightly colored feathers and beads attached, or you could go with white masks.  Another option would be to use the masks as the party invitations and tie a ribbon onto a piece of paper with the party details:  who, what, when, where.

Ask your guests to decorate their masks/invitations and wear them to the party.

Costumes could be formals and dinner dresses from previous occasions.  Bargains can be found at the thrift stores and often Good Will may have some offerings.  Feel free to be as elaborate as you want.

Decorations could be plastic top hats from the party store; these are plentiful after New Year’s Eve celebrations, so remember to stock up if you can.  Fancy masks can be found around Halloween and Mardi Gras.

Grab a handful of Mardi Gras beads and drape them over table cloths and around serving dishes.  Greet your guests at the door with plenty of beads for them to wear, too.  Balloons are another nice touch.  You can scatter them around the room for splashes of color.

Sweet Sixteen Masquerade Party Tip #3: Food and Party Favors

The  sweet sixteen masquerade party menu can be finger foods or a buffet style meal.  Grocery stores often  have  wonderful party platters.  Local sandwich shops or pizza shops can make up a 3 foot or larger sandwich to slice and serve.  If you want to do something nicer, cater a carving station with roast beef, juicy ham and all of the trimmings.

Party favors of chocolate mask lollipops can be made from specially purchased molds. You can order these online or purchase them through a local party supply store. Another idea would be to take a small pouch or bag pre-purchased from a craft store and fills it with candy coins.

Lastly, please don’t forget the cake! Remember, the bakery can make something special if you ask. Use a decorated mask and colorful flowers in your theme colors. Spend some time brainstorming with one of the decorators.  They have lots of great ideas gained from years of experience that can make your cake really stand out. So start planning now your sweet sixteen masquerade party!

http://sweetsixteenpartyideas.co/?p=9 Continue reading]]> Remember your Sweet Sixteen Birthday Party?

It is similar to an old fashioned “debutant” or “coming out” party.  It is a time for you to announce to your friends and family that your little girl has grown up, and is getting ready to face the world as an adult.  She is learning to drive, to apply for her first job, to make college plans, and embark on a new life adventure with more responsibility than she realizes.  The 16th birthday marks the beginning of an important transitional year.  Often the Sweet Sixteen Birthday party is the first serious girl/boy party.  This might be a good opportunity for those prospective beaus to meet dear old dad!

Sweet Sixteen Birthday Party Plans

Before making any plans on your sweet sixteen birthday party, it is a good idea to sit down with the birthday girl 4-6 months ahead of the birthday and make plans.  You can never be too organized and planning in advance will take a lot of the stress off of your shoulders, and help you stay sane in the middle of all those swirling teenage hormones.

So the first order of business is to decide on a theme for the sweet sixteen birthday party.  The possibilities are endless.  You can be elaborate, simple – yet elegant, or anywhere in between.  You are only limited by your imagination…and your pocketbook.  However, planning ahead will give you time to come up with creative solutions and alternatives that save time and money.

Following are just a few Sweet Sixteen Birthday Party Ideas:

• Sweet 16 Tropical Luau
• Fiesta Sweet 16
• Princess for a Night
• Mardi Gras Celebration
• Sweet 16 Sleepover
• Rock Star 16th Celebration
• Black and White Formal Celebration
• Mystery Dinner Theater Party
• Dinner and Dancing Party
• It’s All About the Pink Party

Once you have established a theme, you can begin working on the guest list, creating a party budget, book entertainment if so desired, arrange for photography and video needs, choose and order invitations, select decorations, decide on a cake and refreshments, and pick out party favors.

Be sure to set up a timeline that you are comfortable with and stick with it, checking your “to do” list every two weeks until a month prior to the party.  Then check your list weekly to make sure you stay on schedule.  (This is very important!) After the party, be sure to relax and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.  Surely, your birthday girl/boy will always remember his/her sweet sixteen birthday party.

The cake is the sweetest part of a Sweet Sixteen Party!  The cake should be  the most impressive food item of the party and is the center piece of the celebration.  Try to match the cake to the theme of your sweet sixteen party and should say something about the birthday girl.

Sweet sixteen cakes can be sheet cakes, layered cakes, multi-layered cakes, or even cup cakes.

You can even have several cakes to fit your theme.  There are no hard and fast rules: you can make it up as you go.  Just remember to have fun and your guests will, too.

Sweet Sixteen Cakes Flavor Choices:What they say about the birthday girl?

Vanilla
You are a traditionalist and you love simplicity.  Vanilla is a very versatile flavor and pairs well with fillings and different types of frosting.

Chocolate
You like the richer things in life.  Chocolate is bold and flamboyant and makes you interesting to watch.  A girl can never be too rich or have too much chocolate!

Carrot Cake
Your personality is multi-dimensional and you like your life with textures and variety. Carrot cake is spicy, good for you, fresh and adventurous.

Angel Food Cake
You like to have fun!  Angel food cake is light and airy.  It allows you and your guests to enjoy the cake and then get right back to celebrating you.

 Lemon
You are bright and full of energy!  Your friends are drawn to your sunny disposition and great personality.  You don’t take life too seriously, yet you are sharp and on the ball.

LemonOrange
Orange cake is exotic, warm and welcoming.  It is the perfect pick-me-up to keep your guests going all night long.  Orange cake says you are a leader and are willing to take risks.

LemonStrawberry
Next to diamonds, strawberries can be a girl’s best friend!  Strawberries are full of flavor, luscious and fun.  A strawberry cake says that you are fun to be with and you are not afraid to show off.

LemonIce Cream
Ice cream is everybody’s favorite!  An ice cream cake shows that you are not afraid to get messy!  You are a trendsetter and your friends are right there with you.

Go to your favorite bakery and tell them what you have in mind for your party.  They will be glad to work on your perfect Sweet Sixteen cakes and make it easy for you to finalize your decisions.  For cost, a good rule of thumb is $4-$8 per person.  The sweet sixteen cakes are the centerpiece of your party decorations.

The sweet sixteen party theme should be personal and a good representation of the honoree. Choose a party theme that reflects the birthday girl’s unique personality: fun and quirky, mysterious, spontaneous…maybe even flirty. Following are a few suggestions:

Sweet Sixteen Party Theme Cool Ideas

Sweet Sixteen Party Theme#1: Dance Party

This is probably the most popular party theme and very easy to do. The right DJ will be able to keep the party going all night long. Try to find one who specializes in sweet sixteen parties with lights, games and contests. If a DJ is out of your budget range, set up a CD player in the living room and ask your friends to bring their favorite CDs to play. Ask a friend to be in charge of selecting CDs and changing them out as necessary.

Set up your own contests: limbo, couple’s competition, most original dancer, etc. Have a few inexpensive prizes on hand like candy, a CD, a small gift certificate to a music store, or a gift certificate for McDonald’s or Starbucks.

Sweet Sixteen Party Theme#2: Outdoor Movie Party

This is one of my favorites. If the weather is nice, plan an outdoor party and watch a movie together. All of the equipment you need can be rented, including a massive screen in your backyard or by the pool. Set up charades before the movie and see if anyone can guess which movie you are going to see. Afterwards put on some music and hit the munchies! Serve movie theater style popcorn, Milk Duds, Twizzlers, Raisinets, or your favorite movie candy.

Sweet Sixteen Party Theme#3: Roller Skating/Ice Skating Party

Choose a skating rink that offers party packages and most of the work is done for you. You just need to send out the invitations, select the food and drinks and bring party favors. If you don’t like being the center of attention the whole night, then this is the party for you. There will be plenty of activity to focus on and your outgoing guests can carry the entertainment. For your guests that need encouragement to join in the party, this is a great activity.

Sweet Sixteen Party Theme#4: Scavenger Hunt

Surprise the birthday girl and set up a scavenger hunt! Pick out a few local spots around your town– the Sonic drive-in, the library, tennis courts, neighborhood parks and familiar buildings. Place an envelope at each location with a slip of paper containing the clue to the next location.

Set up teams and a responsible driver for each team and get some adults to volunteer and drive. Each location could be related to something that the birthday girl likes, or that reminds you of them. You can also do photo or video hunts to add variety. Make the most of it whatever sweet sixteen party theme that you decide on.

Also see…

Masquerade Party Theme

Luau Party Ideas for Sweet 16

Sweet Sixteen Party Favors Ideas

Sweet Sixteen Party Favors # 1 : Photo Lollipops

Photo  lollipops have the birthday girl’s picture on them. Find a company on the internet and order the lollipops about a month in advance so you are sure to get them in time for the party.

Sweet Sixteen Party Favors # 2: Custom Sticky Notes

Special sticky notes, printed with fun, teenager type themes, music, trivia, etc. are good party favors.  They are great for putting into purses and grabbing when your guests need to write down a cell number or a quick message.

Happy Birthday Pencils are fun, too.  You can order in bulk from places like Oriental Trading Company.  Take 4-5 pencils and tie them together with some pretty satin ribbon and then add some paper wrapped candies on the ends of the ribbon; tie the candies with the ribbon and let them hang down for added decoration.

 Sweet Sixteen Party Favors # 4: Candies

Purchase small cloth bags from a craft store and fill them with candy coins or mixed chocolate candies like mini Snickers, Milky Ways, or Kit-Kat bars.

Sweet Sixteen Party Favors # 5: Noise Makers

They may be cool teenagers, but they still love to make noise.  Grab a few bags at the party store and hand them out to your guests as they arrive to celebrate.

Sweet Sixteen Party Favors # 6: Bubble Makers

Bubblesare always fun and set the party mood.

 These are just a few of my suggestions.  Take the ideas and embellish them any way you want.  Ask the birthday girl for ideas on what her friends would think are cool sweet sixteen party favors.  Maybe find out what kind of favors were given at the last party she attended and then put your own special spin on it.

Quinceanera, or 15th Birthday, is a celebration of the transition from childhood to womanhood in the Hispanic community. It is a cross between the Sweet Sixteen Birthday and a debutanteís coming out party. A special thanksgiving Mass, a Misa de accion de gracias, is the most important part of the celebration. The birthday girl wears a frilly, fancy full-length dress and matching hat or headdress. Accompanied by her parents and grandparents, or godparents, she is seated at the foot of the altar throughout the service. Often, she is accompanied by up to seven damas (maids of honor), and chamberlains chosen from friends and family alike.

Following the mass, younger sisters, cousins and friends pass out commemorative favors to the attendees with the quinceanera deposits her bouquet on the altar. Traditionally, the quinceanera has the option of continuing the celebration with either a viaje (journey) or a fiesta birthday bash. In the past, most young women chose a trip to Paris or Europe in general, but today a party with a live band is the norm. The extravagance of the party is dependent on the parents and grandparents. The celebration could be held in a leased banquet hall, or under an awning with folding chairs and tables set up for the guests.

Much like the Sweet Sixteenth Birthday party, there is a special dress, music, cake and party favors. Another highlight is when the birthday girl and her escort dance to a traditional waltz. There is a customary toast and the cutting of a multi-tiered birthday cake. The quinceanera is a celebration of the rites of passage that keep the bonds of the Mexican family firmly grounded.

Quinceanera Planning Tips

To plan a Quinceanera, you will need to prepare a to-do list with your birthday girl to find out what would make the event special to her. She has waited 14 years for this moment and making the party special for her is what young dreams are made of. Listen carefully and thoughtfully to her ideas. Allow her to choose the music for the special waltz and help in the selection of the food. Set up a reasonable budget so that you are not overly stressed, and stick with it.

Luau Birthday Party Ideas

Luau Party Invitations

A luau is all about the food, the drinks, and having fun. Get creative with the invitations. Pre-made invitations are easy to find at the card store or you can simply order them online. You can choose to make your own invitations with construction paper, or card stock and a simple computer program.If your party is a bit more elaborate, you can special order invitations online. You can even make this an annual event for your closest friends to celebrate a sixteenth birthday, a promotion, a graduation, or even a back-to-school celebration for parents!

Luau Party Attire

Send a flower hair comb for the ladies you invite and a flower wrist bracelet for the men. Tell the guests that they must wear the enclosed gifts somewhere on their bodies when they attend the party. Also tell them to wear ugly Hawaiian shirts, floral mu-mus or sun dresses, or for the daring party attendee:  a grass skirt and bikini top.

Luau Party Decorations

Decorations of tiki lights, inflatable parrots and palm trees and white Christmas lights will light up your entry way and let guests know that this is going to be a luau to remember. Party supply stores online (and locally) have all sorts of luau paper plates, napkins, table cloths, banners, and centerpieces.

Luau Party Foods

Finger foods are great for luaus. Ham sandwiches, pineapple-strawberry-kiwi fruit kabobs, chips, veggie trays and fondue are all yummy ideas. Decide ahead of time if this is an all adult party, or if it will be kid-friendly. (Pina Coladas and daquiris, with or without alcohol)  Celebrate indoors or out. Have a great time with friends and do the limbo, Mon! A sweet sixteen luau party is sure to be memorable.

The Sweet Sixteen Party can be one of the social events of a young woman’s life.  (No pressure, mom and dad!) Once you have decided on the theme of the party, the budget, the entertainment, and the guest list, you will need to take a look at invitations.  Depending on your pre-determined budget, you can order elaborately designed invitations, middle-of-the road-budget-friendly invitations, or even creative and thoughtfully designed home engineered invitations.  Talk it over with the birthday girl and decide what you can both be happy with.

Creating Sweet Sixteen Party Invitations

If you decide to go the home engineered route, you can purchase card stock at Wal-Mart, Target, Office Depot, Office Max, etc.  There are several computer programs that will print the invitations out for you, and these are fairly inexpensive– on average about $25.  Make sure that you have plenty of ink cartridges on hand and all necessary supplies prior to starting your printing press.  You can also get multicolored construction paper and design cool invitations by hand or with the computer programs.

You can make a trip to a local crafts store to pick up lots of glitter, pretty stones, feathers, pre-made stickers, and colored markers or pens.  Have an Invitation Making Party with the birthday girl and some of her friends.  Serve pizza and tell them to enjoy while you relax on the sofa with a great old movie.

There are a numerous companies online that can provide unique and personalized sweet sixteen party invitations, for that extra special touch.  Just remember to order the invitations two months prior to the party and order a few extras just in case you need them.  Look at the online selections with your girl and make a joint decision.  You can even opt for a personalized name and photo on the cover.

Props can be used along with invitations as well.  You might attach a card detailing the who, what, when and where to a pair of sunglasses picked up from a discount store; you could include a silk flower, a plastic tiara, an inflatable lifesaver ring — even mardi gras beads.  Let your imagination run wild and have fun preparing your sweet sixteen party invitations.

Sweet sixteen party traditions originated in England during the 17th century when young women were presented to the royal court for the first time as women and possible brides for men of power. Giving Children of Hope says it originated from debutant balls, which comes from the “French word (debuter: to begin) and English tradition, and marks the transformation from girl to woman, from student to member of society. The debut is also a chance for society to share its pride in its young ladies of late-high school and early-college age, and its pleasure at having them enter into community service.”

A Closer Look at Sweet Sixteen Party Traditions

A sweet sixteen party is the perfect time for traditions. Maybe you have some that have been passed down through your family, or maybe you are looking for new traditions to start. For a bit of history, the term sweet sixteen has been in use at least since 1597. The sweet sixteen birthday parties have been held since 1765. That is a long time for many traditions to develop. The following is a list of traditions that can be incorporated into any sweet sixteen party ideas that you may be planning:

Sweet Sixteen Party Traditions

The Father-Daughter Dance

This tradition is also frequently performed at most weddings. Have the birthday girl choose a song that is special to her and her dad ñ maybe there is a favorite childhood memory attached and mom could tell that story and introduce them onto the dance floor.

Shoe Ceremony

This is like a Cinderella moment for the birthday girl. Sit the honoree in a chair while her grandfather, uncle, godfather, or father approaches her with high heels on a decorative pillow. Traditionally, she should be wearing flat shoes, and her father ceremoniously helps her into her new high heels. This is a symbolic transitioning from childhood into womanhood.

Tiara Ceremony

This one is similar to the Shoe Ceremony, except the father/grandfather brings a tiara instead of shoes. The tiara is placed upon her head to symbolize her becoming a woman. This tradition could be combined with the Shoe Ceremony with mom bringing high heels on a pillow and dad bringing the tiara on another pillow.

Candle-Lighting Ceremony

Choose 16 tapers to set out on a table in pretty votive cups. The birthday girl could light her first candle from one large candle that symbolizes her parents or family. The first candle is for the girl’s parents. The second candle is for brothers and sisters. If she is an only child, then this candle can represent her grandparents. Candles 3, 4, 5 and 6 are for the remaining family friends. At any time the honoree can tell a story about the individual she is lighting a candle for, or say why they are special to her. Candles 7-14 are for special friends. Candle 15 is for her best friend. The 16th candle is reserved for a significant male, such as a boyfriend or very good friend. A 17th candle could be added to represent good luck.

These are just a few suggestions to get you started on great sweet sixteen party  ideas,  and whatever sweet sixteen party traditions you may choose,  just enjoy!

Boys??!!  Yes, boys have sixteenth birthdays, too.  Most red-blooded American young men will tell you that Sweet Sixteen parties ideas are strictly for girls, and they would much rather have a really great present.  Translation? That would be a car.  Or at the very least, a boy-toy.

Sixteen-year-old boys/men are transitioning as well.  Seemingly overnight they go from little boys to young men with responsibilities.  He usually has a job or is looking for one, a new driver’s license and insurance, and is making plans for his future education.  He probably has a girlfriend, or has been eyeing one girl in particular and is planning to ask her out as soon as the butterflies stop messing with his stomach.

Sweet 16 Ideas for Boys

 Sixteen-year-old boys are INVITED to Sweet Sixteen parties and are happy to go to those.  After all, there will be sixteen-year-old girls there! Hubba-hubba! Or whatever the guys say nowadays.  (Smile)  Don’t worry that your son will feel cheated out of not having a specifically designated Sweet Sixteen party. Following are a few ideas to get you started on celebrating your son, grandson, or nephew’s sixteenth birthday: