Party Plans

Lyndsay was invited to a friend's 15th birthday party a few weeks ago. I was a little leery about the hours of the party (6pm-1am), but was told it was an "Armenian party", which means all the family comes, as well as the friends, and a big celebration ensues. I dropped Lyns off at 8pm, after she got off of work, and told her she needed to be home by 10:30pm. There was loud music, and boys. But no drinking. Of that, we made sure beforehand.

Her friend had invited about 50 friends. At first, the prospect of that many presents is very appealing to a 15 year old girl, but the reality of it quickly turned Lyns off. She had a decent enough time, but not so much that she wants to replicate the experience for her own upcoming birthday. The music was so loud, she said, that nobody could hear anybody, even if you were standing right next to each other. There was dancing, but not everyone danced. Those who didn't, basically just sat around by themselves. Not so much Lyndsay's kind of party. Things got a little rowdy. So much so, that this friend is not allowed to invite friends next year. "She ruined her Sweet 16!" Lyndsay lamented. (Gotta keep the boys away from girl parties! They ruin everything!)

People here in the Los Angeles area throw parties EXTREME. Even for little tiny kids, lots and lots of money is spent on birthday parties. Each year has to top the previous year, and that's got to be stressful, not to mention expensive. Fortunately, and I do mean fortunately, the budget for that kind of party has never even been an option, so on the years that I allow my kids to have a "friend party" (besides just a family party), we've done things very differently. We usually have some sort of theme (remember Dylan's 'Scary that he's a teenager' party?) and we usually have some sort of structured activity of sorts, so the kids aren't just left to 'hang out'. I'm not keen on teenagers "hanging out".

Well, this is the issue: We need to have a 15th birthday party for Lyndsay because this is the first year that she's been in school and had lots of friends that she really wants to invite over. We want to do some sort of really cool, teenage-girl approved craft as the activity. Have music playing, snack foods, some good laughs, and conversation. But we're stumped on the craft. It has to be cool. It has to be tempting. It can't be too expensive. And it should be complete-able within about 2 hours max. I've searched the web. There are some really retarded craft ideas on the web. Fo Sho.

Here are two that I've found and like, but knowing that the 50 of you that read my blog every day have heads better than mine, maybe you have some ideas too.

First, the heart necklace:


Then, the Bubblegum Slippers:


Or we could do a picture frame. Lyndsay made me a really cute one for Mother's Day that was easy and cheap. But please tell me your crafty ideas! I'm great at copying, not so good at invention. And don't say "make jewelry" or "dye a t-shirt." I need a link with a picture! :) Please help me!

Oh, and thanks a bunch.