Pool Party -13yr- Sunglass Invitation

We wanted to make my daughter's 13th birthday party special, as after all, it was her first year being a teenager. My daughter and I had brainstormed ideas for a few days before we realized that we had a beautiful pool on the deck outside of our breakfast room. So a pool it was going to be!

First, my daughter made a list of everyone she wanted to invite. The list was composed of fifteen girls and fifteen boys who were aged 12-13 (with the exception of one 14 year old).

After the list was put together, we brainstormed INVITATION ideas as we wanted her party to be very special and unique. The invitations finally decided on was a pair of sunglasses with my daughters name (Catherine) printed where the designer logo would normally go. Each pair was black and on the inside of the lens, the location, time, date etc... was written. The sunglasses were specially made at a sunglasses manufacturer.

DECORATIONS included confetti on our outdoor eating table, balloons, streamers and other cheap and easy decorations which can be picked up at your local party store (We used Party Land).

ACTIVITIES and GAMES included Chicken, which was a big hit (we played boys vs girls), Marco Polo, Pool Volleyball, Pool Basketball, and other pool-based games. We also set up lounge chairs across the deck if you just wanted to relax and listen to the DJ.

No COSTUMES were required (except your bathing suit -- of course).

For PARTY SNACKS and BEVERAGES, I served Virgin Daiquiris, Virgin Margaritas (with sugar on the rim instead of salt), Virgin Pina Coladas, and soda(coke and sprite). Each beverage was served in a plastic cocktail glass with an umbrella, accept for the soda which was just served in a can.

For PARTY SNACKS we had pizza (both cheese and pepperoni to keep it simple), goldfish, potato chips, pretzels, fruit kabobs, and s'mores. Since the party was going until 10:30 PM, we all got out of the pool at 10:00 PM and roasted s'mores in a bonfire (check to see if your township allows these).

The party began at 6:00 PM so we didn't have cake until after dinner was served (at 7:00PM) and finished (the kids were done around 7:45PM).

The CAKE was an all-vanilla (my daughter is not a big fan of chocolate) double layered cake with pink frosting that read Happy Birthday Catherine!" in white letters.

Overall the party was a great success! We hosted it in August of 2007 and nearly a year later people are still talking about it!"