Candy Party -16yr- Church Scavenger Hunt

Of course I wanted something really special for my sweet 16 birthday party, and after many months of planning, I decided on a candy theme- sweet 16… literally!   

Date/Time: My party was in April, on a Saturday evening, starting at 7 and ending aroud 10.    Invitations: I made my own invitations. For the teens' invites, I designed them on the computer, printed them on cardstock, and put a bow on them by cutting 2 slits side-by side in the cardstock and threading the ribbon through. For the adults', I purchased fancy shaped blank cards and cut a piece of colorful striped paper to fit the inside, then printed the info. On a piece of vellum and attached it on top of the striped paper to the card with a decorative brad. {All the invites turned out oh-so-cute, and for a very small price!}   

Location: Our church allowed us to use the fellowship hall, so we had lots of space and tables.   

Guests: I invited all the teens at my church and other friends, some close relatives, and some adult friends at our church.   

Food: We just had snacky" finger foods chips and dip ice cream and cupcakes instead of a cake with bottled water and canned sodas to drink.   

Activities: After everyone had arrived and was seated at the tables I did a short candle dedication. I had a special tray of 16 cupcakes each one with its own candle and dedicated each of my 16 candles to a special person or couple who had/ has meant something to me in my life. {Many guests commented that it was very unique and touching.}

Then we ate and after that everyone divided into "boys" and "girls" teams for an outdoor scavenger hunt. It was dark by this time so we gave everyone some glow bracelets {a big hit} and dispersed a few flashlights. My parents had hidden some of my favorite items around the church property and the first team to follow the clues and find all the items won. The prize was a candy bar for every person on the team. We had set up a volleyball net woven christmas lights through the top of the net and painted a beachball with glow in the dark paint for outdoor volleyball in the dark after the scavenger hunt. We played for a while and then things were widing down and guests began leaving as they pleased. [Throughout the party I had a scrolling slideshow of pictures of me.]   

Decorations: My mom and I made all of the decorations ourselves. It saved us money we were able to have exactly the look we wanted and it was a lot of fun! : ) My colors were bright "candy" colors- hot pink lime green school bus yellow and turquoise. To set the theme as guests arrived I painted a large sign(made from 2 pieces of Gator Board attched end-to-end)with wide vertical stripes {like an old-fashioned candy shop} and cut out large "swirly" letters and glued them on to spell out "S W E E T". We hung this outside above the double doors with large white Christmas lights bordering the sign and the doors.

Then on the doors we hung a giant "1 6" that we had cut out of poster board. (We printed a '1' and a '6' on the computer cut them out and laid them on an overhead projector to blow up each letter the size of one sheet of poster board then traced around them and cut them out.) Inside to create square tables we put two long tables together to form a square table then arranged the square tables in the center of the room.

Each table was covered with a solid table cloth in one of the theme colors and each had a colorful ballon bouquet (with all the theme colors) in the center weighted down by either a large filled candy jar or a vase filled with candy and a single oversized silk brightly colored daisy. We also placed a few more balloon bouquets around the room. Since we were only using half the building we divided the room with streamers hung vertically from the ceiling to the floor spaced about 6" apart all the way across the room.

Above the large food table we hung giant hard candies made by cutting out a round disk from craft styrofoam (approx. a foot in diameter) and wrapping it with several layers of brigtly colored cellophane (hot glued to the foam) and securing the ends by twisting them (to make them look like a candy wrapper) and tying them tightly with fishing line. We then tied fishing line to one end of the "candy" and suspended it from the ceiling. Between the 4 giant candies we hung an oval sign reading "Molly's Sweet 16 Candy Shoppe". I made the sign by cutting a large oval from a piece of Gator Board painting wide veritcal stripes on it and tracing "swirly" letters onto the sign then filling them in with paint.

On the food table we used square chunks of styrofoam with colorful plastic table cloth pieces draped over them to elevate the diffent foods and decorative filled candy jars to different heights. The table's centerpiece was a large clear vase filled with colorful candies and a bouquet of colorful oversized silk daisies. We bought bright matching plastic bowls and trays at discount stores to hold the food and decorative cupcake towers to hold the cupcakes.

We wove a string of colored Christmas lights between the food platters and candy jars on the table and wrapped it loosely in tulle for a fancy effect and a soft glow. On a large shelf behind the table we placed more filled candy jars elevated at different heights interspersed with various pictures of me when I was younger in colorful frames.   

The party was super cute lots of fun for everyone and the total cost was under $250."