Birthday Party for a 13 Year Old Boy. Help!

Have it at a community pool, Bowling alley, or ask him what he thinks would be a great b-day party and go from there.

You could take them to a roller rink or ice skating rink. That is always fun. How about a bowling party??

Have you given thought to something active like bowling or a swim party at the Y? I know my kids all love to do things like that - and there is little you then have to do for prep work. :-)

good Luck!

We just had our son's 13th this November. We did it at home. We did the "corny" stuff because he hadn't in a long time. I just tweaked it to Jr. High humor. We had the party in our garage. He invited both girls and boys, and we had another set of parents help us chaperone. They knew they would not be left unsupervised! Anyway, we did musical chairs; only I used their music and instead of grouping the chairs I left them around the tables and they had to move all around the garage. We split up into 3 teams and I gave out finger paint and confetti. They had a theme and the winning team got full size Snickers bars. Then they played hide and seed (at their request) in the dark for about 40 minutes. We had no problem hearing them. Then we ate. The last thing we did was a pinata. I wasn't sure how it would go over, but other parents came back and told me how much fun their particular child had. I personally have never laughed so much. But no matter what you do, have fun!
B.

i was searching for ideas for sons 10 birthday and saw your question . I recently threw my 14yr old girl a party that was a hit.depending on access to a place to have it. myself i had mine on basket ball court outside, anyway I rented lights and set some speakers out and like magic the basket ball concrete slab was dance floor. I had subway make party sandwiches the whole thing ran about 150 maybe less the idea was to mimic a dance club with the laser lights, fog machine ect. it was very cool

What about a skating party or a bowling party?

Hi. For my boys (who are now in their 20's)we always let them decide; I'm a cake decorator so they would decide on what cake they wanted for that year and then they would decide if they wanted something at the house or Craig's Crusiers or wherever and who they wanted there and we would go from there...
A lot of the time the boys just wanted pizza and then cake and ice cream and the desired guest list.... We always had a set idea of how much the budget was and if it was "going overboard" a bit then we would let them know to take "it down a notch"
It always worked out great
(and now I'm getting to help plan by nephew's birthday's! The younger one turns 1 yr. old next month and his older twin brother's will be 7 this summer!)

We took our son and 5 friends to Craig's Cruisers for his 13th birthday.

zap zone, paridise park, whirly ball, lifetime fitness, livonia rec center, joe dumars field house. The kids will have a blast at any of these venues. Good Luck!!

Ask him what he would like.
Take a bunch of kids to a movie and pizza after,
paint ball party
Laser tag
Joe Dumars....
big sleep over, (not mixed company)

I had a birthday party for my 14 year old and he is very into video games. This is an idea anyway if your son likes video games. I rented the clubhouse where we live, just a small kitchen, living room area with big screen TV and dining area with TV. We brought a TV also. We hooked up a game cube on one tv (borrowed) and a Wii on the big screen tv (rented) and had the third TV on with regular TV. There was about 6 boys and they all took turns playing the differnt games, (two people per game system) and they decided when they wanted a break to eat, and had cake and icecream at the end. I had sloppy joes in a crock pot, chips (two kinds), and vegtables and dip, of course cake and ice cream too. Easy party to have and maintain (very disposable atoo and easy clean-up) and all the boys went home saying this was the best birthday party ever. My son wants to do it again that way next year too. Good luck and have fun!

13yr olds are having reception hall parties now - wow! I would think a better option would be something that would be entertaining for them and their friends, like one of those ZapZone laser tag places...a paint ball place, a bowling alley party, maybe Dave and Busters with all the video game type stuff, or does he like sports? When is his birthday, maybe even getting a group to go to a minor league baseball game or I guess if you are willing to rent a reception hall maybe a suite at a sporting event would be comparable in price and even more fun for them and food would be included. I think a party that surrounds some type of activity that suites your son's personality would be the most fun for him and memorable. Good luck with everything!

We had 14 boys and I made "Minute-to-Win-It" games...easy ideas online! I bought a variety of prizes (mostly sports themed) - lanyards, pencils, water bottles, wall clings, flashlights, etc. I had about 6 adults helping with the game tables. The kids & their parents all said it was the BEST party ever!!! They flocked to the prize basket like it was a feeding frenzy, it was hysterical. Everyone LOVED it. I didn't spend a lot of money, just use your imagination while shopping and you will find all kinds of small items for prizes. Anything competitive, they love it and boys & girls can both do it, we just did all boys because of the amount on his football team.

Hello there - my eldest son was 14 last June. Things I have done in recent years - have a crowd of friends round (provide pizza, cake etc) and let them play Guitar Hero or whatever. Or get a choice of DVDs and let them watch one after they've hung out for a bit (can be girls and boys or just boys). Or take a crowd of friends to a movie, or go bowling. Have fun! - Alison

I would ask him. In Grand Rapids we have a place called Craig's Cruisers. It has some arcade games, go cart track, laser tag, things that older kids would enjoy more than my little ones. They also have private party rooms (or at least they used to). If you have something around like that, it might be enjoyed by kids his age. However, he may have some ideas of his own.

For my daughter's 13th, I hired a limo, had him pick her up then pick up all the friends on her guest list...and then drive around for a while. The limo company provided snacks and soft drinks. All the girls thought this was pretty cool. I had them all dropped off at my house, for video games, movies, more snacks and a sleep over. Depending on how long you rent the limo...this should fall fairly easily into anyones budget. Of course, if the budget is more along the lines of "the sky's limit"...you could drop all kids off at a hotel for some swimming, a night out...ect.

What's he like? For instance, on my one son's 12th birthday, knowing what his passion was for Lamborghinis, we blindfolded him and drove to the east side to a Lamborghini dealer and had arranged for him to sit inside one. A Diablo. It was a real rush for him.

So tune in to his likes and dislikes and connect him with it in a surprising way.

OR, just take him to a restaurant that has great food and when it's your birthday they REALLY make it fun. Joe's Crab Shack. We took my youngest there 2 years in a row and it's always such a lot of fun.

One of the coolest parties we ever did involved a tour or Camp Randal Stadium at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It is free to arrange for a tour. I would think that other universities would do something similar. We got to go though the different suits, the visiting locker room, and it concluded with the kids getting to run down the ramp onto the field. The boys thought it was soooo cool. One boy (who is generally kind of a snot) looked at me and said, "thank you so much for inviting me, this is the coolest party I have ever been to". We had the kids meet at our house and drove to the university. We did the cake and gifts when we came back. I bought $3 rubber footballs from Wal-mart as the party favors and the kids played catch etc. until the parents arrived. It was one of the least expensive parties and yet a huge hit!

13 has become our family version of sweet 16. We celebrate this age instead of the 16 party. For my daughter we had a Red/White party where everyone wore those colors....had a bartender (did tricks with the shaker)make Mocktails from a predetermined drink menu....we also had a DJ and a Rites of Passsage Ceremony where we (parents, granparents, godparents) spoke of her crossing from dependent childhood into semi- independent adolescence. Each of telling her of a characteristic we admire in her.

There is a place just off of M23 called "Challenge Zone" or something like that. I think they have zip lines, and climbing walls etc, that might be fun.

Ask him what he wants, he might just want some friends so spend the night, you could do game where they split in groups and go to the neighbors and collect stuff (what is that called?) and whichever team gets the stuff first wins.

All kids are different, he might not want a huge party, maybe he wants to take some friends to a hockey game (flint generals are pretty low cost compared to redwings that is.)

When my son was around that age, I had a b-day party for him at a lazer tag place. Him and his friends had a ball and it was something different and then maybe he can have some buddies sleep over as well. My house was trashed with all the boys but again he had alot of fun:) Hope this helps...Good luck!

We did a sliding party for our 13 year old. Boys always
have so much energy so this was LOVED but also took the
job of exercise. Afterwards we stopped to get food,
subway, mc d's.?? Whatever suits you.
We always remember the birthday.
L. from Alto

Dave & Busters, Laser Quest, Joe Dumars Field House www.joedumarsfieldhouse.com, bowling

We had a pool party at a local hotel. You should check and see if anything like that is available where you live. The hotel near us offered the party from 3:00-9:00 p.m. on Sundays thru Thursdays. We picked Sunday. It was $60 and $5 extra for every kid over a quantity of 5, I think. They had access to the pool, one suite for changing and watching tv, and access to the big screen movie room. We brought in pizza and pop and used the breakfast area for that and the cake and ice cream. Big hit, lots of fun.

Depends on your funds...my son is turning 16 this year. the past few birthdays we've had a hall party, with a DJ. We've rented a hotel room and had kids over to swim in the pool and rented a movie or the game system in the room. There is always laser tag or paintball (depending on what time of year) And he even let us get away with something easy one year...(well...easy on the checkbook) I think it was either his 12th or 13th...he had about 10 boys over, and they were all instructed to bring their nerf guns and "ammo"! They ran all over the house and outside shooting eachother with Nerf! it was hilarious! I was surprised that something so easy was one of his best parties.

How about taking a bunch of his friends to "Game Works!" At that age, after they have lunch, they can run wild with all the arcade games. Take your ear plugs though. The place is loud...bright...and memorable for a thirteen year olds party. He will be a hit with all his pals. Game Works is located in Great Lakes Crossing Mall in Auburn Hills

How about Wirly Ball? If you've never played, it's like bumper cars where you are on teams (kinda like basketball)and you drive with a scoop in your hand and you have to get a whiffle ball and make a basket. The trick is, people keep bumping into you and it's hard to do. It's a blast and kids of all ages love it. We've played with our family many times-with kids ages 7-70.