It's Their Party, But You'll Cry If You Want To

Reader Joy asks, "Please help with party ideas for my boy/girl twins, who will be turning 11 in January. We'll probably have bad, cold weather here in RI.  Neither child is into sports, and I need something appealing to both boys and girls. And to top it off, the children want the party at our home. I have no idea what to do to entertain these kids that won't involve destroying our home. HELP!!!"

Ah, the tween years are tough. And you've just upped the ante with boy/girl twins, which means two completely different groups of interests. This query gets the official Evite E-gads! Award.

But have no fear: We have a few tricks up our sleeves. Wonder Twin party ideas ACTIVATE!!—after the jump …

1) Do not … I repeat, do not, host the party at Hooters.

2) You mentioned that your kids want to have the party at home, but you might still want to look into a local attraction that would be both gender neutral and affordable, such as an aquarium or science museum that might do low-cost group parties with a little presentation of some sort (touching starfish, magnetically standing the kids' hair up on end, etc.).

3) According to my 11-year-old little man on the street (read: my nephew, T.J.), at this magical age, boys and girls generally still find each other … well, kinda stupid. This means there's not gonna be a whole heck of a lot of crossover in activities that'll please both. So, if you do keep the festivities at home, don't rule out the ol' divide and conquer. Dad can chaperone the boys in one part of the house and play video games, foosball, or even a game of kickball outside if the weather isn't too prohibitive, while Mom can oversee the girls, playing the video games they like, or dancing, or exchanging manicures while rocking out to Rihanna tunes, -ella, -ella, ay, ay, etc. That way, you've got two parties in one, but it's still fairly manageable and the food/cake/favors/decorations can all be shared.

4) If that's not manageable for whatever reason, all hope is not lost. Everyone can still have a lot of fun, but it'll take a little homework and prep work on your part. Think game show. Everyone loves a little competition, and if it's a program all the kids know and like already from TV, all the better. Who wouldn't want a shot at pretending to hit it big on a game show? I often play Password at home with my cats. (Me: Baaark??? Them: Meow. Ding!) But I digress.

Some game show suggestions:

• Deal or No Deal. Depending on how many kids are coming over, take some heavy construction paper or cardboard and write different amounts of money on the back. Pick 10, 15 or however many kids you need to line up and hold the numbered cards, and take turns playing rounds of the popular show. (Bonus: No annoying Howie Mandel!) One of the parents can be the banker, so it's easy for them to run inside to fix drinks, put the candles in the cake, etc. Different prizes can be handed out depending on what "amount" the kids settle on for their "deals."

• Win, Lose, or Draw. Or, Pictionary for crowds. Two big erasable boards (or pads on easels) and a timer are all you need to pull off this fast-paced and fun crowdpleaser. (Vicki Lawrence sold separately.) Spend 15 minutes with your spouse and come up with a slew of fun, age appropriate things for the kids to draw to last multiple rounds. Divide the kids up into groups of two, three or four, and have a little competition.

You can really make a party game out of most game shows if you just get a little resourceful. And you may want to have two or three games ready to go, depending on how long the party is going to be. You could certainly create in-your-home makeshift versions of The Price Is Right, Match Game, Lingo, Whose Line Is It, Anyway?, and — hello?!? — how much fun would it be to pull off Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Update it to whatever grade your kids are in, have them do all the work coming up with the questions, and then have you and your husband both put to the test. Nothing will bring a group of prepubescent tweens together quicker than a little parental humiliation.

At the end of the day, it's your kids' birthday party: Take one for the team! Might as well have fun with it.

Have fun.

Comments

Let them have a sleep over with 2 friends (per person) of course take the 6 kids to an arcade that sells food i.e. Dave and Busters (do you have that in RI?) They'll run around and play all evening long...if they're into video games take them to block buster and rent some video games for them to play when you guys return from that outing and the next morning send them HOME!

if this doesn't cut it...hire a local DJ and have a house party in the basement of your home (if you have a basement) and let the boys give out invitations...party city has the best invitations ever!

Last Resort...if all else fails...get two rooms at a hotel with a pool let the kids sleep in one room and you sleep in the other...they can invite a couple friends over with them to have a mini indoor pool party!!!!!

You could rent a bouncer and have them invite friends from school or the neighborhood. That way they all stay bouncing and having a good time, away from the house that is. It worked great for my daughters party. If its too cold, Id think about a slumber party or try and incorporate a scavenger hunt for them and a few friends each, Good luck!

Set up your home like a movie theater and show a double feature (think: Twins, Escape to Witch Mountain, The Parent Trap, New York Minute, Stuck on You, Twin Sitters). Send out ticket-stub invitations, and have the parents act as ushers when guests arrive. For decorations, you can hang up movie posters; put a star on the bathroom door and call it the dressing room. Set up a concession stand that has flavored popcorn (you can get theatre popcorn bags at party stores), mini candy bars, and drinks (rootbeer floats!). Before the movie starts, ask trivia questions like the ones that flash on the screen before the previews and hand out prizes.

I really like the idea for the "twin" movie night. Most kids enjoy just hanging out at this age so I would suggest game night. You might condiser board games, games that also requre movement like Twister and the Wii game system. Compitition is fun as long as there is escape time for the two groups.
Hope the weather is good that night!

How about investing in a Wii and having the bowling, golf, boxing, tennis tournaments? Then give prizes according to game.

The absolute best party I ever hosted was for my 2 daughters when they turned 10 and 14. They were each allowed to invite up to 10 guests and we had food together (snacks, cake and ice cream) but the rest of the party was divided into areas. We have a smallish house, but it does have 3 levels so we had the teens in the unfinished basement family room playing games and the 10 year olds upstairs playing games (Twister, the human knot, ...)Another mom and I supervised the 10 year olds and my husband and another dad were downstairs. We came together to sing happy birthday, open gifts and have cake and ice cream. Then we ALL watched a movie together - I think it was Freaky Friday. My girls LOVED the separate/together party.

Most successful party I had for my kids was a hobo party. Each child had a stick and lunch wrapped in a hanky - including me and then I took them on a short train trip -- from Kitchener, Ont to Guelph, Ont. My husband met us at the other end to take us back to the house for cake and gift opening. For some kids - it was their first time on a train.

I took my daughter and her friends to the mall and had a scavinger hunt. I cleared it with the mall first. Ex. find a red shoe. Answer: could be someone walking by, or the shoe store, use the cell phone camera to verify. ex. ask a stranger to pose with your group while your adult chaperone takes the picture ex. stand like a statue in the store window have the adult outside and she what kind of response you get. The kids had a great time with this. I blindfolded them and had them walk backward. One of the smoothie places gave them free small smoothies when they went up and sang the little smoothie song I wrote. They ate at the foodcourt and opened gifts there too. Many parents stayed and of course each group of kids had an adult chaperone.
Have fun.

Just give em cake and ice cream and lots of sugar, theyll be happy