A Sweet Sixteen Party is sometimes a separate party scheduled apart from the smaller scale family birthday party for a sixteen year old girl. The Sweet 16 Party is meant to be a very memorable time to honor a girl's transitional year from teen to young adult. Here's a few tips:
1) You have two choices--with boys, or girls only. There are pros and cons to each. However, we recommend that the sweet sixteen party be girls only. Girls without guys can be freer, less anxious, less concerned about embarrassing themselves, less likely to get feelings hurt--and you KNOW how sensitive girls are at this age. However, your teen or her friends may INSIST on guys!
2) Make a guest list and determine, based on your family culture, whether to invite aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, and grandparents. And if you invite any of them decide carefully on who will be upset at ommission from the guest list. The same for friends. If you have a candlelighting ceremony you will be selecting 16 relatives and friends for this.
3) Find a place that will contain the crowd without excessive crowding! Take a look at our Locations for Parties listings.
4) Hire a DJ who has done plenty of Sweet Sixteens. Consult our DJ's here at 101Sweetsixteentips.com. A wedding specialist may not be the right person. You will want special lighting if you can afford it, such as strobes.
5) Choose invitations, and come up with decorations and party favors. Our Invitations and Shopping listings can help you out.
6) The candlelighting ceremony is a tradition that girls love. It's not absolutely necessary but increasing popular again. It's a ceremony that can be touching, funny, and wonderfully poignant. A candlelighting ceremony is a way to honor those guests that have made a difference in the celebrant's life.
Pick the most important 16 people in your life that are attending the party; people who have influenced you while growing up. If relatives and friends are invited, this list should include all grandparents, brothers, sisters, and parents or extended family. The list would then move on to important aunts and uncles, cousins, other family and friends.
Part of the ceremony is saying a little something about each person as you introduce them and call them up to light a candle. Write a paragraph or two about each or make it a poem. You may want to tell a favorite story or anecdote about something that happened to you, or you may want to mention your favorite things about that person.
Don't let this drag out or your guests will be bored and fidgeting. So keep it short and to the point, but entertaining if you can. We also suggest you do the candle lighting ceremony before dinner is served or between dinner and dessert. The longer you wait the more people beg some excuse to leave the party early.
Sometimes people play individually appropriate songs for each person lighting the candle.
7) Make sure your location will have a table available for the candles. Buy any kind of candles you want in any decorative but practical shape.
8) If you are having the party at home and it will include boys you might want to advise the neighbors that there will be noise and loud music.
