If you have kids you know how important birthdays are. Not only do they bring the joy of receiving presents, they also help kids mark the occasion of growing a little bit older and closer to adulthood. Every year’s party is a bit different, while a two year old might be happy just smearing cake all over their face, a ten year old will be very focused on the quantity and quality of their birthday gifts, and by the time sweet sixteen rolls around it will be all about impressing the member of the opposite sex they are currently smitten with! Today we will focus on those notoriously hard to please pre-teens, the twelve year old kids, and consider how to throw them a birthday party to remember!
Location – This is a very important thing to consider for kids this age. Having a party at home is totally not an option, that’s for ‘little kids’, meaning those who are a year younger than twelve. On the other hand, they are also too old (and cool!) for goofy kiddy venues that feature talking mice and really bad pizza, no way! Most kids this age are into sports, so our top recommendation is to throw a gym birthday party that focuses on their sport of choice, which is usually soccer. Venues that specialize in sports-themed parties have a staff of fun coaches who oversee friendly matches between teams of birthday guests, giving the attending adults a chance to sit back and watch the game, while also having the advantage of tiring the young superstars out. Thank us later.
Food – Yes, please, and lots of it! Start with fairy bread as the appetiser. It’s best to just ask the birthday child what they want to eat for their special dinner, and try not to think about the processed meats and cheeses, and all the preservatives and colouring additives that probably go into them, just give up on that square health stuff for one day and go with the flow! Oh, and by the way, they want pizza, just not made by a talking mouse. Once again, do not attempt this at home, try to find a restaurant that’s not too fancy, but not too goofy, and has plenty of room for rambunctious kids to make a ruckus. Oh yeah, and cake!
Music – Wherever you end up holding the party, make sure to have a solid stereo system set up so the kids can groove to their favourite tunes while getting jacked up on all the sugary birthday treats! Don’t even think about trying to pick the music yourself, your music loving birthday child will simply hand you a ready made playlist on a USB drive, and all you have to do is plug and play! if you don’t know how to plug in a USB drive, don’t worry, there will be plenty of twelve year old kids in attendance who can help you. Don’t forget to give yourself a gift, a nice pair of earplugs!
Here are some more ideas about Australian birthday parties your kid probably won’t care about, they are twelve, after all! Too cool to be young, too cool to be old!
