Everyone Will Rave over Your Sweet 16

There’s a fine line between a girl’s childhood and her ascent to womanhood and for most girls, this epic change is represented by her Sweet 16 party—at least in her eyes. The desire of these girls is to show to the world that they are now mature and ready to take on the world. It is also the reason why the sixteenth birthday is that much more important, especially if they have grow up in a household where everyone sees the birthday child as “the family’s little girl”.

Many sixteen-year-olds are still in their phase of rebellion and haven’t yet embraced their classier side, and rebelliousness won’t likely be toned down for milestone birthday party either. Instead of trying to hold these young adults back from developing into their “true selves”, aide them with finding a suitable party theme or idea that will fit his or her birthday wishes without being too over-the-top. Parties based on activities, like passes for a theme park for them and a few of their friends, or a group rafting trip would be good candidates. If you were thinking of having the birthday party at a venue, find out what themes the birthday gal might be interested in; perhaps a 80s rock theme or for a more risqué theme, try the Moulin Rouge. Unless you were lucky like me and had Denmark right around the corner where their drinking laws were a little more lenient, your options for inebriated fun at the tender age of sixteen will be very limited. That doesn’t mean you can’t still have an amazing party, though; there are tons of sweet 16 ideas to rummage through! (Alcohol is overrated anyway.) Regardless of the theme, there always is an appropriate outfit for all occasions!

A Sweet 16 Dress to Impress, Not to Try Hard

Showing that you’re all grown up obviously cannot only be shown by having a party, but it also needs to be clear in the theme of the party as well as one of the many dazzling sweet 16 dresses there are out there. In most cases, it’ll be difficult to convince dad to get you the dress that will show the world that you are, in fact, a lady! Fortunately for you (and him), mini skirts and short dresses are on their way out of being a hot fashion trend. Nowadays there is a wide range of chic, long and flowing Bohemian-inspired dresses as well as shorter, slimmer-fitting sparkling dresses inspired by formal wear. If all else fails, there are always the delicate princess-inspired dresses!

If I were to do my sixteenth birthday all over again, then I would go with a rave-inspired theme for its simplicity and wildness. If you’re like me and think that a rave-themed birthday would be good, cheap fun, then you could dress as simply as an all-white outfit; shorts and a t-shirt, even! If there is the off-chance that you will want to dress up since it is your special day, you can aim for a neon-colored dress complete with colorful, neon nails. To really stand out at the party, get glow-in-the-dark hair extensions or washable glow-in-the-dark hair dye. For a cheaper solution, there’s also glow-in-the-dark hairspray! Regardless of your personality or which of the sweet 16 themes you will have, there will be an appropriate, flattering sweet 16 dress to suit the occasion nicely without looking like you’re trying too hard to impress.

Having a Raving Sweet 16

While pondering over the various sweet 16 themes, I reached the conclusion that a rave-themed birthday is not only one of the most fun options out there, but it also won’t make your wallet much lighter. Not only inexpensive to host, but you really cannot go wrong with rave party decorating or planning. Whatever you do or choose to have as your party decor, make your decorations are black-light friendly, and suddenly your birthday party is rave-themed! This is only one party idea, but opens the door for many sweet 16 birthday ideas, and your number one best friends in this rave party planning process are glow sticks and glow-in-the-dark paint. Maybe even sidewalk chalk if you have a surface to scrawl on.

In terms of the party set-up, you could have tables set around for snacks and mingling, like most normal parties, but stick an LED light strip or a lamp underneath to light up the table cloth in a dark room! For centerpieces, you could get mason jars from your local dollar store, break open a glow stick and dump the contents into the jar. Shake the contents around and you suddenly have glow-in-the-dark jars—a perfect rave-party centerpiece as well as a conversation starter! Naturally, you could pour tonic water into your punch to make it glow or even add small glow sticks into each clear cup so that all of the drinks would glow regardless of their contents, or the immediate lighting.

Entertainment is a whole different playing field that you can toy around with for sweet 16 ideas. For simple entertainment, you could have glow-in-the-dark body paint available for the guests. For something a little less hands-on, how about a bubble blowing machine that blows bubbles mixed with more glow stick powder for glow-in-the-dark bubbles (not sure if this actually works, but could try it). For a messy, group game, have a game of Twister! You could rave it up by getting Twister-colored paint and mix it together with black-light friendly elements, then add a glop of paint to each circle; you could probably skip out on the body paint if you take this route. The best part is that these glow sticks are only a couple of dollars, so if you really wanted to, you could throw an extremely memorable sweet 16 almost for pocket change!

written by Rebecca, birthday December 3rd