If you’re a mom with a tween girl, you know that it’s hard to find birthday party ideas that are both age-appropriate and stylish. Gone are the days of cutesy parties for girls filled with princesses and unicorns. But she’s not quite ready for grown-up party themes either.
The solution? A tween inspired blue and purple birthday party! She’ll love the chic cool color palette, and you’ll love that the party won’t break the bank. Plus, we’ve put together some great ideas to share that won’t take months…or even weeks to pull together!
About the Party:
- What Was the Occasion? Birthday sleepover for a 10 year old
- How Many Guests Did You Have? 4 girls
- Where Was the Party Held? Our home’s basement level
Planning a Party in less than three days:
The most difficult part of this entire party was that my daughter just couldn’t come up with a theme, or any kind of direction to help prepare for her party.
Like many 10-year-olds, she doesn’t want to be treated like a little kid anymore, but she’s not quite ready to be grown up either.
For weeks I asked what she wanted, only to get an “I don’t know.” So three days before the party was scheduled to happen, I finally sat her down, asked a ton of questions, and used that time to sketch out some ideas based on that conversation.
It turns out, creating a visual representation of our ideas was just what she needed. She was happy with the plan, and I was happy to finally know what we needed to do to get things ready.
Blue and Purple Birthday Party Decorations
Now, I typically recommend only decorating one area for your party, just to avoid too much overwhelm. But for this party, I ended up decorating two separate areas…the game/dining table area and a small snack bar for the kids.
Makeshift Dining Area
We turned a corner of our basement into a makeshift dining area and game table for the girls.
- For seating, we covered the kids toy box and an Ikea coffee table with blankets. Add some pillows and voila! You have seating sturdy enough for kids.
- The table is no more than a folding card table covered with multiple layers – a white bedsheet to go to the floor, a blue plastic tablecloth (leftover from another party) to protect the bedsheet, and a piece of blue crushed velvet.
- Four bright blue fringe curtains, lined the wall on one side of the dining area with a simple banner and giant foil number balloons.
Floating Balloon Chandelier
One of my favorite parts of the whole setup was the balloon chandelier. I used monofilament and clear command hooks to hang the balloons from the ceiling so they looked like they were floating. Then I added a few tassel garlands to add a little bit more fun.
The Kids Table
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times…always look for ways that you can make one project work in multiple ways.
The centerpiece on our kids table is the perfect example. It looks like a simple stack of boxes, but it’s actually a stack of the party favors. No money wasted, and no need to create a separate display or storage area for the favors.
The Snack Bar
With only a couple days to prepare, there wasn’t really time for a lot of homemade party food. 😢
But, as I’ve said before, kids really don’t care about those things. So, we set up a small buffet table with some of the birthday girl’s favorite snacks:
- Cheese puffs
- Pretzel Sticks
- Popcorn
- Swedish Fish
- Berger cookies
I was so grateful to have this balloons and buntings party printables set on hand. It was the perfect way to add a last minute banner and buffet labels for our party.
Dessert Table Decorations
While I did order a set of paper fans to decorate the wall, the rest of the decorations here were all about using what we already had. Leftover gauzy fabric from my oldest’s mermaid birthday party, and my buntings and balloons party printables set were all we needed to add some color and fun to this space.
Party Activities and Games
The nice thing about this age range is that you no longer need to play cruise director and plan loads of structured party games.
Here’s what the girls did to keep busy during the party:
- Painted canvases
- Played card games (Taco vs Burrito was a favorite)
- Watched the birthday girl’s favorite movie, Castle of Cagliostro
Of course, they also did the most time honored sleepover tradition…they talked and giggled until the wee hours of the morning.
The Party Favors
With such a small group of guests, my daughter was able to personalize favor boxes for each of her friends. Most of it was Dollar Tree and Target finds, with some added homemade touches:
- Homemade sugar cookies, decorated by my daughter
- A small package of candy
- A small bath bomb
- Squishy toys
- Hair clips
See, there’s no need to overthink these things. These favors were basically a hodgepodge of random things that the birthday girl thought her friends would like. It was simple, sweet, and heartfelt…which pretty much makes the perfect party favor.
Blue and Purple Birthday Party Supplies
- Printable banner and labels
- Blue Fringe Curtain
- Giant number balloons
- Crushed velvet fabric
- Pearlized balloons
- Polka dot boxes
- Purple party decor set: paper fans, paper flowers, banner, and party circles
More Party Planning Resources:
- Decorating with Balloons without Helium
- How to make tissue paper pom poms (and when to buy instead!)
- How much food for a party is just right?
Now It’s Your Turn
I hope you enjoyed this simple party tour! Even though we had only a couple days to pull it off, I think things went pretty well. Let me know in the comments section what you think!
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