As your child grows and reaches the teenage years, it may seem hard to find things in common. When they were younger, you held gatherings almost every day for them and their friends, supplying food, movies, and fun. But now, it may seem hard to coordinate between busy schedules and not wanting to make it a “kiddie” party either.
Entertaining Teens
It may seem like a Herculean task in keeping teenagers happy and entertained, but it is possible! You may feel the urge to simply let everyone look at their phones, but don’t fret. Teenagers today are especially craving some social interactions after the last few years, and making memories. You can keep the decorations less cutesy and even less elaborate than you might usually do, just to keep the ambiance more laid back. You can choose to theme it from popular movies or TV shows of the macabre, or just with the basic ghosts, witches and pumpkins motif. Teens are especially interested in more and more of 80s pop culture, so you can go with Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, or more to decorate your home just right.
When picking activities, your teen may have to help narrow down some of the choices to best fit their friend’s personalities. Having as many games on hand to play at any given time can make the party a lot smoother, but it’s entirely up to you! There are card games, board games, and bingo that can entertain teens, as well as spooky movie marathons. Depending on how elaborate you want to get, you can even turn your home into a haunted house! You can also hold a murder mystery game, where someone in the room gets “murdered” and someone else is the “murderer” – everyone has to put together the clues to find out who! And what Halloween party wouldn’t be complete without a costume contest?
Feeding Teens
Since this party is for older children, you can really show your culinary talents in the spooky realm! You won’t have to worry about grossing out teens with these creative and fun food ideas. You can utilize hot dogs to look like severed fingers, or wrap them in dough to make hot dog mummies. You can use olives for savory foods or Milk Duds to create spiders on foods, such as olive spiders on deviled eggs or Milk Dud spiders on top of a cookie or bread. You can make garlic bread or knots into caterpillars and spiders, or make a cheese ball into the shape of a rat, or even Frankenstein sushi!
The possibilities are endless when it comes to entertaining teens this spooky season. Don’t be intimidated by the task as most teens will be excited to spend time together and relax.
Katie Kyzivat