A couple of weeks ago my daughter approached me about having a “End of the School Year” party. As I sunk back in my recliner, my eyes glazed over, I began experiencing a really vivid flash back from parties long ago. As I came to, wiping the sweat from my brow, I asked “What kind of party?” For those of you with kids in their late teens, you can probably relate to the thoughts flowing through my brain at warp speed. “I don’t know, just a party” she so innocently replied.

I don’t know about you guys, but the kind of parties I went to at 17 were not gonna be happening at my house! I remember (or not) grain punch-fruit filled coolers, beer bongs and no parents. In my day, if I told 2 guys I’m having a party, 100 people would show up with a band in tow. So, I was fully prepared to reject my daughters invitation to pay for a night out on the town in exchange for full run of our house. Didn’t happen. She explained that she wanted to invite 30 of her closet friends (my words). She promised there would be no alcohol and you won’t believe this one, she asked if I would cook on the grill. So, “You want us here?”, I said. “Yes”, she replied. Now this is where my suspicions began to run wild. I felt like I had a text book case of Max Horkheimer’s reverse psychology being played on me. Not so.

My daughter took the bull by the horns so to speak. She made all the invitations, picked out a Hawaiian theme, planned the menu, picked the music and helped clean up the house and yard. I will have to say I was totally impressed.

One thing my daughter did that I was not in agreement with was to make the party from 3:00 PM till 10:00 PM. I thought to myself how in the world are we going to entertain thirty 17 year olds for 7 hours? Again my daughter one upped me, she new that some of her friends were at the beach in a sand soccer tournament and couldn’t come over until 6:00PM. Some had to work and didn’t get off until 9:00PM or 10:00PM. Some would come over at 3:00PM and would be leaving by 7:00PM. So the outcome was a nice steady flow of kids all day long. The only negative to this was the 100+ degree temperatures I had to sustain ALL DAY LONG while cooking on the grill! No kidding, we beat a 100 year temperature record on Saturday!

The Menu

We kept it simple, we had hamburgers and hot dogs, baked beans, chips and dip, my now famous Pasta Salad and fresh Pineapple.

Drinks

Of course we had plenty of soda, bottled water and my wife made virgin Pina Coladas and Margaritas (huge hits)

Suggested Activities

• Number one on the teen list seemed to be music. We made a play list of MP3’s and had continuous music.
• Water balloon fights were extremely popular
• Basketball was very popular
• Swimming
• Soccer
• Horse shoes
• Volley Ball

So everything ended up working out just fine. All the kids seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. One of the biggest hits at the party was also one of the cheapest. Water balloons! Who knew a group of teens would have so much fun pelting the hell out of each other with ice cold water balloons? Of course the extreme heat of the day played a big part, I’m sure. On a humorous note, while I was cooking on the grill I overheard one of the guys talking on his cell. He was giving a rundown of who was here, she is and he is and some old people! Ha! If that doesn’t make you feel old, I don’t know what does!

A note about venue: If you are not comfortable having a party at your home or you do not have the space, Recreation facilities, either indoor or outdoor can usually be rented very reasonably. Our kids have been to many parties over the years at different rec centers.

I hope this has been helpful, I know I was nervous about the whole thing right up until show time. We had not had any parties this large since girl scout sleepovers and even they were not this large. My advice, if your kid wants a party, go for it! Lay down the ground rules up front, involve your kid in the planning and have a blast!

My only regret, is not taking pictures like I usually do. I was busy cooking and talking and got totally side tracked. Normally I would have dozens of pictures to choose from. Here are a few that I did manage to take.

The first party goers play some b-ball

Missy, super dog!

Chillin in the pool, current temp 100 degrees!

Preparing for another water balloon fight.

Hanging out late night.

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