15th Birthday Party Ideas

Bring your teens face-to-face for a fantastic birthday party— one that will have them setting aside their cellphones long enough to create memories worthy of awesome snapchats and tweets! Browse this list of 15th birthday party ideas for inspiration on ways to rock the house or to simply enjoy chilling with each other.

Pokemon Go Party

Pokemon Go has taken the world by storm— especially the teenage set. Join the craze and celebrate your 15th birthday with Pokemon Go! Set a meeting place such as a public park where you know there will be tons of Pokemon to catch. Enjoy walking through the park catching Pokemon together. Either rent a pavilion at the park or head back home after the hunt to continue celebrating with yummy food and drinks. The circular Pokemon shapes provide some great food ideas such as turning a cheese pizza into a Pokeball by using black olives to form the line across the center and circle in the middle. Pepperoni slices form the red half of the ball while the white side remains cheese only. Decorate paper lanterns with Pokemon character faces and hang a Pokeball pinata— yes, even teens still love a pinata full of candy and trinkets! Play Pin the Tail on Pikachu, and if you’re feeling really creative, transform your birthday teen’s favorite character into a deliciously delightful birthday cake.

Tattoo Party

Temporary tattoo, that is! This 14th birthday party is sure to be a hit among the teens in your life. Whether you choose to use henna, air-brushing, or stick on decals, there are tons of options available and no limits to your creativity. Choose a party theme, such as “Morocco” or “Bollywood”, to give your 14th birthday party some flair. Gather decorations, like fairy lights, flower garlands, pom-poms, lots of cushions, candles, and lanterns. Hire a professional artist or have guests apply their own tattoos. If you opt for DIY application, henna kits are available at craft stores and often include a books with simple designs. Take it up a notch and get some body glitter and stone embellishments to add a special touch to the designs. Enhance the theme by decorating the birthday cake and cookies with intricate frosting designs. Music will help set the atmosphere, but make sure you enlist the help of your 14-year-old to make the music playlist. After everyone is inked, play the “pillow-passing” game, a more rewarding version of hot potato. Have guests sit in a circle and pass around a pillow or parcel with a gift inside. When the music stops, the person with the parcel unwraps the gift!

Black and White Party

There’s no “in-between” or shades of gray here! Everything from the color of your clothing to the food and decorations must be black or white. Go elegant and have guests arrive in black tie and white gowns or keep it casual with black or white jeans and t-shirts. Create a balloon entry archway with black an white balloons. For table centerpieces, place white roses in clear vases with black stones in the bottom. Or, place white chocolate candy on flat mirrors and sprinkle them with black and white confetti. Black bean dip and white tortilla chips will make a great black and white appetizer. For the main dish, serve pasta alfredo topped with blackened chicken. Make a half-chocolate and half-vanilla birthday cake or a black forest cake for the birthday honoree. For another tasty twist, serve chocolate and vanilla milkshakes— garnish each with a bite-sized Oreo cookie! Make your playlist ahead of time and include songs such as “Black or White” by Michael Jackson, “Men in Black” by Will Smith, “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” by KT Tunstall, “Fade to Black” by Metallica, “Black Magic Woman” by Santana, “White Liar” by Miranda Lambert and “White Wedding” by Billy Idol. As a party favor, give each of your guests a goodie bag filled with customized black and white M&Ms.

Beach Party

If your teen’s idea of a great time is spending a day a the beach, but you can’t get there, bring the beach to your backyard! Transform your yard into a sandy retreat by filling inflatable swimming pools with sand. Add some shells and hide some trinkets in the sand for a fun treasure hunt. Fill one pool with ice and drinks for a handy and refreshing treat. Set up a volleyball net for a game of beach volleyball, or create a game of bowling by using a coconut as the ball and colored water bottles as the pins. Fill beach buckets with a variety of snacks and use the shovels as serving spoons. Fill a clear glass fish bowl with Goldfish crackers for an edible decoration, and make sand dollar cookies by placing 5 sliced almonds in a circular, flower-like arrangement on top of sugar cookie dough before baking. Provide plenty of beach balls, and don’t forget the sunscreen and a water hose for keeping cool! Play lots of beach tunes and if your feeling extra-beachy, have a Carolina-inspired Shag dance contest!

Gamer Party

Invite your guests to get their GAME ON on for this unique birthday party experience! If your budget allows, hire a Game Truck to come to you and provide your eager group of gamers 90 minutes of uninterrupted gaming. Game Trucks even provide a gaming coach to be with your players the entire time to make sure that the boys are playing the games they want and to keep them safe on the truck throughout the party. Game characters provide ample ideas for decorations ranging from a PacMan brie cheese wheel to Space Invaders cupcakes! While the kids are on the Game Truck, offer the parents some video game themed snacks, such as Power-up Star fruit, Hothead Hummus, and Fire Flower Veggies. Use silicone ice cube trays to mold melted candy into little chocolate Wii remotes and top them with fondant Pacman and his ghost friends. Even boys love photo booths, so hang some fabric and use two light stands to create the backdrop. For another alternative, tape fabric or bulletin board paper to a wall. Remember to include plenty of props such as PacMan, the ghosts, power up stars, mustaches, Donkey Kong, and speech bubbles. Dig through your old costume boxes to find Super Mario hats and a few aliens masks to add to the fun!

Camping Party

Camp outs are perfect for teens who want to get away but aren’t quite old enough to go out on their own. Start your rocking camp party planning by sending out invitations shaped like tents, of course! Provide enough tents so that everyone has sleeping space, but have your guests bring their own sleeping bags. Some fun camping games and activities include catching lightning bugs in glass jars, sleeping bag races, and telling ghost stories.  Roast hot dogs and marshmallows by the fire or on the grill. Sing campfire songs from the past or make up your own but remember to sing the most important song of the night, Happy Birthday!

Neon/Glow Party

Glow parties are all the rage these days and they are pretty easy to pull-off, too! Invite your guests to wear fluorescent clothing and glow-in-the-dark accessories. Stock up on supplies such as black lights and glow sticks in all shapes and sizes. Darken the room and fill it with vibrant decorations made with strings of glowing LED lights in a variety of colors. Fill a box with brightly-colored plastic sunglasses, bracelets, rings, and other accessories for fun party favors for your guests. If you want to take your glow party to the next level, consider painting yourself with glow paint and offering it to your guests. Glow-in-the-dark body paint is often available from specialty stores like costume shops, Halloween supply stores, and online. To create the look and feel of a “rave” at your glow party, consider playing classic house/techno or modern EDM (electronic dance music). You can throw a great glow party with almost any sort of playlist, as long as you’ve got great music! Try to have a playlist of music picked out before your party begins. Get together with your teen ahead of time and pick out songs for their party. Set your playlist to shuffle and have fun!

Disco Party

Throw back to the music and the fashion of the 70s! The gals wore low-cut pants and high-cut boots, while the guys wore bell bottoms and platform shoes. Invite the teens to dress in 70s attire and welcome them to the party with a set of beads, a peace sign necklace, or a head band. Serve finger foods and make a peace sign birthday cake. Spend the evening doing the Hustle to disco music under a spinning disco ball. Play tunes by Donna Summer, The Bee Gees and KC and the Sunshine band. Everyone will want to boogie all night long!

Fear Factor

A sure way to conquer fears and have fun at the same time is to throw a fear factor birthday party. Instead of using the elimination method like they do on the show, consider using a point system so that all your guests can be involved and can participate without being eliminated. At the end of all the games whoever has the most points wins! Choose challenges worthy of the title by considering some of these ideas: Egg Roulette— place a bowl of boiled eggs in front of the players. All players must pick up an egg out of a big bowl and on the count of three, immediately crack it against their forehead. The challenge is before the game you tell the players that one of the eggs is actually raw. Who has the courage to egg themselves in the face? The trick is that ALL the eggs are actually boiled and this is just a test of courage. The players that hesitates to crack the egg fails. Award all the players that don’t hesitate with 5 points. Baby Food Taste Test— empty a variety of different jars of baby food into individual bowls (make sure you know which is which), label the bowls with numbers and challenge players to taste every bowl and try and guess what it is. Make sure to have paper and pencils handy so guests can write their answers on them. Award 1 point for every correct guess and 3 additional points to the one that has the most correct guesses.  Dog Biscuit Race— players will pick up a dog biscuit with their mouths and race to drop it in a bucket on the other side of the room (or yard if you’re playing outside). Have a bowl of six dog biscuits ready for each player, and place a large bucket at the other side of the playing area for all players to use. Add some of your own challenges and you’ve got a great birthday party!

Minute to Win It

Throw a Minute to Win It party and challenge your friends to try and complete wild and wacky challenges in a minute or less! Choose a selection of games for the challenges using ordinary household objects as props. To play the Mummy Game, have the player take the loose end of a roll of toilet paper and hold it in their hand. The roll is held on a holder, broom stick, or by another player next to them. When the clock starts the player must spin around as fast as they can as the toilet paper wraps around them. The winner is the most covered mummy at the end of one minute. In Skittle Scurry, a large bowl of Skittles is set at one side of the table while a cup is placed on the other end. Give the player a straw and on the start of go, they have one minute to suck as many Skittles as they can onto their straw (one at a time) and race it over to drop it in their cup. At the end of one minute, their Skittles are added up and the places are given based on who collected the most. In Cup Hands, each player must place a party cup over each hand and stack as many dice as they can on top of each other in one minute. The player with the highest tower wins.

Totally 80s Party

Relive the loud colors, extreme fashion, sky-high hair, and music of the 80s. To throw an 80s themed birthday party for your 14-year-old, you’ll want to include as many 80s ideas and items as you can. Make a playlist with songs and music by Michael Jackson, Madonna, Air Supply, Prince, Bon Jovi, and U2, to name a few. Have the teens dress in the 80s style by wearing legwarmers, spandex, dark sun glasses, side ponytails, high tops, excessive rubber bracelets, finger-less gloves, male earrings and shoulder pads. Award prizes to the teen with the funkiest outfit, loudest make-up, biggest hair, and most rubber bracelets. Some other fun contests are break dancing contest, lip-syncing contest, air guitar, and moon-walking contests. If you’d like to have some 80’s movies playing in the background, consider titles such as 16 Candles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Revenge of the Nerds and Breakfast Club. Your teen’s 80s birthday party is sure to be totally awesome!

Outdoor Movie Party

If your teen loves the idea of spending a night under the stars with their best friends, an outdoor movie party is the way to go! Set up a movie screen outside, or use the side of your house, get a projector and a couple of your teen’s favorite movies. They might even prefer to binge a little on Netflix! Decorate the outside area with white string lights to add a festive glow. Provide plenty of indoor/outdoor pillows and comfy lawn chairs. Set up a concession stand complete with a Jelly Belly and a popcorn bar. Use the jellybeans and other treats to have a cupcake decorating contest. Have a jellybean blind taste test where the blind-folded person has to guess the flavor of each jellybean as they are fed to him/her. To add a little salty to all of that sweetness, provide a variety of popcorn flavors such as buttered, white cheddar and caramel. Play a game of How Many? by placing jellybeans in a jar— let the winner take the jar home!