Sweet 16 Planning

[Preya_M]

I'm not sure where to post this thread but I think here is the appropriate spot. My cousin is turning 16 next year and her and her mother have asked me to help plan for guests, food and decorations (as well as the theme). I don't know the first thing about planning a sweet 16, but I wonder what baked goods we'll have. What baked goods do you think we should have? Flavours? I know that we'll have a vanilla cake because that's my cousin's favourite. What else would you suggest?

 

[bakeryoo]

Don't forget chocolate unless the birthday girl hates it and add strawberries in there loads of balloons and girly things maybe pink? Or if she's a rock chick go for black and white.

 

[TABL]

I just threw my daughter a sweet 16 in February! We had a winter wonderland theme, and everything was blue and silver. (We got great deals after Christmas on lights, candles, decorations, etc.) We tried to do white and silver foods, and then finger foods. We didn't do dinner, instead we did snacks. We had a DJ and the kids danced all night long. We also did a photo booth, where the kids dressed up and did pictures. And I made a scrapbook that we passed around and the kids wrote her a message, and later on I put pictures in it.

 

[Preya_M]

The birthday girl is in love with chocolate, so I'm sure that it will be a must on the menu! Her parents don't want to do a traditional pink, but that black or white is giving me an idea! We can mix her theme colour with one of those so the colours don't look too overpowering!

Winter wonderland theme sounds cute! I think we'll be going with a formal dinner from our culture, most likely there will be some chow mein and fried rice. That photo booth idea sounds fun.

Thank you for the advice.

 

[TABL]

The photo booth is a blast! I got really awesome pictures from it!
A dinner will be really nice too. Do you have traditions to add in? I'm assuming it's an Asian culture. (And I love chow mein and fried rice!) What about the red and golds? Or does she want something different?

 

[Cheerio]

With that age group it is going to be really important to make everything more mature and less like a kid's party. Maybe some of those cute plastic champagne glasses and a sparkling punch in one of those little fountains. You can even do a chocolate fountain with strawberries and different fruits.

I disagree with the extra girly theme. Who here has forgotten what's it's like to be sixteen when you're hyper aware of still being a child but wanting to be an adult? Plus, they are also very vigilant about feeling embarrassed around their friends.

I think a nicely decorated cake and a nice spread with luncheon meats, cheeses, and breads would be perfect. Add some finger foods and snacks like chips and dips and some good music and it'll be a good time.

 

[Preya_M]

I am not from an Asian country actually. Chow mein and fried rice is also a staple food from Guyana (my native country); there's a whole history lesson to explain this.

We started planning yesterday and she has decided on an aqua blue theme, with white and silver. I like that theme for her. We've also decided on how the cake will look, it will be a little box with a bow on top (she's going with a Tiffany & Co theme). Finger food, right I'll need to request that, definitely chips and dips for sure; maybe some veggies and dips, like carrots and broccoli.

 

[Cheerio]

The cake sounds really elegant. I have seen pictures of that design with the box shape with a bow and I like it quite a bit. She chose a very sophisticated color scheme too. It's going to be a lovely party.

Have you decided on what flavor the cake is going to be? You mentioned earlier that your daughter loves chocolate so I thought maybe that would be her choice.

 

[TABL]

What you are describing sounds a lot like my theme! It will be beautiful. Guyana, huh? How cool! I'd love to know the history lesson there
Another thing that is nice is white lights, like Christmas lights, all around. And silver tinsel... you can use it draped around or on tables. We also used silver balloons. And we got little silver candles for centerpieces.

 

[Preya_M]

Yes, the cake will be elegant indeed, I'm pretty excited to see the finished results. She's not my daughter, she's actually my cousin, I think we'll be going with a vanilla flavour to go with the theme.
Silver tinsel sounds like a good idea; she thought of the lights but her mother said no.
Basically, Guyana is a mix of cultures and when the Chinese were brought over to the country, so did their food.