Video Game Party for Teenagers
Teenagers parties are tricky. First of all, they’re at an age where they have a multitude of interests. It used to be easy planning a party when these kids were younger. If your child’s a boy, there are pirate parties and superhero themes. If she’s a princess, there are Barbie parties and fairy princesses.
But now, you don’t really know what he or she wants, or what the whole gang wants. Teenage life involves having a lot of friends who share the same interest. It’s also the age for approval seeking behavior. When the consensus is “your party is boring”, you’ll see more sulking and more ‘my parents don’t get what I’m about’.
It’s pretty tedious just trying to “get” your teenage son or daughter so the thing is, you should simply plan a party according to what is generally accepted in their world. Namely, video games and a lot of space to hang out.
Here’s how to set up a video game party for teenagers
1. Keep the food flowing.
Teenagers eat a lot, even when they’re not mood-eating. For a video game party, however, the food should be located in a spot that has a lot of bean bags and sofas arranged around a central table. This is so the kids can hang out and talk while they munch away. You can serve crunchy fried sandwiches, a lot of chips and soda. You can serve salad, in small quantities, for the figure conscious teens in the group.
2. Get the best consoles around
What are these? Xbox, PS3 and wii, to name the more popular ones. You should probably leave the game choice up to your teen so that you don’t inadvertently get the “wrong” games.
3. Separate the music room from the video game room
Teenagers parties can be quite loud, as you will soon discover. They want to play at full volume and they want to really “feel” the songs at high volume. Some of your kid’s friends will dig music more than video games, and are likely to music trip rather than play. To handle this, put the sound system in the living room, and the video game in the den.
4. Inform the parents
It’s best to keep the party time frame within the curfew limits and inform the parents ahead of time if you can. “I’ll be at a friend’s place playing video games” can sound like a rehashed alibi (and goodness, the teenagers use this often!) so it’s best to handle this ‘parentals’ issue as well.
Good luck with your teenager party. It will be a blast, literally!