It has been observed that birthday party celebrations have got different looks for different people belonging to different age groups. So here in this piece of writing, I am going to share some creative 11 & 12 year old birthday party ideas that would help you to make your younger ones’ birthday memorable.
It was around spring last year when I visited my sister living in Seattle when I turned out to be fortunate enough to be a part of the beautiful birthday celebration at her neighborhood.
The birthday was that of a kid’s of age 11 years whose name was David. I truly felt lucky to be a part of that celebration which finally has landed me in writing this piece of the article especially talking about 11 year old birthday party ideas.
David’s birthday party has truly opened my eyes with certain ideas that his parents had used to make the party gay and jovial. Those were some creative ideas that you can also use in celebrating the birthdays of 11 and 12 year old ones.
Some of the events being organised are what I am going to share below.
The All Time Favorite Movie
The kids with no doubt tend to have one or the other movie that they hold special. Well, for David it was the movie Jurassic Park that has a good portrayal of dinosaurs. So the result of this was that the guests were given some funny dinosaur costume to put on as the party attire. It was a little embarrassing but what can be as great as making the birthday kid happy.
That Special Game
So David’s favorite game was basketball and so was made ours’ for that day of his birthday. They had organized a full fledged basketball competition for kids and adults separately. It was a good investment made but indeed proved to have made the 11 year old giggled with happiness.
Board games
As a kid, I have always been fascinated with the board games and it is one of the reasons for which I would never forget David’s birthday. The birthday party was being organized with some interesting board games too where in both kids and adults play together and enjoy the games.
Co-incidentally both David and me had a similar attachment towards maze solving and therefore on his birthday I somehow got the opportunity to make him happy when intentionally I used to lose the game for quite a number of rounds.
1. A Party At The Park
If I remember as a kid every weekend had been awaited with ardent happiness to visit the children’s park. Some hours at the park used to make me revitalize for the rest of the boring week at the school around some mean looking teachers.
I believe that as young souls every kid tends to have some or the other sort of weakness towards the park that equips them with a good deal of playing stuff. If not for the modern young 11 & 12 year old boys this idea would for sure suit the best as the as a birthday party idea for 11 year old girls for girls can at no cost resist the fascination for the swing at least.
So on the next birthday of your kid plan a beautiful and interesting party at a park or if that is not available you can use your backyard to get it decorated with some park specific things such as two to three pairs of swings, two pairs of see-saws and many more of the kind. Now don’t waste time to plan on a party for the invited kids where you can hold some competition using the playing objects available at the park.
Also don’t forget to entertain the young souls with some delicious food, lol! for the party is never complete without feeding your guests.
2. The Treat At The School
It is of great fun especially for the 11 & 12 year old ones to treat their friends at the school. Yes, they are soon going to be young and bold teenagers and therefore feel the urge to be with their friends.
So this, birthday you can also start trying to be the smart elders to the smart kids by letting them celebrate their own birthday party with some small treats at the school canteen and making merry among their close friends.
This can truly be one of the most interesting 12 year old birthday ideas considering the modern generation.
3. At The Ground
What does it seem to come to our minds when we utter the word ground? It is mostly to be the sports ground. Yes, if your kid or sibling is extremely into an outdoor sport then here is the best birthday plan for your sporty young souls
You can invite all his/her friends to the specific ground or the stadium that they go to. Then you can take some help from the club authorities to arrange a small pizza party.
Once his game is over you can surprise him with the special party right there at the ground of his/her favorite sport. This is something that those young souls would hardly forget in their lifetime.
I honestly feel that this would surely prove to be a special 11 -12 year old birthday party idea.
4. The Masquerade
It has been common for adults to be attending masquerades which is not much seen to be frequently celebrated among the kids. So it is your kid’s 12th birthday knocking at the door and you are still with no plans. Don’t worry. Start inviting the guests for the masquerade to be held on the night of your kid’s birthday.
Invite the kid’s friends and ask them to come in some of the best mysterious looking masks and enter the party and keep enjoying the party and keep guessing and dancing all throughout.
The masquerade party can prove highly exciting for the young girls and boys to be in the masks and dancing with a constant guess.
5. The Junior Chef In The House
This is the party specific to cooking. This is something that I had once witnessed at one of my neighbors’ houses when they were throwing a birthday party for their daughter who was celebrating her 12th birthday.
I had to take my niece with an apron. I could not understand until I got to see the real cooking competition going on among the kids. It was a beautiful event undoubtedly and I was proud to see my niece able to make some pasta.
It is not hard to find modern kids growing enthusiastic about any art. Since culinary is also a trending art form it is no surprise that the young ones too are taking a sheer interest in it. Therefore this interest can be in a true sense put to execution on the birthday celebration of the 11 & 12 year old ones.
You can organize a party holding a culinary competition especially for the young boys and girls to participate. Provide them with the safe stoves, grills and ovens and other various kitchen essentials. Don’t forget to facilitate them with the cooking ingredients as well.
This is an amazing 12 year old birthday party ideas at home where anyone can enjoy the young ones cooking in delight.
6. The Cartoon Act
This one sounds to be quite a familiar one for most of us. You can actually use this special idea to organize an interesting birthday party for the kids of 11 to 12 years of age. The young people have always been seen to be highly fond of various cartoon characters. Well, you can surprise them with their favorite cartoon characters on their birthday.
Invite all the friends and ask them to be well dressed with the specifically mentioned cartoon theme given to them.
This can be an exciting 11 year old birthday party idea where the kids will be left mesmerized to be his/her favorite cartoon for a day.
7. The Ribbon Designs
This is something that my nephew had told me when he had got some good bunch of ribbons from the birthday party that he attended. It was his friend’s birthday and they had got some arrangements done related to some ribbon designing. That was the first time that I heard of something called ribbon design that too as a celebrated program at a birthday party.
As my nephew had explained to me, the ribbon design session is nothing much then putting a theme of ribbon where the children have to tie ribbons in some way or the other such as the girls can fix it on their hair styling clips and wear it and while in case of the boys they can tie on their hands as some kind of hand or wrist bands. This is what my nephew did, else there can be a lot more ways to do it more creatively.
Well, then comes the main part where in the party they held a ribbon designing competition where they were made all the children to participate to make some designed decor pieces using the colorful ribbons being provided to them.
So what are you waiting for? Plan the feast and arrange a ribbon party inviting the kids to enjoy some moments of fun with the ribbons. I am sure the ribbons would add vibrant colors to the party as a whole and for sure a perfect 11th birthday idea.
8. Make Them Paint And Spread Some Colors
Painting and coloring are some of the creative things that never fail to fascinate the children. Therefore to keep it as a birthday party theme or maybe a simple activity to be celebrated in a birthday party would be a great element of fun to be added to the birthday parties for 11 year olds.
So next time when you get the opportunity to arrange a birthday party for 11 year olds, don’t miss out to organize a painting session of painting where all the boys and girls will be provided with different sets of colors and paints to paint out their favorite picture. You can keep some theme too.
9. The Wardrobe Competition
Clothing has been one of the exciting things for the kids and this I can say from my own experience when I was in school I secretly had a competition with one of my classmates in wearing the best jacket or the hoodie to flaunt in front of my friends and I feel every boy or girl of the 11 – 12 year old age group would carry such a fascination.
So on your next arrangement for the birthday party of an 11 or 12 year old one organize a wardrobe competition where they would get the opportunity to flaunt themselves with the best of their clothes and be highly competitive to each other. Also please don’t forget to keep some prize for the small little models of the party.
It would definitely not fail to be recommended as one of the most entertaining 11 & 12 year old birthday party ideas that would leave the party attendees to witness a gorgeous fashion show presented by the kids of 11 & 12 year old ones.
10. Let The Bubbles Be The Decor
If you think that simply blowing bubbles may not excite the modern tech savvy kids then you can at least use the bubbles as the core decor of the party and decorate it with different decorating stuff to give the bubbles a new recognition. As I write it, it is making me nostalgic with memories of my childhood when the autumn was never spent without blowing some bubbles in our warm lawns.
You can make the modern kids know the beauty and the fun attached to the bubbles. So while organizing the next birthday party don’t forget to make the bubbles a part of the party. It can be added in various patterns.
The party hall can be painted with bubble designs or in other ways large bubble sprays can be placed inside the hall that would keep spraying bubbles in the hall to make the hall full of bubbles. Don’t wait, plan now.
11. Get The Celestial Bodies To The Party
Yes, it does not seem to be possible enough to equip the kids to play with the real celestial bodies but you can at least help them to get the vibe. There are several ways to execute this idea of making the celestial bodies the theme of the birthday party.
- You can get some special costume that represents various planets or you can also keep it simple by limiting it to only the sun, moon and earth. Make sure you get plenty of it so that it would be possible for you to distribute among all the children at the party.
- Another way that you can execute the celestial body theme is by making the hall full with some huge balls that are painted to represent different planets, the sun and the moon. For example, you can get a large ball painted fully red to represent the red planet Mars. It would be better if you contact stationery to customize the balls and the designs.
This is a unique 11 & 12 year old birthday party idea that would enlighten the kids with a good dose of knowledge as well as loads of fun.
12. Prepare A Candy Game
This time get some candies to excite the young souls in the birthday party. Candies as we know tend to be one of the favorite items and it will not fail to impress the kids if they get a whole game based on candies.
Candies can be used as one of the important themes to organize the birthday parties for 11 to 12 year old ones. It can be used for arranging some games. You can get the candies hung from the ceiling and fix chits on each candy. Write the names of some random songs on the chits and ask the children to fetch their favorite candy hanging and ask to sing the song mentioned on the chit.
Make it more challenging by applying the rule that it is only after singing the song he/she can get the candy. One who can sing the maximum number of songs would collect the highest number of candies and wins.
13. The Night Light Theme
This one is going to be as exciting in execution as it sounds to be. So stop searching for a better one than this and start your preparation for the next 11 year old birthday party. I remember going crazy to hang those stickers in my walls to shine at night after putting off the lights.
The party hall can be decorated with the night lights and don’t use any other lighting source. Let the night lights illuminate the party hall. Let the kids groove under the dimmed lights on the special event. It would truly leave the children as well as other guests enthralled to be a part of such beautifully decorated lights.
I recommend it as one of the best 11 &12 year old birthday party ideas to make the party decorations unique and fun too.
14. Bring The Forest To The Party
The forest is something that I personally as a kid liked so much and have always been excited to know more about it or to visit one. Well, the forest as a birthday theme has popped from my own passion for the forests and its mystery.
For a birthday party celebration forest can be kept as the theme. It can be used to make it exciting. If the birthday boy/girl is someone who loves forests and jungles and any thrill related to it he/she can be surprised by applying the forest as a theme to the party.
One of the ways that you can apply the forest element is by decorating the party hall with the forest elements such as trees, animals and make the whole hall look like a deep forest. It would for sure not to fail to excite each and everyone attending the party. To take the excitement to the next level you can also provide the kids with some tree leaves to wear it as the theme costume.
This is indeed something unique that you can try for the next birthday party for your 11 or 12 year old one.
15. Teach Them Some Science
It sounds so boring that no kid would attend that birthday party if they are let known of the theme to be of Science which they always get to learn in the boring classrooms. I personally never enjoyed it.
What about giving a new look to Science by making it the special theme of the birthday party. Yes, it is time that you make Science interesting and fun. But how are you supposed to do that? Here are some of my suggestions.
- Science has some popular concepts such as gravity, the law of attraction, distance, velocity and so on. You can arrange some games related to these concepts which would make the children attracted towards these harsh topics. For example, arrange some hanging and hopping games to make them understand the gravity and pull which may make them to enjoy Science.
- Secondly, you can get some stationary objects to use as a decor theme in the party hall. You can get things like scales, free-falling ball showpiece explaining gravity and many more stuff of the sort. Place these objects in various corners in the hall and let the kids explore it with excitement.
16. Get The Mazes
Are you thinking of that same idea that I am thinking of? Is it the maze game that had been one of the favorites back in the school days? Yes, this is what I am thinking of too. If the birthday kid likes maze games then it is an additional effect of fun for him/her and even if he or she is not acquainted with it, you can let them know about it.
On the next birthday event that you are organizing, you can keep the birthday theme to be of mazes. Yes, you can keep the maze as a game to be organized in the birthday party itself. You can get some card-boards to make the mazes. Then at the party invite the kids and ask them to play it. Don’t forget to mention a starting and an endpoint.
In other ways, you can also arrange some small maze games. It can be in the form of board games where many can play at the same time. It would not fail at any cost to be referred to as one of the best 11 year old birthday party ideas.
17. Call The Alien
The alien is one such thing that I was a kid was fascinated with and I am quite aware that it tends to be one of the most discussed topics among the 11 and 12 year old ones. Taking this interest it can truly be made to use in celebrating the birthdays of the young and excited souls.
The birthday party can now have the aliens on the sets too. The aliens have a definite structure and frame that excites the young souls too much. Well, this time organize a birthday party that will call the aliens.
18. Coupons to Buy Candies
When I was a kid I used to imagine that I had a big place which had some kind of locker. That place was full of candies and I use to have it like millions of dollar as you might have seen MR. Scrooge is having in the Duck Tales if you remember. Anyways it was my love for candies.
I am sure your kid also love to have candies anytime and any day. So keeping this in mind I got an idea for the party. The idea is simple but very exciting for the kids.
What you have to do for this is, you have to make some coupons booklet for kids which they can use to have candies. You can give one booklet to each kid at the entrance as a welcome.
These coupons will make them excited for taking candies for every coupon from the booklet. So whenever they want they can use the coupons on the candy counter.
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19. Hunt the chocolates
I assume that you are aware of treasure hunt game, some of you had played also in their childhood. But for those who are unaware about this awesome game, then I would love to tell you about this.
It is a game which starts with the first point to the final destination of the game where the treasure is hidden.
So one has to start with the first point, every point to the road map of final destination there will be some clues. These clues will help you reach the treasure.
You can manage this game for the kids, and its pretty obvious now that the treasure will be chocolates.
Believe me, they will love to play this and will be very excited. Actually, I got this idea from my nephews birthday Party.
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20. Projector, Popcorn, and pizzas
What can be a more awesome combination of these 3 Ps for any kid? The idea is very simple, you have to organize a place for the kids where they can watch their favorite movie on the big screen with a projector.
While for the movie you can arrange for popcorn and pizzas. Let your kid be the king for the day, it will surely make his day.
21. Eggs and Spoon
It is really very simple game and very funny too. You might already be aware of this game but who aren’t, here is an explanation. For this game you need some eggs and spoons.
There will be a race among kids, the rule is to carry a spoon horizontally on their mouth from the handle and put an egg on the open side of the spoon and then to run toward the wining line.
So one has to balance the egg and go slowly toward the destination. The fun starts when eggs falls in race of running and balancing.
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22. Musical Chair
It is a very interesting and fun game that you must consider. For this game you need to have some chairs and some music. Chairs should be less than the number of kids.
Start the music and let the kids walk around the chair and as soon as the music gets off, kids start to run for the chair and the one who left out are out of the game. The game repeats till the last winner.
23. Catch the murderer
I have played this game during my acting theatre days. I was in theatre acting group where I got to know about this interesting game. For this game you don’t need anything, just players.
Each player starts roaming around in a room one start as a murderer, the other players are unknown who is the murderer. The murderer has to show the tongue to the anyone and that player is killed.
Other players have to observe and notice other players and predict who is the murder if one is sure who is the murderer then he winks his/her one eye, showing the murder and then murder dies and the one who winks become the new murder.
This game continues till the last one remain and he/she is the winner.
24. Auction Party Theme
This is a perfect theme for girls and boys celebrating their 11 and 12 year old birthdays. At the time of birthday invitation tell each guest to bring a gift wrapped with them which is sealed in a paper bag.
Give the assembled tweens $20 in play for auctioning the unwrapped gifts. Also, add food and fun items in the auctioning items.
Keep it a secret until the highest bidder opens the item. Let each other trade or buy the presents at the end of the game and with the remaining money let the last bidder have the largest piece of cake.
This party theme will bring lots of enjoyment to the assembled guests and tweens.
25. Spa party theme
Ask the assembled girls and boys at the party to bring their slippers and bathrobes for setting the day/night spa theme.
At the party scene arrange for peel masks and different facial masks along with cucumber slices for the tweens and assembled guests. At the party have different stations for hairstyling, facials, pedicures, and manicures.
Let the boys and girls at the party spend 15 minute quality time at each station. Let them try different colors of nail polish at the nail polish counter. The assembled girls and boys will surely love this unique idea of a spa party theme.
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27. Fashion Show theme
At the 11th and 12th birthday party, you can arrange a fashion show theme to entertain the guests and the assembled girls and boys will like to participate in it.
The girls and boys will like to flaunt their clothes and costumes for the fashion show. They will dress up in glamour by wearing sunglasses, wearing necklaces, hats, boas, wigs, scarves and will have a red carpet designed for the fashion walk.
You can take photos of the tweens in their bright fashionable costumes and can even make a CD of the event as a memory.
28. Polka dot party
On the occasion of 11th and 12th birthday party send polka dot confetti invitations to the assembled guests.
At the party decorate each and everything with polka dots of every color and size and paste them on your furniture, tables, driveway, doors, counters, mailbox and on walls.
At the party serve food to your guests which is round in shape such as cookies, pizzas, round pretzels, skittles etc. At the party also give every guest a beach ball which is solid and colored for fun.
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28. Make up Extravaganza theme
This theme will bring a lot of joy especially to girls who will be celebrating their 11th and 12th birthday.
The girls like doing makeup and this unique theme are best suited for them in which they can do makeup with their wonderful eyeliners, eye shadows, blush, mascara, and nail polish.
They can click pictures of them with the makeup and create an album or make the calendar of it.
They can also play some makeup games and at the end of the party give birthday party favors in small makeup bags.
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29. Mystery Dinner
The mystery dinner idea will be a fun-filled and crazy idea to celebrate at your tween’s 11th and 12 birthdays.
Your tweens will be served dinner but they will remain unaware of the food until it arrives at the table. In this, you have to make a food list that would be served. Each food item will be served by its mystery name.
You should reveal only the mystery name of the food which will be served to your tweens and the guests of which they can recognize only 3 food items at a time.
30. Quack, Quack, who’s there?
You need a blindfold and chairs for everyone to play this game. Arrange the chairs in a circle facing one another and tell all the tweens to occupy the chairs.
The person who is “it” has to be blindfolded in this game and the participants will move round the chairs until the person who chooses to sit on the lap of the other tween calls quack.
The “it” person has to recognize the voice and guess the voice of the person. If the guessing is right he will occupy the seat and the person who is caught will become “it” and do the guessing once again in the game.
This is a very fun filled game and tweens celebrating their birthday will surely like it.
31. Commercial Birthday games
Everyone will love this game at your tween’s 11th and 12th birthday. In this game, everyone participates and the first player who is chosen picks up an item and does a 30 second commercial on it.
The next player then has its turn to pick an item and do his 30 second commercial. Everyone will enjoy this game as it will require acting and selling skills to sell a product by the participant.
32. Skittle Challenge
Those who like to eat candies this Skittle challenge game is just right. You have to play this game with colorful candies by placing them in a big bowl or plate.
Select 2 candies without looking at them. If the candies are of the same color you can chew them, if you select candies which are of different colors you have to keep them in the mouth until you choose 2 same color candies without looking.
This game is challenging as you have to choose 2 candies of the same color without seeing and then you can chew it.
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33. Wear that!
This is a fun-filled hilarious game which a tween will love to play on his 11th and 12th birthday with his friends.
Fill a bag with all types of crazy clothes such as bikinis, funny glasses, large underwear, and hats. Keep all these items in a large garbage bag.
Then have the players roll the dice from 1 to 6 and make them choose a clothing item to wear from the bag. Let them play until all the clothes are over in the bag.
The person who wears the least amount of clothes is the winner. Let the players have the freedom to choose clothes after rolling the dice from the bag.
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I end up the article with positive note. I hope you enjoyed reading these huge list of birthday party ideas for 11 and 12 years old. I tried to gave wide range of ideas, i am sure your tween will love to have these ideas implemented.