Ideas for 12 year old boys birthday party

Herbyme

Hi,
Am after ideas for my son's 12th birthday party, bearing in mind none of us is the hugely crafty type so anything that involves us making outfits etc is not going to work! We live in a small town which is fairly safe; some but not all have bikes; probably all have smartphones. Just in case that sparks any thoughts.
Was wondering about using QR codes to make some kind of treasure hunt but not sure how to work it to ensure harmony between about 6 boys
Any ideas gratefully accepted,
Caroline

jakes-mum

I had a plan for my sons 10th birthday (had to cancel due to my health but seemed popular with the kids when mentioned) I was going to do him an army camp training, the invites said they had been drafted and were to attend our boot camp at (our address) at 14:00 hours, training would last 2 hours in which time we would make them 'men'. We were going to get paint cans and make them stand on one leg holding water balloons at shoulder height, last man standing wins, Nerf dart target practice (to be done as and when kids gave up holding balloons, we were going to make an obsticle course in the garden including a paddling pool covered in a blanket filled with water and bubble bath they had to get through on hands and knees. A ladder they had to walk on rung by rung climbing over the picnic table etc. At the end we were going to paint their faces with camouflage, give them (fake) tattoos, declare them ready for battle and send them out as 2 teams for the biggest water fight. Each team would have a box full of grenades (water balloons) and a water pistol each (from £1 shop) and left to soak each other.
Sargeant Major (his dad) who would direct them, make them do push ups randomly, that kind of thing, was then going to stand in the gate and spray them all with water from a hose each time they came back for a refill.
We were going to just get green tshirts and green joggers for them from tesco to wear so their own clothes stayed dry and get them to take their shoes off for going through the pool.
Not sure if its too young for your 12 year old, but all my sons mates loved the idea and it was dissapointing to cancel it

Herbyme

jake's mum, I had to have al ie down just reading about it! You are amazing! Please can you come round and organise it?!

Seriously, I may be able to adapt some of these great ideas in a less energetic way (for me, you understand, not the kids ;-) so thank you very much!

borokat

Thinking back to when my brother was that age, they were into football parties/bowling/cinema etc. If that's out of your price range what about a pizza & DVD party? Order in a few pizzas & get them to pick some films before hand. You could extend it with a sleepover if you wanted.

Herbyme

Thanks Borokat, good thoughts!

jakes-mum

Lol carolinerunner, you should have seen my nephews party, he had charlie and the chocolate factory which came complete with them as the wonkamobile going through the car wash (every other member of the family with water pistols!) and his daddy as the nasty villain with a shirt made of sweets, needless to say the big speech he had for not sharing was lost under 20 6 year olds all. Though he was packing 4 super soakers to try and stave them off My sister puts even more thought and time in than I do, each party takes 6 months planning

Ziggazee

I'm with borokat's idea. When my son was that age he'd much rather just have his friends round for a dvd/XBox sesh, pizza and nibbles. Far cheaper and easier than any themed party :-D

YORKSHIRELASS

I have to say I am not brave enough to have a house full of 12 year olds! For my sons 12th birthday I gave him two options. If he wanted lots of friends I would pay for them all to go swimming and have some chips and a drink in the leisure centre cafe afterwards.

If he was happy with 2 or 3 friends then we would take them out to the pictures/bowling and McDonalds afterwards. In my experience more than a couple of friends together in the house plus DS and younger brother just gets mad, silly, messy and stressful for me. Sorry if I sound like a boring old killjoy!

Of course both of these ideas cost money but we always said to our kids that the bigger the party the smaller the present when it came to birthdays and to be honest they were always OK with this.

I do think that as they get older the simpler ideas are often the best and a treasure hunt sounds like a good idea but as you say it would have to be carefully managed to avoid someone getting upset!

YORKSHIRELASS

Oooh, just another thought. We once used some Tesco vouchers to go bowling which was a great hit and cost hardly anything.