Birthday parties are easy when the kiddos are little, but when they get a little older, it gets harder to know what they want! Here are some great birthday party ideas for your tween that are sure to please!

Mall Scavenger Hunt

This is a great party idea for young ladies. What tween girl doesn’t love a good mall trip?

› What you will need

• Small cash envelopes for each girl. Consider this their party favor.
• Cellphones, one per group.
• A scavenger list of each store, item or landmark they need to visit.

› How to: Create a scavenger hunt of items/ places/landmarks that the girls have to locate/find in the mall.

Break them up into groups at the mall. The first group to text all the photos of the items on the scavenger hunt, wins! Have them take photos/selfies of themselves with the items, and have them text it to you. Give them a set timeframe to get all the photos sent by.

› Rules

• Nothing leaves the store.
• Be nice and respectful to store employees and property.
• Stay with your buddy!
• Have fun!

After the scavenger hunt is complete, host a dinner party in the food court and then allow for some shopping time!

Honor A Charity

It is wonderful that so many tweens these days are attuned to the needs of charities in their community. A wonderful way for your kiddo to celebrate another year of life is for him to give back to a charity of his choice.

› How: If, for instance, your tween is especially moved by animal rights, why not host a birthday party for all his friends and have them bring their animals, if possible, to a big park or your backyard?

Here, you can host Frisbee contests, sit and stay contests and even have the kids make their own dog or bird treats. In lieu of gifts, this is the perfect opportunity to collect canned food, leashes, dog beds and kitty litter to donate to a charity. If you aren’t sure what to get, just visit any charity website or call and ask what they need at this time.

For party favors, donate an item in each guest’s name to a local pet shelter!

In the Kitchen!

If you have a budding Food Network’s Chopped Junior winner, a cooking party is just what the chef ordered!

› How: Invite a local chef for a cooking lesson — something you know the kids will enjoy or the birthday kiddo’s favorite food. Pizza, ziti and brownies are always winners. Have them cook and eat the food together. Don’t forget to sing!

› Added bonus: Have aprons and chef hats for each guest!

Take Polaroids of each guest with the birthday chef and add the photos to mini scrapbooks with recipe cards of what they made. They can now start their own cookbooks.

*Visit each store on your scavenger hunt first to give them the heads up that a party is coming through.

By Nicole Irving