Teen Party

Teen - my 14 year old stepdaughter. We agreed to and survived a teen boy/girl party. When Teen asked if she could have the party I was very reluctant. One, for the obvious reason of having 50-60 14 year olds in my house. But the main reason was money...again. I wanted her to have a good party but that costs money. Both G and I talked it through and we decided it would be ok and we were able to keep costs to a minimum by only supplying chips and drinks. Also, Teen's friend co-hosted the party and her mom helped out with some decorations. After dealing with that issue, I really didn't have a reason to say no. Teen has been dealing with our financial struggles as best as she can. You can only expect a 14 year old to understand so much. She's watched her friends have lavish parties and get whatever they want. I know that it's not all about money and "stuff" that's important but middle school is such a mean time where what you have and having the best party IS a big deal. I have to hand it to her...she's handle that part very well and pretty maturely. For that I am very proud of her. So, I knew throwing this party was important to her and I wanted her to have it.

The night of the party wasn't too bad except for the sea of shoes I had at my doorway. I've never seen anything like it!! Every single kid took off their shoes. All vans and flip flops. I guess that's good, right? The music wasn't too loud and the yelling and screaming was to be expected. Poor things though, it was soooo hot down in our basement. We tried to convince her to have it outside but she didn't want to. As the night progressed G asked if I regretted allowing the party. I answered honestly no, not in the least bit. One) as I explained earlier, she deserved it and two) I could see that she wasn't having as much fun being the host of her own party at her parent's house. She was stressing over the mess and the carpet. I think she was learning a valuable lesson. To help her relax we told her that we didn't mind that there was trash on the floor, we just did not want open candy-Skittles- on the carpet. That stains. I think it helped her a little. G and I took turns going down to check on the teeny boppers and it was just like I remembered our parties. Loud, obnoxious and full of drama :)

To avoid any major clean-up disasters we tried to anticipate and prepare. We emptied out the rooms of any toys and unnecessary accessories and furniture, our food was limited to chips (no dip), only soda cans and we had trash bags around the room. I thought we did pretty good. What we had after the party was over was shocking. My walls (at waist level) were covered with scuff marks and dark stains. ??? What we realized was the marks were from the jeans and studded belts. As the kids leaned up against the walls and danced they scuffed up my walls. Who would have known?? And there was gum on the floor. Ugh...not happy about that. But overall, not too bad. The walls were cleaned up with the help of soap/water and magic eraser (best thing on earth) and nothing was broken. The gum remains but Teen WILL be getting that out this week.

One important thing to note, as Teen and her friend were cleaning ALL of the trash and scrubbing the walls, they both said they NEVER wanted to have a party again. Aahhh, lesson learned :)