Chic Birthday Cards

For Katie's birthday a few months ago we were looking for a quick and easy party for 11 and 12 year old girls.  This is a bit tougher than you think since these are teenagers-in-training.  Gone are the days where I can hire a bouncy castle for the backyard, grill some hot dogs, and serve an abundance of M & Ms and receive the parting comment "Mom, this was the best birthday party ever!"

So, we came up with the idea from the internet to host a Mall Scavenger Hunt.  The girls were separated into two different teams, given $20 and a digital camera.  Each team was given a list of scavenger hunt items.  The lists contained things the could do, things they could get pictures of, and suggestions for  items to spend the money on.  The team with the most scavenger hunt items and/or the most items purchased for their money would win the prize.

The girls didn't have a lot of time, but they searched the mall high and low, checked off many of their scavenger hunt items.  Some of the things they accomplished included:

• a picture with a guest as you give them ketchup and a napkin (the baffled look on her face was hysterical)
• a picture of the girls riding the elevator, escalator, lying on a bench.
• a sales flyer (why did both teams collect sales flyers from Justice, Just for Girls?)

The girls were able to complete the scavenger hunt and enjoy a food court dinner.  After a rush through dinner, the real birthday treat occurred when we sprinted on over to the movie theater to see the new (then) release of Tangled.  Oh, the exclamations from the tweens when HE CUT HER HAIR!!

The front of the invitation was made using the Cricut cartridge Forever Young.  Each "model" was cut at 5 1/2 inches.  The Cricut knows how to size the dress embellishment and other accessories.  Quick work was made of some black cardstock, the American Crafts Everyday line of 12 x 12 patterned paper, and few coordinating scraps of colored cardstock.  Now how fun was that?

Andie