Easy last-minute party for teens

When my son told me the night before that he wanted to have a friend or two over for his birthday, I had to kick into action to plan an easy last-minute party for teens. In the past, I have gone all out on birthday parties. Once I started working, it was a whole different story. But for some reason, I think he liked our thrown together gathering the most! He liked it so much that he asked for the same theme again… also the night before!

Easy last minute party decorations for teens

Kicking into high gear, I grabbed all of the supplies that I could find. These consisted mostly of copy paper and sharpies. You guys… I came up with the most brilliant idea ever! It can be done with literally any theme. My son wanted to watch Minecon with his friends. (It’s actually called Minecraft Live, but we prefer what they called it last year.) This is a virtual event where they introduce new upcoming things for Minecraft and allow people to vote. It’s a pretty big deal for Minecraft enthusiasts. Since there is no such thing as “Minecon” Themed party decorations over at Party City, I had to create my own. My son LOVED the idea, so I ran with it!

Spectacular make shift Minecon party decorations

With my sharpies in hand, I got to work to create my easy, last-minute Minecon decorations. Since I can not draw, I went with a very generic look.

Last minute party shirts

I took out my trusty Cricut and some iron-on t-shirt vinyl to make some fabulous t-shirts. My Cricut was one of my favorite purchases. I originally got it to make fish extender gifts for our Disney Cruise and have since made numerous gifts for friends and family. It makes me appear much more crafty than I actually am.

I love making T-Shirts for special occasions, vacations, or white elephant gifts. My oldest’s birthday seemed like a perfect reason for some silly shirts. It always makes it seem like I have things figured out. You would never know that I planned it all the night before.

Making the shirts

First, I downloaded a free Minecraft font. My son liked the one that is used when you chat in the game instead of the logo looking one. Next, I used my Cricut to cut some text on the iron-on t-shirt vinyl. He helped me come up with what to put on the shirts. He loves Minecraft, so he wanted his shirt to say Minecon Themed Minecraft Enthusiast. Finally, we had an amazing shirt for about $7!

His shirt turned out perfect and he loved it! I’m pretty sure it will get more wear than just this party. I love that about the shirts we make for events. They like to wear them again because of the memories that go along with them. Our shirts from our “Best Vacation Ever” have been worn over and over again, even though they are too small.

For Loren and me, I concluded that we needed some “parents” shirts. My son made the decision that we would be a Minecon Themed Mom and Dad. Now we have the shirts so that we can let the rest of the world know about it as well. I love that my family plays along with my shenanigans. Also, I need someone to teach me how to take selfies. I suck at them!

The youngest is not a huge fan of Minecraft, so we went in a different direction on his shirt. He was happy to play along as long as his shirt said nothing about Minecraft at all. After throwing out several ideas, we settled on this one.

It ended up being a fantastic and stress-free couple of hours. I prepared some snacks, and the kids had a blast watching Minecon. The glow squid that they voted for won and everyone flipped out because of the cave update they had wanted forever! So many great things happened. I don’t understand what most of it means, but I will soon learn since I promised my son I would play Minecraft with him.

This can work for any theme

The best part about all of this is that it can work for literally any theme as long as your kid appreciates and finds humor in the irony of the decorative style. My kid now prefers it. Super Heros, American Ninja Warrior, the letter E, Halloween, Ugly Sweater… literally every party theme we have ever had can work with this and all it takes is some paper and a sharpie… and a Cricut if you really want to kick it up a notch, but you can have a fun party without the shirts. Maybe not quite as fun, though. lol

The point of all of this

For us, the parties, silly t-shirts, and fun activities with the kids have always been about building relationships. As we enter the teenage years, this is looking different than it has in the past. We are adapting, learning, and making mistakes as we figure out this new phase of parenting. I will say that I am loving watching my boys grow up to be intelligent, thoughtful, witty, and beautiful humans. It’s hard to let go and give them more freedom to make mistakes.

Speaking of mistakes…

It’s a good idea to take a shower before you go to bed if you are planning a last-minute party for teens. It turns out that you will never have enough time the morning of the party and will inevitably wind up hosting people with greasy hair! That’s gross. My hair was greasy all stinking day!

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