It seems the birthday party season has arrived with a vengeance.  And while birthday celebrations come throughout the year, planning for a birthday party and shopping for a tween gift seems just a bit more stressful in the pre-holiday season.  Finding a free Saturday or Sunday on which to host a party between now and the holiday break is next to impossible.  If your community is similar to mine, we have found shared birthday celebrations to be a great answer.  Shared birthdays are great time savers and provide learning opportunities about giving and tween gifts.  Of course being able to share birthday celebration costs is also a bonus!

We’ve found the ideal number for sharing tween birthday celebrations to be bewteen 2 and 4 birthday girls.  If each of the birthday girls invites 5 to 7 friends, you have a nice crowd for the birthday celebration.  Since the common thread for these birthdays is a shared date or month of birth, the birthday girls may not necessarily be “best friends.”  But because each birthday girl invites her circle of friends, all of the tweens wind up spending time together in a fun celebration or shared activity.  Another great aspect of shared birthdays is shared presents.   When my daughter and I go shopping for this tween gift, she has to take the time to think about what the birthday girls have in common. Since she doesn’t know which of the girls is going to get her present, she needs to be sure the gift would be enjoyed by any of the birthday recipients.  As the parent of a tween girl, I also love that the number of gifts given is reasonable.  I do believe that any tween getting more than about 8 gifts at a time, is a bit overwhelming, and a bit over the top. 

Some of the best birthday presents for shared parties are art supplies, puzzles, books, CDs and my personal favorite–skin and hair care items.  Any of the Ottilie & Lulu gift sets make ideal tween presents.  Ottilie & Lulu tween skin and hair care essentials come at different price points and in different combinations.  Check our Travel Essentials, Face Essentials, Hair Essentials or the super Spa Essentials gift packs and see what might be the ideal tween gift for your next birthday party.

Check back soon, and I’ll share some great birthday party themes and locations.  Let’s make tween birthdays fun for all of us!