B-day/Holiday Party- Last Christmas I decided to throw my daughter a Birthday/Holiday party for her 12th Birthday. I wanted it to be a creative idea since she was turning 12 and everything had to be "cool". She wanted a party with boys and girls, and I thought to make the party unique, that they should go ice skating at the local rink. She gave me a list of guests she wanted to invite (15-20 People, 16 showed up). We didn't want to set the date too close to Christmas because I knew it would be too hectic so we decided for around the 20th of December. For the invitations I typed the date, time and all the other information for the party on a little piece of paper then I stuck them in clear plastic baggies along with snowflake confetti and fake snow (craft stores). I told the kids to arive at the ice rink at around 6pm. They had a blast Ice skating for about 2 hours (I got some fabulous footage of embarrassing falls on video tape!). Then a Hummer Limo came and picked all the kids up and took them back to our house.  Right when they got home they all sat near the Christmas tree while the birthday girl opened her gifts (awesome pictures). After that we brought out the cake.  It was in the shape of a gingerbread man with gumball eyes and a licorice mouth (totally adorable!).  For decorations I bought long strips of black paper and covered the walls of the living room with it. I also got glow-in-the-dark paint pens so the kids could draw all over the walls. We got a fog machine to add the affect of snow. My daughter got her favorite cds including some Christmas carols and the party started! For munchies I ordered a six foot long sub sandwich from the local sub shop. I also had homemade snack mix, chips and dip, cookies, apple slices with caramel, and brownie squares. For drinks I had a homemade punch (orange juice, Squirt, and Raspberry Lemonade- mixed together) and soda pops. We bought cheesy but funny games to keep them wild and entertained (Twister is a great and cheap game to buy. It makes great photos and even 12 year olds had fun with it! Cherades is a fun game to play for good laughs). I also bought stockings (dollar store) and stuffed them with cool stuff like candy, a mixed cd (my daughter made) with Holiday songs on it, the girls got makeup and the boys got Nerf footballs.  Around 9:00pm we brought the big screen TV that we rented, to the living room. The kids settled down and we watched my Daughters favorite holiday movie, The Grinch, while eating popcorn. After the movie the Boys went home with their stockings and the girls spent the night. In the morning the girls ate red and green pancakes (food coloring) and cinnamon rolls. After that they went outside and went sleding in the snow and made a snowman. It was the ULTIMATE party and I will never forget it. Did I mention it was snowing?! I hope this idea helps you and good luck!