Beach Theme Pool Party Ideas for Teens and Tweens

Sweet Sixteen Pool Party Decorations and Ideas

Planning a pool party for a sweet 16? A beach themed pool party is a lot of fun! It can be difficult to plan a birthday party theme for teens and tweens. Even if you don't have a "real" pool you can have a pool party for a sweet 16 birthday party. Just get an inflatable pool (or two) and add lots of fun decorations and beach themed food. We love planning parties with The Oriental Trading; they are our go to spot for summer fun. They have the most fun decorations at the best prices. So, have the best pool party ever for teens or tweens with these pool party activities, food, and fun decorating ideas with a pink and green flamingo theme. Enjoy!



The Oriental Trading compensated for this post by allowing us to choose our favorite merchandise for an upcoming birthday party.* This post may contain other affiliate links.

Beach Theme Pool Party Ideas for Teens and Tweens.

Every beach party (especially one for girl's or my son whose favorite color in hot pink) needs some pink beach theme party supplies like flamingos. OT has the perfect beach themed pool decor: flamingo straws, inflatable flamingo cup holders for the pool, flamingo lights, flamingo pinwheels, and flamingos for the yard!

Stick these in the yard and make a flamingo obstacle course!

Stick these in the food display or line a walkway with them.

Pool Party Ideas for Teens and Tweens

For your beach party theme, you will need a pool. If you don't already have one, get an inflatable pool. Once you have a pool, (or three) you'll need to get beach theme pool party decorations and games. We like to purchase tons of inflatable beach balls and cover the pool with them. They make great party favors to take home, and the guests will enjoy playing with them  throwing them at each other's heads. As we see, perfectly designed pool floats serve as both entertainment and decoration for your pool party. You can have a wide variety of inflatables to choose from and with so many options available make sure to find the perfect inflatable to suit your needs. Inflatables are also very easy to set up and take down, so you can easily take them with you for other occasions. Best of all, they are very affordable, so you can get a lot of use out of them without breaking the bank. 

These beach balls are a fun activity for kids of all ages. Grab some Glam Sharpie Markers and color your own beach ball! These would be fun for a Dory and Nemo theme party too! Another fun pool activity is to get a bunch of swim goggles and play underwater games for the pool.

Squirt gun painting is a fun pool party activity too. Be sure to get lots of squirt guns! Get the directions at Fireflies and Mudpies.

How to paint with squirt guns by Fireflies and Mudpies.

Decorate the serving table with fun beach themed party lights and use sand pails to serve the food and drinks. To match the flamingo beach party theme, get solid color tableware in pink and green. 

You'll want to get super fun party favors for teens and tweens. Along with the take home beach balls, get these pre-prepped beach theme party favors on the Oriental Trading website. They pair nicely with your beach theme pool decor from above.

Beach theme party favors.

Beach Theme Party Food

Whatever beach theme party food you serve, serve it up in colorful beach pails like the ones below.

Beach theme party food is easy to make. Make these sand dollar cookies from Mama Miss before the party or with the teens. Aren't they amazing? You might also like these sand castle cupcakes. Here's a cool beach ball fruit and vegetable tray we found on Pinterest, while you're there be sure to follow us!

How adorable are these beach theme flip-flop sandwiches from Pretti Mini?

Beach theme party food: flip-flop sandwiches.

Do you have pictures from a beach theme party for teens or tweens? How about fun recipes? Share in the comments!

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What are Good Outdoor Games to Play?

10 Great Outdoor Games for Kids

The days of simple parties where balloons, music, and a cake with candles were enough are long gone. In 2019, fun birthday ideas are at a whole new level. You need these 10 great outdoor games for kids to get moving and enjoy their special day.

Kim and Kanye set the bar high with a "kidchella" themed party, featuring bouncy houses, a Ferris wheel, and several music stages. While you won't have the same budget as the Kardashians, take inspiration from their intuitive ideas and create a party with good outdoor games to play.

If you're arranging a summer party for your kid's birthday bash, what outdoor games can you play? Read on for the 411 on which outside games your kids will actually love!

This post contain Amazon Affiliate Links.

Outdoor Games Kids Will Love

We all know the math. Kids + Birthday parties = Chaos!

Instead of expecting kids to sit around, drink tea, and chat like adults, prepare some cool games that will burn all their pent-up party energy. We've chosen 10 outdoor games that will have your guests giggling from beginning to end. Are you ready? Let's get this party started!

1. Hop Your Way to Victory

Try a traditional sack-race to get the kids moving. Give each child a good quality burlap bag or king-size pillowcase. Line them up in a grassy area and have them hop their way to victory down a marked path.

To mix it up a little, decorate the plain sacks. Make it more challenging and make the marked path curvy. Even if you just do it the old-fashioned way, it'll get a lot of laughs on the way, Scout's honor!

2. Make Your Birthday Party Pop

Balloon stomping is one of the best group games for parties. What's a party without balloons popping?

Before the party starts, prepare by blowing up at least one balloon per guest and a few extras just in case. Tie a long string or ribbon around the end of the balloon so that it is long enough to tie around the children's ankles.

When the party gets started, tie a balloon around the ankle of each child. The aim of the game is to pop everyone else's balloon while protecting your own. The last kid with an intact balloon wins.

3. Jump to It

Let the kids blow off a little steam before you sit down to open presents. One of the best outdoor games for kids, is an outdoor bouncy house. Hiring a bouncy house is an exciting treat for the kids! It really is fun for all ages (even big kids!)

From bouncy houses and inflatable water slides to blow-up climbing walls and bouncy bungee runs, knowing which one to choose boggles the mind. Do your research to find out more about the options and you'll find the perfect match for your big outdoor birthday bash.

4. Treasure Hunt

Treasure hunts have been around a long time, but they're still one of the most interesting outside games for kids to play. Adapt the hunt depending on the ages of the guests and the style of the party. Be sure to offer prizes and other birthday party favors for the winning team.

For instance, create a list of items in nature they have to find in a certain time limit. Give each guest some magnifying glasses, binoculars, and a treasure bag for their adventure. They can search for various bugs, pinecones, daisies, leaves, and more on a nature scavenger hunt or you can hide items throughout the yard and give them a list of riddles to solve to find the next treasure. As an alternative, hide pieces of treasure and candy for the kids to find. Give them a bucket and send them on their scavenger hunt,

5. Cool Pool Party

Fun birthday ideas for the summer usually involve water. Wet and wild games give kids the chance to get soaked and cool off. A pool prize search is one of the most fun outside games for a kid's party.

Use an inflatable pool filled with water. Hide weighted treasures at the bottom of the pool. Then, fill the rest of the pool with floating toys and balls, so that it's hard to see what's at the bottom. Give the kids a time limit and tell them to find the treasures at the bottom of the pool.

If kids are a bit older and it seems too easy, try blindfolding them. Their teammates can shout out directions to help them find the treasure.

6. Use Your Noodle

One of the cheapest outside games for kids is Pool Noodle Croquet. It's budget-friendly but takes a little bit of time to set up.

Create several pool noodle arches in your back yard and stake them into the ground. Give each child a pool noodle and an inflated beach ball. The idea is to be the first to get the ball through the course of arches.

7. Make a Splash

Another variation of a classic game is water balloon baseball. It's one of the easiest outdoor games for kids and parents because it's so easy to set up.

All you need is a baseball bat and some pre-filled water balloons. Make sure the guests are ready to get soaked!

8. A Tasty Mess

Fun birthday ideas have got to include cakes and treats, right? So why not turn your dessert into a game? When played outside, this donut game is lots of fun.

Tie dangling donuts from a high place, such as a tree or doorway. Then have a donut eating race, without using hands. Chocolate donuts make the most mess, so be ready with a cleanup team when the game is over.

9. Water Shoot

Here's another outdoor water game for you. Divide the party into two teams. For each team, string a plastic sand pails onto one end of a clothesline.

The concept of this game is for each team to work together to move their bucket along the clothesline, using only the spray water guns. Of course, if you don't have enough squirt guns for the party, you could fill up plastic bottles instead. Be sure the squirt guns are powerful enough to make the pails move!

10. An In-Tents Party

Another awesome outside party activity is camping. If camping somewhere remote is too much of a task, just set up a camp ground in your backyard.

Set up tents and a supervised fire-pit. Play some camping-themed games during the day. And when it gets dark, roast some s'mores on the campfire and tell scary stories.

Keep Calm and Party On!

We hoe you like this list of outdoor games with a twist for parties. Pick one, two, or as many outside games as you want, to make your birthday bash super fun!

What if it turns out to be a rainy day and you can't have fun in the sun? For some more games inspiration, both inside and out, check out the "Games" section of our blog.

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