Cocktail Party 16yr - Pink and Black

My daughter is turning 16 in just a few days. We decided to have a big party for her and came up with the idea of making it a cocktail party. Her favorite colors are pink and black, so those are the colors that we are using. I handmade all of the invitations using pink cardstock and black construction paper. I cut the corners off of the cardstock and then folded each side in towards the middle to make a card. I then glued a piece of black construction paper with all of the party details (I used a silver metallic marker to write with) to the middle section of the card. I folded the ends of the cardstock over each other and sealed them with a pink and black ribbon. The invitations were hand delivered to all of her friends at school.

I am also making the cake. I am going to tint fondant to the shades of pink and black that I want and make a 3 tier cake. All of our decorations are pink and black, this includes everything from the silverware to the ballooons and the tablecloths. I have these cute Sweet 16 centerpieces that I found at a party store that also double as balloon weights. The place that we rented out to have the party has some fake trees inside, so I am going to put white Christmas lights in them to help with the lighting. We have a friend that is a DJ, so that is going to save us some money.

I lucked out and found some plastic martini and margarita glasses on clearance at a party store and I bought all that they had. We are going to have frozen daiquaris and strawberry margaritas, as well as a couple of other cocktails that I found online. **All drinks are non-alcoholic** A friend and myself are dressing up in black slacks, vests and bowties, and playing bartenders" for the night.

We are making a bunch of finger food and there will also be some soda and punch. All of the kids are dressing up as if they were going to a real cocktail party. Another friend of mine has an archway (like the ones used in weddings) with the white lights on it that she is going to let me borrow. I bought a couple of king sized black sheets and am going to put one on the floor and the other behind the arch like a backdrop and we are going to let the kids have their pictures taken like they do at school dances. I bought some disposable cameras to place around on the tables so that the kids can take their own pictures for us and then we will develop them after the party.

As far as party favors I went to a wedding supply store and bought a favor kit that contained mint tins. The kit came with software that you could use to personalize the stickers to put on the top of the tins. I also bought a bag of black and a bag of pink m&m's to put inside the tins.  We bought pink lunchbag style bags and put some candy one of the tins and a "thank you for coming" card (that I had my daughter hand write all by herself) inside folded the bag down used a hole punch to make holes and then tied them shut with a black ribbon.

I bought her a nice cocktail dress and a tiara and a Sweet 16 birthday sash to wear the night of her party. A beautician friend of mine is going to fix her hair and do her makeup. All in all I think this was a great idea for a party. It's a little sophisticated so they get to feel like adults but all of the drinks are non-alcoholic so parents don't have to worry about the kind of party that their kids are attending."