Through the years your son or daughter has already attended school dances, parties, and also parties at their friends' houses. When they were younger and attended a party at a friend's house, you can almost bet that there weren't both boys and girls at the party, only one or the other. But suddenly your tween may have been invited to a boy and girl party, also known as a coed party.
So how do you prepare your child for this type of party? There are several ways. You need to remember that they are also probably feeling awkward and "weird" about going, but you know that they need to go in order to feel better about themselves and to learn how to socialize more.
Party Preparations
If no one is offering to host a coed party then maybe you should be the first one. Hosting the first coed party is not difficult, but you do need to do some planning.
- The first thing to do is to decide where you can have it and how many people your tween will want to invite. At first they may be skeptical and hesitant about the invitations, but you need to reassure them that everything will be okay.
- Next, you need to finalize the plans of when and where to have the party, as well as what kind of party you will want to have. If it is close to a holiday, you may want to consider a theme party geared towards the holiday. Because this is probably the first coed party, the tweens might be more comfortable if you made it more like a masquerade party so the tweens can dress up in costume and feel more secure and comfortable about attending the party.
- When it's time for the invitations you will need to highlight the details of the party. You also need to let parents know that it is a coed party. It is a family decision as to whether or not they want their child to attend a coed party, so they need to know the facts.
Decorating for the Party
Once the invitations are out it is time to prepare for the party. Decorate accordingly and remember that you are decorating for older kids and they won't need character balloons and such. In fact, it may be a good idea to allow your tween to make most of the choices.
Are Activities Necessary?
When it comes to party time you need to have some fun activities and music to dance to. How do you decide what games to play? Tween coed parties may not have games, only music and conversation. If you do decide to do games, let your tween help you decide which ones you should choose.
Encouragement for the Tween
Encouraging coed parties now can send a message to your tween that you support them and you encourage them to build strong and healthy relationships with all their peers.
Tweens are at a very impressionable time in their lives, and it is now that you need to ease the relationship between the girls and boys of this age. While in school they are probably starting to notice the opposite sex, and because of peer pressure they may find that they are somewhat attracted to the other. You do not necessarily want to push any one-on-one relationships, but being comfortable around the opposite sex will make the later years easier to manage.
This is also a very important time in your relationship with your tween. As they grow older they can also drift apart if you are not careful. Show your support and be the first to have a coed party!
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