Simple Spa Birthday Party for Tweens

This simple spa birthday party for tweens was a huge hit for my daughter when she turned twelve.

When I say it was simple, I’m not kidding. I literally threw this together the morning of the party. It was a morning Target trip and then voila – party time.

This post will give you all the tips and tricks to making a fabulous pre-teen or teen birthday party come together quickly.

Simple Spa Birthday Party for Tweens

My daughter took a while deciding what she wanted the theme to be for her birthday party. We love a good theme, and in the past we have done many: luau, sunshine, butterfly, and owl themed parties, just to name a few. Visit my parties tab to see more.

After years of being a bit elaborate in design, based on my own love of creativity and themes, I have more recently embraced a less-involved approach.

I also fully believe that if you entertain often enough, it just gets easier to make it feel like a lot of effort, even if you keep things simple.

Further, when you host parties and showers, you tend to have decorations on hand that you can re-purpose. This celebration re-used many decorations from my all-pink baby shower.

Shopping List for Simple Spa Birthday Party for Tweens

I headed to Target the morning of the party without much of a plan. The plan came together as I hit the dollar section. I found colorful washcloths there. Moving on, the party favor and table decorations began to develop.

Here’s a quick list (linked to similar Amazon affiliate products) to show what I purchased to make the spa portion of the party happen:

Celavi Essence Facial Face Mask Paper Sheet Korea Skin Care Moisturizing 9 Pack (Mix of 9)5 Extra Thick Microfiber Cleaning Cloths with 5 Bright Colors, Super Absorbent Dust Cloths Buffing Cloths with Two Color on Two Side, Lint Free Streak Free for Tackling Any Cleaning Job with Ease 10 PCS Colorful Printing Style Professional Double Sided Nail Files Emery Board Grit Gel Cosmetic Manicure Pedicure Kleancolor Nail Lacquers 6 Color – *NEW* Pastel Spring Collection Famiry Large Portable Folding Mirror with Standing for Making Up, Black Goody Girls Ouchless Elastics Perfect for Girls with Fine Hair, Curly Hair or Sensitive Scalps (60 Pieces) (Assorted in Brights and Pastels)Goody Women’s Ouchless Multi Clear Polyband Elastics, 250 Count Diane Fromm 60 Pack Bob Pins 2” Assorted Colors / Colores Variados Black Silver Copper Gold DHC020 Burt’s Bees Rosemary & Lemon Hand Cream By Burts Bees for Unisex – 1 Oz Hand Cream, 1 Oz Cake Beauty Walk Triplemint Foot Crème, 3.4 Fluid Ounce Mantello Foot Wash Basin Foot Spa Bucket Foot Soaking Tub, Pedicure, Detox, Massage (Blue, Large)

As mentioned, all of the decorations were re-used, so I didn’t need to spend any money there.

Food Choices for a Simple Spa Birthday Party for Tweens

My daughter made all of the food choices for her spa party, and I thought she had great ideas.

While I always love to make a custom cake, this time she decided she wanted to get an ice cream cake from Coldstone, so we did. If you want a fun idea for a pink cake, check out this simple ombre one, these mini ombre cakes or this pink geometric designed cake.

Abby also chose to serve yogurt parfaits with Greek yogurt, granola, blueberries and strawberries. She also wanted me to make my yummy banana bread.

Setting Up Stations for a Simple Spa Birthday Party for Tweens

To make this party work, I decided to have different spa stations set up for the girls.

As I said, I planned this part last minute and the morning of reached out to some of the teen girls I work with at church to see if they might be able to be the cooler, older kids to come do hair and nails. My last minute planning made that idea a flop. No one was available. However, if you are more on top of things than I was, you could try and secure older cousins, aunts or friends to help.

Despite poor planning, having the girls just do spa treatment on each other worked out really well. It was a time for them to interact, bond and come together over the activities provided. I had an even number of girls, and they paired up nicely.

Here were the stations:

Face Mask Station – individual face masks & washcloth provided
Manicure Station – nail polish & nail files
Pedicure Station – lotion, soaking foot tubs, nail polish & nail files
Hand Massage Station – hand lotion
Hair Station – curling irons, straighteners & old-school heated curlers
Massage Station – massage table

To structure the party, I had all the girls start off at the main table to do face masks. Each place was set with a face mask and then the party favor of a washcloth, nail file and nail polish all wrapped in a bow.

While face masks were setting, the girls relaxed in the living room with cucumbers over their eyes. Peeling off the masks was the fun part as the girls yelped in pain. Yes, beauty if painful.

tween girls with cucumbers on face during spa party

After face mask time, girls could head off to the different stations. I did encourage them to save manicures for the very end so they wouldn’t mess up their polish after it was applied.

One of our friends has already, at age 11, taken an interest in massage. Her parents gifted her a massage table. She has also taken lessons. Therefore, she was our resident masseuse.

The girls seemed to float effortlessly between the different stations.

It was really nice to have a party that had a lot of activity. Every girls seemed to enjoy it, even those who are less into primping. It was a great time to just be girly – complimenting one another on their new looks and taking time to care for one another.