Seven Things Shunned by Teenagers

Ten teens gathered at our house for festivities of a birthday nature.  Ordinarily on hearing a statement like that, I would brace myself to hear a tale of destruction, excess, and violence. I am here to testify to you that if this crop of teens is any indication, there is hope for the newest generation of adults.  They didn’t wreck the furniture.  They didn’t make a huge mess.  They didn’t engage in illicit behavior.

They were well-mannered.  They gracefully included my two younger kids in the festivities.  They played fun party games.  They readily agreed to wash their hands before decorating cakes.

There were some things that they shunned, however.

1. Paper invitations:  I suggested this, but my daughter said, “Nah, I’ll just send them an e-mail.”  Score one for the environment, I guess.

  

2. Meat:  We ordered pizza, and no one wanted pepperoni, sausage, ham, etc.  This is both environmentally friendly and health-conscious.  Two points!

3. Napkins:  I followed them around like a puppy looking for love, with napkins in my hand to dole out.  Maybe shunning of napkins is environmental too.

4.  Chips:  My daughter made individual cakes for each guest, and had bought supplies for the cake-decorating portion of the party, but didn’t buy any other food.  My husband and I both thought, “It’s just not a party without chips!” so I bought two kinds.  The chips remained untouched by the teens.  Guess who ate them.

5. Ice bucket.  Before the guests arrived, I filled the ice bucket.  But it sat there unused.  I think teens do not recognize an ice bucket.  They did not have any idea what it was.

6. Diet soda without caffeine: As the hour got late, some of the kids wanted caffeinated soda, excuse me, I mean pop.  There was disgruntlement that the only kind we had with caffeine were also diet soda. 

7.  Leaving before my bedtime:  For some reason my daughter had told her friends that the party would go from 5 to around 9 pm.  I thought that 9 pm sounded kind of early to end a teen party, but since that’s just 30 minutes before my bedtime, I certainly did not object.  Some of them left by 9:30, including one young man who insisted on finding me so that he could shake my hand and thank me.  (I loved this.  He was raised in another country.)  A few teens stayed on, playing games like “Apples to Apples” and “Curses.”  When I was too tired to stay up anymore, I thought of playing “The Party’s Over” on the piano as a subtle suggestion.  But then I decided to just let my night-owl husband handle things, and I went to bed. 

Best Teen Party EVAH!

Any teenagers in your vicinity?  What do they shun?

Some of the cakes, decorated:

Good use of gummy worm - not too many

Note side decorations and prominent peep placement

This cake has the answer to life, the universe, and everything. 

Thanks for all the Swedish fish.

A lovely beach-ocean scene.  I don't know what those dark M&Ms are supposed to be.

So happy!