We’re happy to have  Felicity from Crafty Modern with us today!  She recently threw a spa-themed birthday party for her daughter, and today she’s sharing the event with us.  She used mainly dollar store supplies and favors to throw a luxurious party on a shoestring budget.  Here’s a complete rundown of the whole shindig!

Host a Tween Spa Party

by Felicity, craftymodern.com

My daughter is 10 (she declares herself a tween) and asked to have a sleepover and to make it a spa party. She received a book recently with lots of recipes for fun homemade masks and treatments and wanted to try them out and I wanted to keep it relatively inexpensive. This was a small party for four girls (I wouldn’t have much larger). First thing we did was come up with a schedule of activities to keep things going and of course a name for the spa (Chateau Ooh La La). Next it was off to the Dollar Store and the fabric store, then home to print out a few items off the computer.

At the Dollar Store we bought the following:

• Plastic champagne flutes (3 packs of two for sparkly grape cocktails), $3.00
• Blue plastic tubs (for foot soaks and to put all their spa goodies in), $4.00
• 6 packs of spa flops, toe separators (came all in one pack), $6.00
• Cotton balls, $1.00
• 3 glass apothecary jars (for decor and use and going to re-purpose for Halloween), $3.00
• Stretchy headbands – two packs of 5 (to keep the girl’s hair back while doing face masks), $2.00
• 5 packs of battery-powered tea light candles (to add ambiance to the party without fire hazard; the girls loved these!!), $5.00
• 3 white plastic table cloths, $1.00
• Assorted polka dot paper plates and napkins in pink and blue (to match the spa drawstring bags I made), $3.00
• 2 packs of small plastic bowls (each pack had 4 bowls; for the banana face mask and the sugar scrub), $2.00
• 2 packs of white wash cloths (4 in each pack; for face masks etc.), $2.00
• 4 bottles of mini lotion for gift bags, $4.00
• 4 nail clippers with files for gift bags, $4.00

Total at Dollar Store:  $40.00

We spent $20.00 at discount fabric store on tulle and ribbon for sparkly entrance to spa, plus one yard of blue polka dot cotton and 4 yards of blue ribbon to make cloth drawstring gift bags.

How We Set Up 

We made an “entry way” to the spa with the sparkly tulle and hung the fabric from the free fabric roll tube we had received from the fabric store (one of the girls declared that the entryway made her feel like they were VIPs).

I made and printed out Chateau Ooh La La signs and labels for the apothecary jars. We used the plastic cloths to cover the tables and then extra spa flops, battery candles, and the apothecary jars (filled with cotton balls, q-tips, and Kleenex) to decorate the spa table. A smaller card table was used separately for the snacks and “cocktails.”

We made the banana face mask and sugar scrubs in advance and had them in the fridge waiting to be used (they were put in the small plastic lidded containers we bought from the Dollar Store, just the right size). I made the cloth polka-dot spa bags (actually used a sheet of paper as the pattern started as 8 1/2″ by 11″ squares)  and you can click here for my drawstring bag tutorial.  We filled the drawstring bags with the spa flops, lotion, toe separators, wash cloths, and nail clippers. Each girl received a blue tub with a filled drawstring bag inside it. We also sprinkled the bathroom counter with battery candles and placed a Chateau Ooh La La sign on the bathroom mirror.

The Party

Guests arrived at 4:00 pm on a Saturday. The girls ate snacks and chatted (got silly) for about an hour and then we began spa activities. Each girl was served a grape juice and sparkling water cocktail as part of their experience.  They did homemade face masks (banana and honey) and homemade hand sugar scrubs (plain white sugar and vegetable oil), foot soaks, and there were cucumber slices to place on their eyes.

They finished by doing each others nails (they had all brought their own polish to the party). After dinner we made frozen yogurt smoothies, had chocolate covered strawberries, and the girls watched movies.

Then they jumped around and danced for HOURS. For breakfast we served home baked muffins (blueberry and cinnamon) and fresh fruit. The party ended at 10:00 am on Sunday and was declared a success.

Note:  One thing I would have bought for next time is hand mirrors for each of the girls (these can be bought at the Dollar Store). And the girls say that having teen magazines is essential (e.g., Tiger Beat).