With my first daughter truning 12, I quickly realized my days of hosting theme" birthday parties had ended. I also discovered the presents they ask for at this age are more expensive...so not having a party makes $$ sense. I however wasn't ready to stop having birthday parties for her yet so my challenge was to come up with something "cool" "understated" and "inexpensive"    Together with a couple of her girlfriends we created a list of my daughters closest friends to invite for a surprise party. Involving her friends was not only smart but gave me a chance to "bond" a little with them.  I found some really cute invites that said "Girls Day"....and the idea sort of snowballed from there.        We have a local Nail Salon that I had all the girls dropped off at in the morning. My husband had gone a little ealier and brought a bunch of balloons and also brought each girl a different teen/celebrity magazine to read while waiting. My daughter and I arrived soon after for the big "SURPRISE!!!".  I think my daughter was quite pleased that we actually planned a secret party for her afterall.  The girls had fun getting their nails painted ($5.00 each) and gossiping abut the latest stories they read in their magazines. I live down the street from the nail salon so I ran home while they were getting "worked" on and whipped up a batch of frozen virin strawberry daiquiris. I got fancy plastic cups from the party goods store and poured each girl a glass and served it to them while they were "relaxing".      After the nails were done we headed home to a lunch I had already set up. It was our dining room table set up to look like a huge salad bar...with everything you could imagine on it!!  The girls loved creating thier own salads~ even more than I thought they would.  I had set up a separate table with my fine linens fresh flowers and crystal and the girls enjoyed their fancy lunch. For dessert I treated my daughter to a Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake....which was a special thrill. After all was over my husband and I drove each of the girls home.  From there I took my daughter to the mall where she got to spend the gift cards she had received from us for her birthday. She was "over the moon" about her very special day.  I know this sounds like a very simple idea but don't underestimate the impact of just gathering girls together. Limos trips spas are all wonderful ideas- but there is time for that.  They are only kids once....and the very best part about that is that it truly doesn't take much to please them.          "