In case you missed the first two "installments" for how to throw a great teen girl's birthday party, click here for the first and here for the second. As promised, here are a few final notes to ensure the ultimate success of your teen's birthday party.

Plan on plenty of snacks:

• If you put out veggies with dip, they will gobble them up just as if you had put out chips.
• Be sure to have some fruit cut up, too. Apples will go over great if you serve them with some sort of dip, too. Caramel is extra yummy with apples and pears this time of year.
• The Birthday Girl can make a batch of brownies, and her friends will love them.
• The ice cream cake is all the rage at our house.

Forget the whole party favor bag, and make everyone a party CD instead. Either have the birthday child select the songs and burn the CD's, or let each party guest choose one or two songs to be included on the CD. This makes a nice memento of the party and seems to be popular with both of my girls and their friends.

A scavenger hunt can be a total blast. Didn't you just love those when you were a kid? Some of my girls' best parties have included a wild scavenger hunt. This can be included as part of any party at your home. Divide into two or three teams with a list of items to find like the following:

• grocery list
• Frito
• paper clip
• coupon
• Baby Blues (or other of bday girl's choosing) comic strip
• penny
• pen with an advertisement on the side
• dryer sheet
• Zip-lock baggie
• # 2 pencil
• marshmallow
• plastic spoon
• movie ticket stub
• gum wrapper
• piece of string
• photograph of a boy
• dryer lint
• receipt
• M&M
• twist-tie

Do make sure that guests know whether they are being fed meals at your house or not. This can be a cause for confusion and discomfort for parties that start around the dinner hour. Some people are too embarrassed to ask if dinner is included, and their kid will show up completely full just when you're pulling the pizza out of the oven. Put all of the pertinent details on the invitation.

Don't worry about making your humble abode spotless. Guess what? Teens don't do the white glove test. Trust me. Make sure the toilet's clean and there's hand soap in the bathrooms. Other than that, you're covered. No, really.

I think that's it. As I am sure you have surmised by now, we do not subscribe to the "going all out" My Super Sweet 16 theory of birthday parties. I'm all for fun, but I don't want my kids to think that the world revolves around them. In my opinion, spending a thousand dollars or more on a birthday party for a kid sends the wrong message. Someday, when my girls get married (a mother can dream...), I will plan to spend a lot more money, but for now, I want them to have fun without breaking the bank. Whether we could afford it or not, it's just so "over the top" to do the whole "DJ, huge bash, rent the hall/country club" kind of affair.

I'd love to hear your ideas for parties that went well for you. Bring 'em on! And if you disagree with me, that's ok, too. I can take it.