If you’re looking for a campy, girly, and fun summer birthday party theme for a soon-to-be 12-year-old, a Parent Trap-themed sleepover might just be the perfect answer! We recently transformed our pool area into “Camp Adalyn” for my daughter’s birthday, inspired by the classic Parent Trap movie starring Lindsay Lohan—and it turned out to be the sweetest summer birthday celebration! Think: swimming, s’mores, pizza, crafts, card games, an outdoor movie, ice cream cake, and lots of little details inspired by the movie. It was part pool party-part summer camp, mixed in with Parent Trap nostalgia—and the girls (and adults!) had the best time.

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Twelve is such a special milestone—definitely childhood sweetness mixed in with growing independence! I honestly couldn’t imagine a more perfect way to celebrate than with a weekend full of friends spending time outdoors enjoying each other’s company. Throughout my post, I’ll be sharing all of the details—from invitations and decorations to food, activities, crafts, and all the little Parent Trap-inspired touches that truly made this birthday party one to remember!

“Calling All Campers!“

Our whole party was built around the idea of a “summer camp” sleepover, with The Parent Trap as our inspiration. My daughter has gotten pretty good with using Canva, so she designed this lovely invitation for herself for her party that you see below! I’ll soon be linking it on my Etsy shop, if anyone is interested in using her template that she created! I was so proud of how it came out and loved that she took ownership with this part of party prep/planning!

Parent Trap Party Decor

For our party’s décor, I wanted to keep things playful and camp-inspired with gingham tablecloths, bunting banner, and these adorable gingham-style plates, layered on top of wooden rounds plates, adding bandanas and scattering playing cards on the table. On top of the gingham tablecloth, I layered some Kraft paper to break up some of the green and to prevent it from being too much green. On the supply table I used this really cute and reusable (washable) multi-colored gingham tablecloth, which my daughter really loved. Of course, we cannot forget about all the lizards that I hot glue-gunned to the Evian bottles, reminiscent of the silly hiking scene in the movie! My 2-year old quickly became obsessed with the lizards insisting that he have them when the party was over. I gladly obliged.

I came across an adorable red battery-powered lantern on sale at a gift shop in my town the week leading up to the party. As with all of my other parties and events that I host, I always shop my house first: looking for anything and everything that can help support the theme. In this case, anything woodsy, natural wood-looking, or outdoorsy. I had a few little battery-powered candles I used for the table.

Pool Party!

Because this was a summer birthday, we wanted to take full advantage of our pool area. We strung outdoor lights under our pergolas (something we had been meaning to do for years but just never got around to it!) This was the kick in the pants we needed to finally do it, and what a difference it made! Of course we had the Parent Trap soundtrack playing throughout the party along with some of our other favorite music playlists that everyone loves like “Forrest Frank“.

One of my very favorite details of the party decor was this customized “Camp Adalyn” sign that I hung above the food table. It immediately made the space feel like a real summer camp—and tied together the whole vibe I was going for!

A Parent Trap Party Outfit

I always love to buy something special for my birthday girl/boy to wear, so we found this adorable t-shirt — comfy to wear most of the party when not in her swimsuit – and perfectly themed! My daughter had it tucked away in her drawer excited and ready to wear for months!

To streamline your Parent Trap Party, here is everything I used SHOP HERE

This adorable personalized “Camp Walden-style” pennant flag pictured below I purchased here.

Annie: “At home, I eat them with peanut butter.”

Hallie: “You do? That is so weird!”

Annie: “Most people find that totally disgusting.”

Hallie: “I know, I don’t get it.

“If your mom is my mom, and my dad is your dad, and we’re both born on October 11, then we’re like sisters.”

The Perfect “Tween” Crafts That Doubled as Party Favors

As part of our craft/party favors, I hung up vintage-looking camp keychains along with sweet little “Cuppy”-style plushies on a small display. Next, I added small signage saying “Bunk Assignments,” plus printed photos from different iconic scenes of the movie. The cute little keychains were intended to go along with both crafts we were doing at the party: tie-dye tote bags and lip gloss charms!

“Yo, tie-dye girl!”- Hallie Parker

Parent Trap Party Crafts: Tie-Dye Tote Bags & Lip Gloss Charms!

First off, let me tell you that both of these crafts were E-P-I-C. Especially for the age group of this party (9-13 year olds) they were absolutely perfect! My daughter mentioned that one of her friends said that she had so much fun doing them, she wanted to copy the crafts for her own birthday! I must also admit that once the party was over, I had my own fun the following evening putting together my own lip gloss charms with the leftovers, and have been using it since. Is that ok for a 40 year old??! I don’t know, but I don’t really care. LOL.

Less-Messy Tie-Dye

I love when party favors are things kids can actually use, so we had our crafts double as the favors. Tie-dying feels super “campy” to me. However, when I first considered doing the tie-dye I thought of how messy it could get and changed my mind. UNTIL… I discovered these awesome tie-dye sprays! Unsure of how tie-dying heavier canvas material would work with our tote bags, we did a test-run. We quickly discovered they were too thick for the common scrunched tie-dye effect. That’s when we had to get creative and come up with some other way of using the sprays on the bags, so we printed out vinyl stickers in shapes. The girls would spray around the shapes almost like an inverted stencil-effect.

The shapes I created and printed for each of the girls were things that reminded me of their interests and personalities: one girl loves her corgi pup, so I printed out a corgi shape; my daughter and her friends love bunnies, so I printed out a bunch of bunnies. Once stickers were removed, they left an imprint amongst all the fun colors.

As you can see, each and every one of them came out lovely and unique! All the girls just loved them and put their own twist on them. At the end of the party, I attached their bandanas on the straps to take home. The best part of all was that they got to spend time making memories personalizing and creating everything together!

Lip Gloss Charms

These seem to be all the rage lately! My daughter actually found the idea on Pinterest and did one herself without a kit, just with some random charms she had in her room and a lipgloss she already had. I knew right away this would be something the girls would probably enjoy. Anything they can personalize, customize…

This particular keychain-making kit had SO many cute charms! I provided these lip glosses since they were the most clean-ingredient, affordable option to be buying in bulk. I didn’t mind spending a little extra since I knew this craft was also doubling as the party favor. My daughter set everything up so it was ready to go on a little table in the “isolation tent”!

The “Isolation Cabin” aka “Isolation Tent”

One of my favorite Parent Trap details was our version of the famous isolation cabin. Except ours wasn’t exactly a cabin—it was a tent! A good friend of mine casually mentioned that she had a great tent her family rarely used, so I took her up on her offer to borrow it. While I wasn’t too sure whether or not they’d be brave enough to sleep in it overnight, we knew either way the kids would have a blast playing in it and hanging out.

Game Time

Throughout the afternoon and into the night, they played card games, did crafts, and had little hangout sessions. Card game favorites included UNO , Uno Flip , Name That Puppy and Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza!

Naturally, this “isolation cabin” needed snacks. We put out a healthier version of Oreos along with peanut butter, which was a fun way to incorporate one of the most memorable elements of The Parent Trap!

The Parent Trap Movie Under the Stars

As the evening wound down, we transformed the pool area into an outdoor movie theater, thanks to our local library’s lending program where we were able to borrow an outdoor projector system. We screened the classic 1998 Parent Trap movie starring Lindsay Lohan of course; and while they watched, they got to do some night-swimming and made smores around the fire-pit.

One of my good friends even happened to have one of those old-fashioned stand-alone popcorn makers, which she brought along with her. Freshly popped popcorn for an outdoor Parent Trap screening? Yes, please! We used organic corn kernels and extra-virgin coconut oil. The kids all just stood around watching the magic happen! I think my 3-year old got the biggest kick out of it!

There was something especially fun about watching the movie outdoors, and thankfully, the weather was so mild and couldn’t have been any more summer perfect! So grateful! The girls spent lots of time swimming in the pool and relaxing in the hot tub, which gave them plenty of unstructured time to just hang out together. For a group of 12-year-olds, I think this was definitely one of the most important parts of the entire party!

Don’t Forget the Famous Handshake!

Of course, we couldn’t have a Parent Trap party without the special handshake. I printed it out so the girls could learn it and try it themselves, which turned into a very entertaining activity. Watching them all attempt the handshake together was definitely the cutest thing ever.

“Being young and beautiful is not a crime!” -Meredith Blake

We also created a little photo opportunity with fun sayings printed from the movie. And we brought out our Instax camera so the girls could take little Polaroid-style photos throughout the night. It was really sweet watching them all group together to take photos with the props. They had so much fun!

The instant photos always end up being such a fun keepsake from the party. I think the hardest part is divvying them up at the end because they all turn out SO CUTE!

Parent Trap Party Food

For food, we kept things super easy and kid-friendly with pizza. Then came the dessert that has become one of our favorite summer birthday traditions: ice cream cake from our delicious local creamery. When I ordered the cake I specifically asked them to not decorate it at all, but to leave it blank so that I could decorate it with these adorable and on-theme mini camping decorations! I also put together a tray of marshmallows, chocolate, organic “Oreos” and peanut butter for making smores!

The Morning After the Party

I think it goes without saying, most of the girls only got a couple hours of sleep and were up late into the night bedazzling everything and anything they could get their hands on. They ended up sleeping in our attic, and the following morning I made them all pancakes and eggs for breakfast. Next, in true “camp” form – they began outdoor activities such as sack racing, and driving around our quads and go-carts around the property.

Camp Adalyn Officially in Session

What I loved most about this party was that it didn’t feel overly structured, which feels right as kids get older and don’t need you as much. (Cue the tears!!!) We created a beloved theme and filled the time with lots of fun things to do. The girls swam, snacked, played games, made crafts, watched the movie, took pictures, and simply hung out. Isn’t that exactly what you want for a 12th birthday!?

A little nostalgia, tons of laughter, plenty of food, and a group of beautiful young ladies making memories together. Camp Adalyn was officially in session—and I definitely think that I might have had just as much fun setting it all up as the “campers” did!

Check out some more Fern party inspiration HERE!