18 Generic traditional 18’s to use:

18 Roses
18 Wishes
18 Candles
18 Treasures
18 Shots / Wines / Toasts
18 Cheers
18 Balloons
You can substitute 18 guitars, 18 songs, 18 albums, 18 favorite bands for your 18 roses and candles.
For your 18s, you can have your 18 favorite rock songs played while dancing with your 18 Roses.

Starry Starry Night

For a Star-themed debut party, you can replace 18 Candles with 18 Twinkles where you can stick some
paper stars on each candle for effect.
You can have 18 Magical Silver Dust where you can have your 18 wishes, make a speech and blow silver
dust for a magical effect.
You can substitute 18 Sparkles for your 18 roses where the guys will make a toast first before dancing with
you.

Tropical Birthday Bash

You can replace your 18 candles with 18 Bonfires, 18 Torches, 18 Tiki Torches or 18 Seashells, where you
can decorate the candles with small shells or put them on huge seashells for a beach effect.
For your 18 Torches, you can simply just decorate the candles so that they look like torches. You can also
have 18 Campfires, which your friends will light as they join together and bond. For your 18 Bonfires, your
friends will get a lighted log from the bonfire as they make their speech.
For your 18 roses, you can substitute them with 18 Leis, 18 Balloons, 18 Garlands or 18 Corals.
For 18 treasures, try 18 Treasure Chests, 18 Jewels or 18 Gems. You can also have 18 Seashells where
inside the seashells are wishes written on paper for the 18 treasures to read.
For 18 gifts, try 18 Cocktails where your 18s will make a speech, give a toast and then give you the gift.

For a Carribean / treasure hunt / Survivor theme, you can go for 18 flags for 18 candles where the 18s can
elaborate on some of your victories and good qualities. 18 tiki torches for 18 candles and 18 treasure chest
or 18 rewards for 18 gifts/treasures.

A Party that Rocks!

A cool rocker chic that you are deserves a party that spells attitude so do it the punk-rock way! Exude your
very own unique style and turn your 18th birthday party into a rock ‘n roll concert.
When inviting your family and friends, inform (or warn?) them that your theme is rock n’ roll. Ask them to
wear something cool, which is great for some people especially if they aren’t comfortable wearing formal
clothes. You may simply put “Wear ATTITUDE” in your invites and they’ll get the point – or call them up to
make sure that they do. Don that favorite outfit of yours and forget conventions for a while so that you can
truly enjoy this one-of-a-kind party.

Party Props:
A punk-rock debut party will never be complete without a band. Hire your favorite rock ‘n roll band for this
special day.
If you have a tight budget, ask your musician friends to play at your party instead. Let them sing your
favorite rock songs, better yet, play with the band yourself and show your talent to the rest of the world.
After all, you are 18 already! As society welcomes you, surprise them with what you have to offer.
Instead of numbering your guests tables, name them as your favorite bands and rock icons instead –
Nirvana, Silverchair, Pete Doherty, Chemical Romance, Paul McCartney, Arctic Monkeys, etc.
Decorate your venue with musical instruments. You can also display your own memorabilia if you want to
show off your items that you had your rock idols signed.
Print out a part of the lyrics of some famous rock / alternative songs and stick these pieces of paper to
your guests’ chairs. If they guess the song title or the artist who played it, they get a prize. Ask someone
to roam around the tables to get answers and give prizes. If a guest doesn’t know the song, he is allowed
to ask the people around him. This game is definitely perfect for guest interaction.
Have a Guitar Hero contest!
For your 18 roses, ask each of your boys to sing and dedicate a rock song for you before giving you the
rose. If they are too shy to sing, you may ask them to dance with you instead while the song plays in the
background.
Crafting a balanced program for you dream debut - Party time
party is not really as hard as it sounds. All it takes - Everyone dances
is a little imagination. There are endless
possibilities in creating a program for your dream
debut. A program can be as short as two hours or
as long as until wee hours of the night. You can go
as crazy as making everyone involved and
participate in different aspects of the program.

The following is a basic Debutante’s

program:
INTRODUCTION OF THE DEBUTANTE, HER ESCORT
AND HER COTILLION COURT
TOAST IN HONOR OF THE DEBUTANTE
WELCOME REMARKS (BY THE PARENTS)
INVOCATION OR PRAYER
DINING
FATHER & DAUGHTER DANCE
GRAND COTILLION WALTZ DANCE
18 ROSES DANCE
18 CANDLES PRESENTATION
SINGING OF TRADITIONAL DEBUTANTE’S BIRTHDAY
SONG
BLOWING OF THE CAKE CANDLES
CUTTING OF THE CAKE
18 TREASURES PRESENTATION
GAMES
A WORD FROM THE DEBUTANTE
TIME TO PARTY
The debutante’s program can also flow like
this:
- Guests arrive
- Welcoming of guests
- Ushering of guests by ushers to their designated
seats
- Cocktails for guests to mingle (so that they would
not mingle once the program starts, and to give
you ample time to prepare before your grand
entrance).
- After everyone has settled in their place, the host
will make mention of important people who graced
the occasion (if there are).
- At this point, cocktails are being served.
- Parents talk about debutante (brief summary)-
achievement, goals, ambitions, etc.
- Audio-visual presentation of debutante from
infancy to present.
- GRAND ENTRANCE of debutante
- Parents talk some more about the debutante
(optional)
- Toast in honor of the debutante
- Debutante speech
- Prayer
- Dining
- AVP of well wishers
- Father and daughter dance (This may also be
incorporated into the eighteen roses. Fathers are
usually the first or last dance of the debutante)
- Eighteen roses (speech and dance)
- Eighteen candles (speech)
- Singing of birthday song
- Cutting of birthday cake
- Games
- Introduction of the debutante, her escort and her
cotillion court
- GRAND COTILLION WALTZ DANCE
- Debutante’s thank you speech
Other variations may be the following:
* The host will have a talk, more of like an
introduction and a short summary of the program,
a little talk on what is in store for the guests so
that they would be enticed into finishing and
staying for the duration of the party and making
the party a success. The host need not mention
the juicy parts (those surprise numbers and
whatnots)
* For parents who are shy to talk in front of a
crowd, the host will do the introduction about the
debutante. There will be a little talk before the
debutante is introduced. Probably the host may
interview some guests and probably ask them
some unforgettable moments with the debutante.
* For the eighteen roses, each guy can give a note
for the host to read while they are dancing. This
can also be recorded and played together with the
background music while they dance.
* Cotillion can be danced at the end of the program
after which everybody may dance and which may
mark the start of the dancing.
* The father or parents of the debutante will talk
about the celebrant (you can make a Powerpoint or
Flash presentation for everyone to see that has
baby pictures or some important milestones of the
debutante’s life)
* Father dances with his daughter as a separate
part of the program.
* Escort/ bf takes debutante for a dance then
everyone dance after some time
* Some also incorporate 18 wines, 18 treasures, 18
gifts as a variation so that most of the guests
would be able to greet the debutante.
* Games are inserted on different parts of the
program.
Here is a more detailed flow of program but
the arrangement can be tweaked here and
there according to preference.
1. Registration/Arrival of Guests/Receiving of
gifts/Cocktails.
2. Settling of guests on their seats
3. Introduction by the emcee
4. Acknowledgment of the Parents and other VIPs
5. Introduction and entrance of the grand cotillion
6. GRAND ENTRANCE OF THE DEBUTANTE and her
escort (optional)
7. Welcome remarks and toast by the Parents
8. AVP of debutante (pictures from infancy to
present)
9. Grand cotillion
10. Invocation/Prayer before Meal
11. Dinner and pictorials
12. AVP of well-wishers
13. 18 ROSES
14. FATHER AND DAUGHTER DANCE
15. 18 CANDLES
16. Singing of birthday song, blowing of 18
CANDLES and cutting of birthday cake
17. GAMES
18. DEBUTANTE’s thank you speech
19. PARTY/Everybody on the dance floor

So remember, in making your program, list first

what part of the basic program you want to retain
or delete and then you can make your own
rendition according to your liking. Don’t make it
too long but don’t make it too short either. Create
a balanced program and be imaginative in adding
your own flavor into it. A debut party well thought
of is a debut party well remembered