Holidays Barbies

Holidays Barbies

I have a 13 yr old cousin that will visiting for the holidays. What are some activities I should plan?

My cousin is visiting (3 weeks) from boarding school. I know that she is too old for Barbies and American Girl stuff. What are some age appropriate activities that 13 years olds enjoy?

Nice of you to be putting thought into making her visit fun for her. Well, your best bet is probably to make a list of possible activities, then when your cousin arrives, start with...

Take her to lunch, or to a coffee shop for cocoa, and get to know her better. Ask about her life, what she enjoys, and listen (everybody likes to be thought of as interesting, but how many of us honestly listen during conversations?). Does she like sports? Which ones? There are probably skateboarding parks, places to bicycle, ice rinks, etc.

Books? What kind of books? That tells you a lot about what she might enjoy. Movies? Music? Cooking?

Basically, what you do with a 13-year-old is what you do with a 30-year-old, just keep bad language/nudity/explicit sex out of it. Not trying to be smartass here - it's true. If she likes crafts, you can take a craft class at the local craft store (lots of stores have 1-time classes in things where you make something and take it home).

Is she a "girly" girl? Find the local tea shop (if you live in a med-large city, there's a tea shop in town, many have "high tea" where you dress up).

Other ideas:

Miniature golf
Museums - especially the science museums with hands-on exhibits, like San Francisco's Exploratorium, but also art museums - they often have self-guided cd tours and even if you don't like a piece, you can talk about (what the heck do you think it is?) it.
Batting cages, skate parks
Farms usually have corn mazes you can walk through, and hay rides
Zoos
Theme Parks
Fashion shows (most department stores start holding them around the holidays)
Community festivals (for example, the Greek Food Festival, the Hmong Festival)
Poetry and/or music open mics
Pottery stores - usually have "come in and paint something" feature where you decorate a piece and they fire it for you
Community classes - candle making, jewelry making (also bead shops often will help you select beads and teach you to string a necklace)

What you do depends on the outcome of Activity #1 - Find Out What She Likes. Hope you have fun -- good luck!