DD turns 18 soon and they have a pretty good size group of kids they all hang out with. Not alot of the boyfried/girlfriend thing but just a bunch of high school kids doing movies/dinner/hanging out at each others houses. I thought it would be fun to have a way different party than the going out to eat that they usually do.
One of the gals had a scavenger hunt a few years ago and I could do that. Someone here had suggested "the ultimate race" game for her daughters party and not sure if she ever did this. I have never really watched this and don't know the concept. Any clue on how to set this up or any ideas on what I can do for her but still not cost me a ton of money? TIA

Are you sure she wants a birthday party? No offense, but 18 seems a little old to have Mom organizing a birthday party. I know I would have died of embarrassment.

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You could do a photo scavenger hunt.
If there's enough kids, divide them into teams and give them a set amount of time to find various things. This could be done in a mall (most malls have no problem with you taking pictures outside of stores. Inside the stores, you usually have to ask the individual stores...or be discrete...call the mall first).
When I did this with our church's high school youth group, we had the kids take pictures of like "someone asleep" (had to be really asleep, not just someone pretending). "A group doing YMCA" with bonus points for the number of people who weren't in your group. The highest "percentage off" sign. The most different types of napkins and/or straws. Nutrional information from a restaurant with bonus points for the highest calorie count. After we were done, we came back and showed the pictures (downloaded onto a computer and projected on the wall, but there's lots of ways you could make this work), totaled up points and awarded prizes. All of the kids as well as us adults had a great time.

Another option, if it's the right group of kids, would be to throw a birthday party like you would for a six year old. Make everyone wear party hats and play silly kids games (just make sure you're outside or have enough room inside. Older high school kids need lots of room for duck-duck-goose as it usually ends up being the tackle version.). Depending on your budget, bounce houses can usually accomodate at least a few adult sized people at a time and are a blast. 18 is about the right age for this as the generally kids have emerged from the "pod person" stage and enjoy the chance to be kids again and take a break from thinking about the real, adult world.
Or, if you get really inventive, you could have a "birthday party through the years". Doing things/playing games suitable for various ages from 1 through 18. 1 could be eating cake without utensils (bonus points for the messiest face). 5 could be egg on a spoon relay races. 14 or so is "spin the bottle" (with hugs substituted for kisses if that's more approriate). And so on. Again, it would have to be the right group of kids to do this. But it could be a lot of fun.

What awesome ideas, thanks, they did a scavenger hunt last year for someone elses "party" and had a blast. You have a whole different set of ideas, that would be the easiest, and probably funnest for them.

jujubee-Everyone needs to feel special on thier birthday, regardless of the age.
This is an awesome group of kids that love an excuse to get together, There will be food (what teenage boy doesn't love food!! not to mention the girls) and of course a birthday cake. Guess it would be no different than having a party for someone older than 18. Thanks though for the input.