I was waiting to see if anyone had anything to say. While I don't do things at such wee hours like in the movie "Before Sunrise," I think only things open at these hours are night clubs. I don't think there is much Switzerland about these kind of venues. If you are flying back into US from Zurich, from any oversea airport for that matter, expect a lengthy check-in process, so you really don't have that much time.

What is your vision of Switzerland? Cities? High mountains and lakes? If you vision is the latter, you cannot do this in 12 hrs in the middle of the night.

Unless there is a significant cost savings, I schedule out this kind of hard to use layover in the middle of the night, as all I incur is an additional night stay and food cost in a place I can't do anything. When I have to have a long layover, I play with my itinerary to extend the layover to as as long as possible, often over 22 hours, so I have enough time to visit places.

One place you can all enjoy as a family together is the beer hall within easy walk from the train station. You can eat cheap dinner and enjoy the germanic ambiance with the folksy live band playing nightly till close to midnight on Sundays & workdays, but the place remains open till 3 am on Friday & Saturday. Not sure if I would send my 15 year old to clubs, maybe an 18yr old.
http://www.bierhalle-wolf.ch/videos.html

Just take the train from the airport to the Zurich hauptbahnhof and cross the bridge on your left when you come out (Bahnhofbruecke) to get to Niederdorf.
Niederdorf is full of cafes, fast food, restaurants and teenager shops. Cheap hotels abound and it's safe.

You can also stay near the airport and check out this place for dinner:
http://www.alpenrockhouse.com/Restaurant/Nachtrestaurant.aspx
It has a club for your teenager:
http://www.alpenrockhouse.com/Club/Programm.aspx
http://www.facebook.com/alpenrockhouse

Thanks for the suggestions....at least I have some options.

I honestly don;t know how you would stay up all night in Switzerland. Typically restaurants close by 10 pm - 11 at the latest - and there's not a lot of nightlife most places. and you certainly can;t do alp hiking or lake steamers in the middle of the night.

The problem is not the age of your kids - but what is available and the cost. (I'm sure there are a few very expensive clubs - but they may be by membership - and drinks (even soft) would cost a fortune.)

I would think everyone is better off getting a good night's sleep after a decent late dinner.

Zürich has some of the best nightlife in Europe - no kidding, travel journals (probably not the American ones, thus you guys don't know ...) rave about it. There are lots of nightclubs, discos, pubs, bars ... The problem is that a 15 year old will hardly have access to the best places (age restrictions). Also, it's not exactly inexpensive.

Most nightlife takes places in the Niederdorf (right bank of the old town), but even more exciting are the clubs in Zürich-West, a former industrial/proletarian district.

You don't say when you'll be in Zürich. In summer there are lots of places along the river and the lake that are open till late night/early morning. Beaches turn into nightclubs, open-air cinema, ...