Bday party sleepover advice please!

[Desnik]

This Sat. my DD will have her 12th Bday party with 10 of her friends. 7 of them will be sleeping over. The theme is "Hollywood Movie". We have all the decorations, even a red carpet! All the girls are dressing up like movie stars. I bought the snacks, will make cupcakes, will have pizza for dinner. But, I have no idea what to do with all these girls!lol The ones that can't sleep over will be here till 9pm(they are all arriving at 6pm). Any ideas or suggestions? DD said they would like to dance and maybe watch a movie later at night. But what else should we do?

 

[Glynis]

As the guests arrive, have their picture taken on the "red carpet". If you can, print them out as part of their take home stuff.

You could give them awards, like the Oscars for things like "best dressed", "best smile", "best pajamas," etc.

You could make up some kind of BINGO game about the movie they are going to watch.

You could give them tickets to use to purchase movie goodies (bags of popcorn, boxes of candy, drinks, etc.)

Let them make their own movies. Give them 10 minutes to practice a skit (remake of a fairy tale, or something original), then film it with a video camera that you can hook up to the tv to let them watch their own movies.

This is all I can come up with now, but I'll keep thinking.

 

[~disneydiva~]

http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/play_parties_11.html

here is one idea i found....
sounds like fun!

 

[suzannen]

My DD had some of her friends spend the night to watch the Oscars one year and my DH surprised them with the cutest thing. He found gold "Oscar" cookies at a bakery and then created categories and announced awards like "and the Oscar for the Best Curly Hair goes to" and named one of the girls. He'd present her with her Oscar and then pretend to be the paparazzi taking her picture. He created an original award for each girl, so each one got their moment in the spotlight. This was several years ago and the girls still talk about how much fun that was.

 

[NAB]

I noticed your dd is 12. I think you can just let her take the lead of what they want to do. Watch a movie, popcorn , dancing, etc. paint nail etc if that is what they are into. Play a game system if you have one. Or just plain hang out.

I don't think it needs to be so structured at that age.

 

[PebblesMK]

As the guests arrive, have their picture taken on the "red carpet". If you can, print them out as part of their take home stuff.

You could give them awards, like the Oscars for things like "best dressed", "best smile", "best pajamas," etc.
You could make up some kind of BINGO game about the movie they are going to watch.

You could give them tickets to use to purchase movie goodies (bags of popcorn, boxes of candy, drinks, etc.)

Let them make their own movies. Give them 10 minutes to practice a skit (remake of a fairy tale, or something original), then film it with a video camera that you can hook up to the tv to let them watch their own movies.


This is all I can come up with now, but I'll keep thinking.

We did this for my daughters "Beauty Pageant" birthday party when she turned 7. I hired my friends to do their hair and makeup and we had a bunch of dresses from my sister's high school dances (the short sequined type that are somewhat long on little girls). We had a talent show and a small beauty pageant. The girls were given awards. We had taken pictures individually with the birthday girl when they arrived and also when they were all gussied up, and then a big group picture. Those were put into the thank you cards at the end.

At 12, they may just want time to do their own thing and that's good too. I seem to always have a gaggle of girls over for sleep overs and get togethers and after being bombarded with "Can I help!?!?!" while making dinner or baking, I always have things on hand. I always have some small crafts that my kiddo has picked out (tye-dyed shirts, screenprinting shirts, suncatchers, weird little creatures made with pom poms and pipe cleaners) and I almost always have a baking project that they can help with. The favorite seems to be frosting cupcakes or sugar cookies. I know that doesn't really fit in with any "theme", but the kids LOVE it. I have the piping bags and different colors and TONS of sprinkles, the girls can take home their creations afterwards. We also do mini pizzas or some other simple meal that they can help make and also make it how they want.

I hope the party goes great! I know I'm always ready for a vacation after all the kids go home and I vow never to do it again...until the next weekend comes. Hahaha. Good luck!

 

[dizluvah]

As the guests arrive, have their picture taken on the "red carpet". If you can, print them out as part of their take home stuff.

You could give them awards, like the Oscars for things like "best dressed", "best smile", "best pajamas," etc.

Great ideas Glynis! The only suggestion I can add is another "keepsake" type of item - my niece loves those bead/jewelry kits from craft stores, etc. Each girl could make a friendship bracelet or beaded bracelet to bring home

 

[MelanieC]

As the guests arrive, have their picture taken on the "red carpet". If you can, print them out as part of their take home stuff.

You could give them awards, like the Oscars for things like "best dressed", "best smile", "best pajamas," etc.

You could make up some kind of BINGO game about the movie they are going to watch.

You could give them tickets to use to purchase movie goodies (bags of popcorn, boxes of candy, drinks, etc.)

Let them make their own movies. Give them 10 minutes to practice a skit (remake of a fairy tale, or something original), then film it with a video camera that you can hook up to the tv to let them watch their own movies.

This is all I can come up with now, but I'll keep thinking.

Wow - great ideas!!!

 

[laurie31]

I agree with less structure. Nothing's more frustrating that to have a bunch of stuff planned that they decide they don't want to do. At that age, they're happy to watch a movie, or just talk and "hang out." However, on the other hand, it's not a bad idea to have a few things planned too.

One thing we've done that has worked well is to tie dye shirts. When DD asked to do this, I was envisioning a huge mess and everyone with paint-stained hands, but they sell tie dye kits at WalMart (and I'm sure other places) that are not messy and very easy to do. We did it out in the driveway, so it was easy clean-up, and then the finished shirts were in lieu of a goody bag. They all wore them to school the following Monday. They turned out really cute and it was easy enough that the kids were able to do it all themselves, with me just supervising. The only thing with this is, you need to find out the girls' shrit sizes in advance and have the shirts ready. They sell them at Michael's for around $3.00 so it's not an expensive thing to do. You just have to prepare.

Or - if you don't want to bother with shirt sizes, you could do pillow cases. White pillow cases are cheap, and instead of tie dye, you could buy fabric markers and let the girls all sign each other's and decorate them. DD has been to a party where they did this and she still likes to use the pillow case she made. It's actually held up pretty well over many washings.

But they will be very happy with just listening to music and eating snacks. Lots of snacks.


ETA: I agree with the "pictures on the red carpet" idea - to go with that, you could buy unfinished frames for them to decorate, to put the pics in. Once again, they could either decorate with paint pens, or even glitter (if you have a tolerance for glitter in your house -lol) and things like fake jewels and pearls. Lots of bling.

 

[mjkacmom]

Honestly, by the time dd13 was 12, she was handling parties on her own - she'd just tell me what she wanted me to get. She and her friends have sleepovers a few times a month (at different homes), and who the heck knows what they do. Why don't you ask her?

 

[DizBelle]

One of those "Scene It" games seems appropriate for a Hollywood Movie party.

 

[mamacatnv]

Add a picture frame craft to frame those red carpet pix!

I like structure myself, I am kind of a control freak and having a house full of girls up all night is not part of my plan

Crafts, games and then wind down with movies and light snacks. Everyone gets their sleeping gear set up and into jammies, then we settle in around 10:30 or so for a good movie or 2.

Something I have done twice, the idea came from here on the Dis is Project Runway.
Divide the girls into teams, give them each a bag full of supplies, gift wrap, tape, scissors, ribbon etc. I don't use a time limit, they pick a "model" and then they design an outfit etc.
We encourage them to create accessories, hair treatments etc.

Then each team presents their outfit on their model on the runway, in your case the red carpet. I usually drag over a friend or 2 to help me judge etc. This is a ton of fun and the girls really like it.
My DD likes games and is usually in on the planning, I run them all by her for her approval first.

 

[walkerag]

Can't go wrong with Karaoke!

 

[luvmy3]

I noticed your dd is 12. I think you can just let her take the lead of what they want to do. Watch a movie, popcorn , dancing, etc. paint nail etc if that is what they are into. Play a game system if you have one. Or just plain hang out.

I don't think it needs to be so structured at that age.

ITA, when dd has a sleepover or goes to one, they really tend to do their own thing and hang out, watch movies, play games and gossip . I miss the days when she was younger and I planned crafts, activities and games for them

Glynis, you do have some great ideas and I bet they would love to do them.

 

[mom2travel]

Pics as they walk in are a great idea. I always like to have a craft for the girls to do as they arrive - fills in some time and allows for latecomers before gettting started on the main party stuff. I bet they would enjoy decorating the cupcakes too.

DD10s party is next weekend. She is having the girls decorate totes (we usually do something they can carry their "loot" home in). Our plan is crafts, dinner, dessert, games, movie, bed. Some of the games will be for prizes (I hit the dollar spots in various stores for inexpensive stuff they will use - hair stuff, pencils, markers, lotion, nail polish, etc). Others will be just for fun. They never get to old (yet!) for limbo and freeze dance.

I am all for letting them "do their own thing" if that is what the birthday child prefers. But it is a good idea to have some ideas in reserve in case they run out. Have fun!

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

I just had a big 10th bday party for DD. She had 12 girls over and about 6 of them stayed. Since it was a big year, I hired a lady who does mani/pedi/facials for the girls and they loved it. I don't have a party every year (we just do cake and close friends/family) so it cost $350 for the service but it was worth it. The girls took a long time getting their stuff done and watching their friends get their nails/feet/facials done. I bought the personal size, ready-made pizza breads and had them put on their own toppings and I had a small chocolate fountain and they went nuts dipping strawberries, bananas and pineapple chunks in it. Other than that, they ran around having pillow fights, playing rock band and they watched Enchanted. Oh, I also bought those cheap foam door hanger kits and the girls decorated their own door hangers.

Let them do things at their own pace and they'll have a ball. I was told it was the BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY they had ever been too!! That made me feel really good. I even had one girl who couldn't sleep over, come back the next morning for breakfast with the girls.

 

[Desnik]

Holy cow!!! I can't believe all of these great ideas you all came up with! Thank you all sooooo much!!! I'm going to let DD read these and see what she would like to do.

Another thing, DH and I don't eat breakfast so we really don't have things like bacon, sausage, pancakes, etc... I don't even know how to cook a proper breakfast! (our kids will usually eat cereal, poptarts, or frozen waffles, toaster stroudle, etc....) So what do I feed these kids for breakfast? When I went to pick up DD from the last sleepover party the mom had a full spread like they were at a B&B! Homemade mini pancakes, fresh fruit, bacon, sausage, toast, scrambled eggs. I told DD can't we just get dunkin donuts?

 

[NAB]

Holy cow!!! I can't believe all of these great ideas you all came up with! Thank you all sooooo much!!! I'm going to let DD read these and see what she would like to do.

Another thing, DH and I don't eat breakfast so we really don't have things like bacon, sausage, pancakes, etc... I don't even know how to cook a proper breakfast! (our kids will usually eat cereal, poptarts, or frozen waffles, toaster stroudle, etc....) So what do I feed these kids for breakfast? When I went to pick up DD from the last sleepover party the mom had a full spread like they were at a B&B! Homemade mini pancakes, fresh fruit, bacon, sausage, toast, scrambled eggs. I told DD can't we just get dunkin donuts?

Kids would love your breakfast....some probably don't get that stuff at home.

I'm sure she will have a great party no matter what...what is not to love it is a big play date that goes on a long time.

 

[Glynis]

Holy cow!!! I can't believe all of these great ideas you all came up with! Thank you all sooooo much!!! I'm going to let DD read these and see what she would like to do.

Another thing, DH and I don't eat breakfast so we really don't have things like bacon, sausage, pancakes, etc... I don't even know how to cook a proper breakfast! (our kids will usually eat cereal, poptarts, or frozen waffles, toaster stroudle, etc....) So what do I feed these kids for breakfast? When I went to pick up DD from the last sleepover party the mom had a full spread like they were at a B&B! Homemade mini pancakes, fresh fruit, bacon, sausage, toast, scrambled eggs. I told DD can't we just get dunkin donuts?

For breakfast, I would probably just go to Costco and get some muffins. That with juice, and some cut up fruit would be it for me. Maybe hot cocoa or chocolate milk. My kids would think they'd died and gone to heaven if I let them have donuts for breakfast!!! Of course, we don't have Dunkin Donuts, so it would have to be Krispy Kreme, and DH would have to leave early to get them hot and ready for me!

 

[Desnik]

Thanks for the advice!

I will get some muffins, cinnamon rolls, mini powdered donuts, fruit, juice and milk for breakfast.

For dinner I will get garlic knots, mozzarella sticks and pizza with juice and ice tea. I have cupcakes and cookies for dessert. For snacks I have tortilla chips with salsa sauce, chips, pretzels and onion dip, popcorn(with the cute popcorn holders). Gummy sour patch kids, swedish fish, all kinds of chocolate candy like kisses, m&m's, etc...

I showed DD this thread and she loved all the ideas here! So we have decided what they will do. Now I had to make it a bit organized because some girls are not staying over so I want them to have enough to do together before some have to leave. also, I am a very organized person a a bit of a control freak! So here is what we are planning:

6pm: Girls arrive, serve light snacks, have music playing

6:15pm: Red Carpet picture taking! DH will print each girls picture out so they can have that as a keepsake.

Then we will do dinner and dessert and then open presents.

Next will be dancing, maybe freeze dance too.

DD loved the "Project Runway" idea so that is what they will do next! We are really excited about this and will give awards for the best outfit, craziest, or most original!

Then she wants to do a craft but hasn't decided if it will be the decorate a pillow case or make/decorate a frame craft.

*By the time the craft is over some of the girls will go home.
The rest will then get on their PJ's and get ready to watch a movie. Haven't decided which movie yet! Then we will do the idea suggested and give out tickets so they can use them and go to our "concession stand" and get some candy, popcorn and other snacks.

Then I will go pass out!