Do 7 y.o. boys do sleepovers?

[jfranklyn]

I'm trying to find an inexpensive way to throw a fun birthday party for my son who will be 7. But I don't have alot of experience with boys this age. I was thinking of letting him have about 10 kids over for a sleepover. But do boy's "do" sleepovers? Or is that only a girl thing? I know it would be mayhem, and I'm probably crazy for even trying. And if I do this, it has to be boys only, right? Even at this age I shouldn't mix the boys and girls? What's your experience with this type of thing?

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Some do some don't. To be honest I don't know any parent who lets their 7 year old sleep anywhere but home.

 

[RadioNate]

My DS is 8 and doesn't do sleepovers. He has slept over with a close family friend (think cousin-ish) but not with friends from school. The only boys I know who do 1 on 1 sleepovers are the ones with older sisters.

I haven't heard of any group sleepover birthday parties.

 

[Kimberle]

Do a "pretend sleepover". The kids love 'em at this age. Have them dropped off at 5 or 6 pm. They bring their jammies, sleeping bag, blanket, etc. Have dinner (pizza, chick nuggets, whatever). Have some time for games/play. Have them change into their jammies and settledown on their sleeping bag/blanket in the living room. Turn off the lights, pop in a movie. After the movie, the parent pick up their sleepy kids (8 or 9 pm) and take 'em home.

I think 7 is to young for actual sleepovers.

 

[Allison]

Both boys and girls do sleepovers in my area.

 

[hegsag]

Do a "pretend sleepover". The kids love 'em at this age. Have them dropped off at 5 or 6 pm. They bring their jammies, sleeping bag, blanket, etc. Have dinner (pizza, chick nuggets, whatever). Have some time for games/play. Have them change into their jammies and settledown on their sleeping bag/blanket in the living room. Turn off the lights, pop in a movie. After the movie, the parent pick up their sleepy kids (8 or 9 pm) and take 'em home.

Yes, I also have heard that kids love this!

 

[Nascia]

DS7 - turning 8 is having a sleepover birthday next weekend. He's having about 6 boys sleepover. We're planning a Wii tournament and some other fun party games. He's also having some girls over but they'll only be here from 5 -8. DS12 had sleepovers since 2nd grade as well. Around here it's not uncommon for boys to stay at their friends houses.

 

[bgirl29]

Personally I prefer for my children to wait until they are a little older than 7 for sleepovers. But unlike everyone else that has posted so far I know that I am the oldball around here and most of my childrens friends were having sleepovers, lots of sleepovers, at 7.

 

[ICEMANPAD]

Our DS has had friends sleep over and has attended sleepovers since age 7. We hosted sleepover parties for him for both his 9th and 10th birthdays!!

 

[Sleepy]

Definitely at an older age! The kids have a blast. You think girls can be loud and chatty. They raid the fridge and cabinets, play video games, watch tv, etc. Nothing like hearing boys rough housing in the livingroom at 2am. My house used to be the weekend hangout. They loved the breakfast I prepared the next morning....bacon, eggs, fried potatoes, toast, pancakes, etc. It was a lot of work, but we all enjoyed it.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

Everyone I know does sleepovers at that age - the boys have a blast.

 

[clarabelle]

Whatever you decide -I just want to put in a vote for making sure they sleep.
I know some people think that is the point of a sleepover -letting them say up as late as they want.
I personally hate it when that happens. Once my DD went to a huge sleepover where they wound up getting about 2 hours sleep (they were about 9 y.o.)
It ruined the next day -and she was still feeling the effects the following day as well.
I think you can relax the rules a bit and make if fun without effecting the whole weekend.

 

[RunningGirl]

Our DS did sleepovers at that age, but never with 10 boys! Usually it was with 2 or 3 of his good friends. They would play roller hockey in the driveway under the lights or kick the can. Then they'd be inside doing Playstation tournaments. In the morning we'd feed them pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage and they'd be outside again.

 

[ICF]

My 7 year old has slept at other peoples houses with no issues, and kids have slept over at ours.

However....I wouldn't expect it to go well with 10 kids. IMO, that's way too many. Can you just do it with a few kids spending the night so you have only 5 total kids?

 

[LuvOrlando]

You can do it, but it's an iffy age. Part of it is some kids aren't ready and the other part is some parents aren't ready. For these kids you can offer a late night party with their PJ's and Mom or Dad can come and get the child whenever they want. I found it was best to bring this up right away so kids didn't say no to avoid embarrassment and ruin my child's party. Also, it is best to include whatever movies etc might be playing at the party on the invitation and the food to be served... No matter how careful you are you will probably end up with one parent having a hissy fit over something you think is completely normal so full disclosure avoids that.

 

[golfgal]

It has been our experience that most kids are perfectly fine for a sleepover by age 7-but then again, we live in an area where kids can play outside without the police force having to watch them constantly too. For the one or two kids that aren't good with sleepovers by that age they generally come for the party and leave before "bed time".