Need slumber party ideas

[Tosie]

Dd will be turning 10 in October and is now old enough (in my eyes) to start having sleepovers.

We were wondering if any of you sleepover veterans had some fun, original ideas for activities, games, themes, etc.

The girls who will be attending are 9 and 10 years old. They like all the typical stuff girls that age like.

We appreciate any and all feedback - what worked and didn't work for you.

We're thinking it will start around 6 pm and end the following day around 11 am.

Thank you!!

 

[golfgal]

Usually by that age we pretty much had some food on hand, set up the tv room with their sleeping bags and let them have fun. The kids were pretty good at coming up with their own things to do so we didn't "'plan" anything.

Starting at 6 is an awkward time unless you are planning on serving dinner (and I would say so in the invite). If you don't want to serve dinner, start at 7. I also think 11 is plenty late the next morning too, you could push that back to 10 and be fine.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

One thing we've done is borrowed a digital projector from my DH's work, and then hung a sheet in the room the kids are sleeping in as a screen. The kids feel like they have their own private movie theatre as they lie on the floor in their sleeping bags watching movies, eating popcorn, etc. All in all, a pretty low-cost party that's a lot of fun.

 

[PirateSnowmen]

Usually by that age we pretty much had some food on hand, set up the tv room with their sleeping bags and let them have fun. The kids were pretty good at coming up with their own things to do so we didn't "'plan" anything.

Starting at 6 is an awkward time unless you are planning on serving dinner (and I would say so in the invite). If you don't want to serve dinner, start at 7. I also think 11 is plenty late the next morning too, you could push that back to 10 and be fine.

I agree. I've never hosted a sleepover for a kid (since I don't have any and don't plan to for a long time), but I had a sleepover party for my 7th or 8th birthday (can't remember which) and I've been to quite a few other sleepover parties.

I don't remember my parents ever really planning anything for my sleepover party - I just remember setting our sleeping bags up in the living room in front of the tv, watching a movie (one of the Home Alone movies) and then entertaining ourselves until we fell asleep. The next morning my parents got breakfast for all of us and then the kids left. I remember them having to leave a bit early because it was Sunday morning and many of them had to get to church.

At other sleepovers, I don't remember anything being planned either. I do remember playing flashlight tag at most of the parties, but we always came up with things to do. The parents usually just left us alone (supervised from afar). Being girls, we never did anything other than talk or watch movies.

If you don't mind feeding the kids, I say start the party around 5 or 6. If you don't want to feed them, start it around 7 and maybe just feed them some cake for dessert. I also agree that 10 would probably be a better option for the ending time: the kids will likely be tired and cranky, especially as lunch-time nears

 

[Bastiansmom]

When I was in 2nd grade I went to a slumber party and her mom made a menu for us so we could "order" breakfast. It was actually a really simple menu: a couple kinds of cereal, bagels, yogurt, cream cheese, fruit, juice, and milk. Basically continental breakfast, but we got to order it. I was so impressed by this at that age... I want to have a little girl so we can do this at a slumber party (I don't know how interested DS7 would be).

BTW, over 20 years later I am still great friends with the party hostess.

 

[KitKat_Tink]

maybe get some 'spa' items?

like do facials and paint nails.
You can get some cheap stuff from CVS and target.

Those were always hits when I was little. But I also hung out with a girly bunch so it depends on the kids really.

Board games were always a hit.

Cupcake decorating was fun. Or sugar cookies.
You pre make the cupcake or cookie and then give them the icing and sprinkles to decorate with.

Sleepovers generally are unstructured parties. You don't need much except something incase the girls run out of ideas.

 

[golfgal]

When I was in 2nd grade I went to a slumber party and her mom made a menu for us so we could "order" breakfast. It was actually a really simple menu: a couple kinds of cereal, bagels, yogurt, cream cheese, fruit, juice, and milk. Basically continental breakfast, but we got to order it. I was so impressed by this at that age... I want to have a little girl so we can do this at a slumber party (I don't know how interested DS7 would be).

BTW, over 20 years later I am still great friends with the party hostess.

VERY cute idea and simple.. easy to make on a computer now too. Maybe you could have them decorate some plates or something to use at breakfast and then they can take them home. There has to be a kit or something at the craft store for this.

 

[jfoofj]

I had a sleepover sometime in the 80's.... I'm thinking it was my 11th bday. My parents were in the process of remodeling our family room, and it had that horrid fake wood paneling that was so popular in the late 60's/70's. My mom gave us free reign to write/paint/whatever all over the wood paneling since it was going to be torn down the following week. The family room was empty except for our sleeping bags, and boy did we have a blast. I wish my mom had thought to take pictures.

 

[MomofKatie]

Slumber parties, especially for the over 8 set, don't really need a theme or much preplanned stuff. The kids usually take care of that themselves.

For a birthday, however, you could have one or 2 simple things set up to do. DD has had sleepovers for the last 4 birthdays, so we have done lots of different things. The most popular were:

- tye dyeing Ts- we did it in the driveway before the sun went down
- decorating tote bags with fabric markers, glue on jewels, sequins, etc. Mostly, the girls decorated them a bit, then made the bags into "autograph" souvenirs.
- giving each girl a goody bag of nail polish, emery board, and nail stickers and doing mani/pedis.
- make it yourself pizzas for dinner. I got a bunch of personal size Boboli shells and different toppings and let them make their own pizzas.

 

[Tosie]

Thank you all so much - these are fantastic ideas! I can't wait to show dd!

 

[xanphylus]

This Feb will be my DD9's 10th birthday too- and we, as well, are having a first big sleep over party! I love some of the ideas here! I already showed DD. We had a few of our own to add as well.

- She wants to do a "mixed up" party. She def wants a theme, but she can't choose, so we will be doing lots of them mixed together. She will be having goody bags (only 3 girls will be invited) that are pretty good this year. We are going to let them decorate the goody bag to hold their "goodies" themselves- like another poster said! But we have, so far, Hannah Montana plastic cups and back pack tags, silly straws and some rings and such. I will buy some Wizards of Waverly place stuff, iCarly, Hawaiian themed stuff and who knows what else. One girl will have a slightly dif bag, since her family is not allowed to watch wizards, but that's a-ok!

- She also wants movies and pizza.

- She wants a craft beyond the bags as well. She suggested making their own party hats, and I'm down with that.

Her friends are usually pretty easy to deal with. Mostly Girl Scouts from my troop and a neighbor girl. Should be fun. I will let them sleep in the living room that night for more space and let them use the air mattresses if they don't jump on them. If so, buh bye air mattresses, hello sleeping bags!

Other than the 2 crafts, I don't have any plans for them to do any activities. I may rent 2 movies for them and I doubt either one will actually be watched other than background noise. DD expressed an interest in the manicures, but I don't think they would sit still long enough after the 2 crafts to do any more stuff that involves even remotely paying attention to what they are doing. I guess it depends on who she invites!

 

[aprilgail2]

By 10 years old you really don't need to plan anything for them to do-they pretty much do their own thing! I found for the younger sleepovers- 5-8 you needed things planned for them to do but not by 10. My daughter just went to a friends 11th birthday sleepover, there were boys there but the boys left at midnight and the girls stayed-- they stayed up until 630 in the morning playing Wii, telling creepy stories and just hanging out together.

 

[TLuvsD]

The nail polish/emory boards mani/pedi has been a hit. We've also painted piggy banks, made bead necklaces, friendship bracelets, painted pillowcases (look for glow in the dark fabric paint), tie dye t-shirts (not all at the same party).

I love the breakfast menu idea!

 

[Ohiodislover]

My 11 y.o. is having friends over tomorrow night. Since my girls were 8 or so they have decided what they want to do. She has told me tomrrow will consist of movies, mani/pedis, water balloons, and an ice cream sundae bar.

We are ordering pizza for dinner and will eat that and chips by the pool. For breakfast just cereal and fruit. Maybe some frozen pancakes. Will have hotdogs and hamburgers to throw on the grill on Sunday. Some girls coming earlier on Sat, and leaving earlier on Sunday. Others are coming later on Sat and not leaving till later on Sunday. We don't have a set time.

I might add to try and make it an even number of girls. Easier for them not to team up against one. The worst sleepover was the one that 3 girls were supossed to come and one had to cancel. It is constantly 2 against 1.

 

[Rora]

- tye dyeing Ts- we did it in the driveway before the sun went down
- decorating tote bags with fabric markers, glue on jewels, sequins, etc. Mostly, the girls decorated them a bit, then made the bags into "autograph" souvenirs.
- giving each girl a goody bag of nail polish, emery board, and nail stickers and doing mani/pedis.
- make it yourself pizzas for dinner. I got a bunch of personal size Boboli shells and different toppings and let them make their own pizzas.

These are some great ideas!!

I love the idea of the Breakfast Menu and flashlight tag.

OP- between these ideas, I don't think there's much for you to plan!

EDIT: just realized your party is in October.. my friend's birthday was Oct. 9th and every year we'd always make some form of a Halloween craft. We had a blast! I remember my favorite was one year when we made Halloween themed shirts-- orange and black paint, Halloween themed sponges, etc. At our school we weren't allowed to wear costumes the day of Halloween, so we always wore the shirts we made at her party! Just some more food for thought!

 

[Tosie]

Thanks again everyone - dd had a great time reading all your responses!

I kept hearing "Oh, I like that! Oooo I like that too!" Lol!

I know for sure we will be doing the breakfast menu - she LOVED that one!

 

[r4blessings]

My older son had a huge sleepover for his 12th birthday this past June....they just swam, played manhunt and xbox until the wee hours.

My second ds is having two other friends sleepover on Sunday night to celebrate his 9th birthday. I got black tee shirts and glow in the dark paint markers for them to use to decorate their shirts. A few weeks ago I was in Target and picked up red/black guitar print pajama pants for like $8. I bought three, and with their tee shirts they will all be wearing matching jammies. DS thought this was really cool.....but my older ds would not have! He didn't even want to do favors....so we did a candy buffet with favor bags and mostly the boys ate the candy that night.

So for ds9's sleepover on Sunday it will be painting shirts, swimming, pizza and cake, manhunt till 10pm and then the wii for an hour or so and then Diary of a Wimpy kid dvd and then hopefully bed. If it is nice out, the boys might come over around 4pm to go out tubing on our boat with DH (both boys have been tubing on our boat before and parents are fine with that, but thats only if the weather is near perfect....tell you the truth....they have enough planned that that might be overkill.

I think I will get up early Mon morning and make a run to Dunkin Donuts for donuts and juice and pick up will be at 10am. Hope this helps! Have fun!

 

[mlclements]

I usually do a bid sleep over for my dd10 once a year. The kids love this and ask it we are doing it every year. We have a big white board and we put a menu up. They order like they are at the movies. We have hot dogs, nachos, soft pretzels, popcorn, movie theater box candy etc. Then they watch a movie. After that is done they usually just want to play. If you have a sams club or costco type club. You can buy the food really reasonable.

 

[Happy Mom2]

get some spa stuff... nail polish, mask, etc

crafts...let them make t-shirts, purses, hair accessories, etc

cook... let them make their own pizzas, decorate cupcakes, etc.

Family Fun magazine has a lot of neat stuff... you may be able to look at their website.

I can't wait for DD to get old enough for a slumber party.

 

[Ohiodislover]

My daughter is currently having a sleepover. Last night they did blind makeovers. One girl was blindfolded and put lipstick, blush, eyeshadow on the other. It was hysterical.