One mom, one dad, one sick baby and 6 nine-year old girls
A house full of sleepless madness? Amazingly not!
Tricks to making a pre-teen slumber party a success:
1) Let the birthday girl do the majority of the party-planning with the understanding that SHE thinks like a pre-teen and you probably (hopefully) don't. Your little party hostess will choose activities that her other friends will likely enjoy
2) Keep them busy! Plan at least 1 - 2 activities per hour prior to bedtime to reduce time spent running wild around your house. Alternate sitting down & moving around activities.
3) Have prizes! What girl doesn't like a prize? Play into their enthusiasm for some friendly competition by making some of the activities into games with real prizes. Prizes can even be silly stuff from the dollar section at Target - it's just fun trying to WIN! Try to alternate between physical vs. mental contests so that a variety of personalities have an opportunity to win.
4) Guests should arrive hungry. Even as adults, a great evening often starts with a great meal. Let the parents of your sleep-over guests know that you will be serving dinner shortly after the party starts. A good meal is a great way to calm the initial craziness of arrival AND it keeps the kids busy for at least an hour. Let your guest-of-honor pick some favorites to serve for dinner.
5) Finish up with an age-appropriate movie. Get the kids into their pj's & settled into their sleeping bags and the coziest blankets & pillows you have for a good movie. This will focus their attention and hopefully produce lots of giggles and some sleepyheads.
6) Have plenty of snacks & drinks on hand! Growing kids appear to eat non-stop! Make sure you have plenty of healthy snacks on hand for movie-time/late-night chatter time. A full tummy also seems to help induce sleepiness....
7) Let them stay up late! Most pre-teens still have a pretty rigid bedtime schedule. (Thank God!) So they think it's REALLY cool when they get to stay up late. Set a specified time for lights out, but make it reasonably late - midnight, 1am, whenever the movie ends.... They will be less likely to complain about bedtime...
8) Have a bedtime buddy. Have each child pick at least one buddy for bedtime, especially if they are nervous about sleeping in strange places with strange noises. If they know their buddy will be sleeping right next to them the entire night, they will be less likely to ask to call their mom at 2am to pick them up because your dog barked or the tree branch is scratching the window....
9) Have breakfast prepared the night before and limit it to no more than 2 options. If you are not a morning person, this will help you be nicer to the 10 year old who likes to have breakfast at 6am even after staying up chatting until 2. And don't forget to set the timer on the coffeemaker - you will definitely need your joe.
10) Set pick-up time at a reasonable hour. The party's over. You're tired. The kids are tired. Ask parents to pick up the next morning no later than 10am.
Bonus) Pray for no accidents or icky surprises!!!!!!
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