Preparing for Your Sleepover
Invite your friends. Remember, this isn't a birthday party, so don't invite over three people. It'll be difficult to accommodate more than that and to give them all a place to sleep. Just invite some of your closest friends and try not to exclude anyone. You'll have more fun with people you really know, and you'll feel more comfortable, as will they. You could invite just one friend, but usually, a small group is loads more fun. Anywhere from three to six friends is a good number. Keep these things in mind before deciding who and who not to invite. The rule of thumb is that you shouldn't invite more than two people that you don't know well. If you do, it could be awkward, and you may make your closer friends feel left out. Try inviting a girl you want to know better. Make sure you're friendly toward her and that you make her feel welcome. If you have a similar hobby or interest, you can perform that at the sleepover. This will give you a chance to make a new friend. If you came across a girl at school who loves Harry Potter, for example, you two could spend time reading the book or watching the movie. Don't invite the "popular" girl(s). Unless you are actually friends with them, inviting these girls is generally not a great idea. Just because she is popular doesn't mean you'll be all "cool". What will you even do? And anyway, what about your actual friends?
Decide on the food for the party. You'll need dinner, dessert, breakfast, snacks, and drinks. Try buying the food only a couple days before, so you won't eat it all! You can also go out to eat ice cream, dinner, or breakfast (but not all three!). Try picking food that isn't very different, something that everyone will probably like. Don't get, for example, fish or veggie burgers. You can, however, have a choice of regular or veggie burgers. So, always have something that everyone will want to eat. Below are some simple suggestions for all the food and drinks you'll need. But, you can also think of your own! Dinner: The most common dinner at a sleepover is pizza. This is a pretty safe choice, that most people like. If you're getting pizza, always have at least one plain and one with a topping. (pepperoni always works). Other dinner choices are chicken, pasta, hot dogs and hamburgers. Know what your friends like, but if you don't know, just get pizza. If you invited a friend who you know doesn't like pizza, make sure to have an alternative for them. Sometimes it is fun to cook the dinner entirely yourself, and although this takes time it can be a very rewarding experience. Dessert: For dessert, be creative! A great idea is to make dessert at the party, like ice cream sundaes, cupcakes, or a cake. You can just decorate them or make them from scratch. Or, you can have a premade cake or brownies. It will save time if you want to do more activities. Drinks: Always have water and soda. Ginger ale is always good to get, but to cover your bases, consider getting a variety such as cola, orange, root beer as well. Fruit juice is good, too. Snacks: Of course you'll need snacks. Stock up on chips, pretzels, veggies with ranch or yogurt dip, popcorn, candy, fruit, and anything else that you can think of. Always have something healthy as an alternative. You do not have to eat nothing but junk food! Breakfast: For breakfast, make your own waffles or pancakes. You could also ask a parent to make them. You can also have french toast sticks. Always have some delicious fruit, and orange juice and milk to drink.
Decide on the sleeping arrangements. If your bedroom is big enough for the number of people coming over, that's a great choice. Make sure that, if you are sleeping in your bedroom, that there is enough floor space. It would be unfair for the guests to sleep on the floor and for you to sleep on your bed. Unless your room has a lot of floor space, sleep somewhere else. If a large area in your basement is finished, sleep there. An alternative is the family/mud/living room. Anywhere that has a TV, floor space, and a table for snacks should be a good place to sleep and hang out. Try to pick a hangout spot where siblings and parents generally won't be. You wouldn't want to be bothered, unless you want your brother or sister joining in on the fun. Try to find out where in the house they'll be (most likely their room), or if they won't be in the house at all!
Clean. Get a trash bag and throw away any junk. Put dirty clothes in the washer or hamper and put clean ones away. Dust off the TV, and bring any pillows, blankets, and sleeping bags to where you are sleeping. If necessary, vacuum the floor. Put all snacks in bowls and set them on a table. Charge your iPod (if you have one) so it will be ready to play. Make sure you have lots of games and movies, too. You don't have to do any major cleaning, just make sure the floor is clean, and your house looks presentable. Another good idea is to clean the bathrooms. Your guests will be going there, so it better be fresh and clean for them! Plus, your parents will be proud. Take out the bathroom trash, fix any rugs, change the toilet paper, soap, and towel, and clean the sink. If you don't know how to clean the toilet, leave that to your parents.
Entertaining Your Guests
Paint nails. Get some different colors of nail polish and give each other manicures and pedicures. If you want, do some nail art for extra pizazz. You could also get some gem stickers to stick on your nails. Have fun and be creative with colors and designs. Check out these articles for cool ideas: Newspaper Nails Panda Nail Art Checkered Nails Comic Strips Facebook Nails Harry Potter Nails Popcorn Nails
Play Truth or Dare. Sit in a circle and have music playing if you want. Have somebody to go first, and ask "Truth or Dare?" For truth, ask an embarrassing question. For dare, make the player do something scary, slightly painful, or just plain weird. Remember, though, don't make truths too personal, and you don't have to answer! Same with dares. Never do anything dangerous. Your friends will understand, and if they don't, they aren't good friends. Good Dares: make an impression of somebody in or out of the group, describe someone in the group in 5 words and have everyone guess who it is, have a conversation with the wall. Good Truths:What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done, Who is your crush, What's the baddest thing you've ever done, If you could change three things about yourself what would they be?
Make friendship bracelets. These bracelets are used to symbolize your friendship. It's said that if you cut the bracelet,it will ruin the friendship. Tie it on loosely so you can take it off when you need to.
Play other games. Whatever you can find works great, but some ideas are UNO, Scene it (with your favorite movie), Twister, and Clue. Play one of these if guests seem to get bored, or just for fun! Make sure that all guests are familiar with the rules. If not, quickly explain them to them or just play the game and have them learn as you play. However, games like Twister and Uno are easy and pretty much everyone knows how to play those games.You could also play video games like Minecraft.
Watch movies. Watch movies. What sleepover doesn't have movies? You can probably watch movies at nighttime, but not when guests are about to fall asleep. Bring out the popcorn, turn off the lights, and get a bunch of movies for guests to pick from. You can always watch the other ones later, but take this vote for movies to watch first. Make sure that everyone is okay with whatever movie you are watching, and don't watch PG 13 and/or R rated movies unless you have permission by your parents and all the guests' parents. Here is a list of some movies you can watch if you happen to like them: Harry Potter Pirates of the Caribbean The Clique Ella Enchanted Up Despicable Me Another Cinderella Story Elf Mean Girls Or you can watch YouTube.
Make a craft. Crafts are a great idea if you don't want to be bored, and it's a memory for you and the guests to take home. This is an inexpensive and fun thing to do at a sleepover. Here are three simple ideas for crafts and how to make them: Picture Frames. Take a group shot of you and your friends, and get some wooden frames, paint, foam stickers, and glitter paint. Decorate and be creative. Necklaces. Get string, beads, and scissors to string on cool patterns. Just watch out what pictures you take,you don't want your parents to ground you! There are some kits for necklace making, so you can get one of these for extra beads and string. Decorate pillowcases. Get some colorful fabric markers, glue, gems, and jewels, and get decorating, writing, and drawing! You can have everyone sign their name on the case.
Rock out! Blast the tunes and sing to the top of your lungs (unless others are sleeping, then tone it down a bit). You can do karaoke or just sing to your iPod. Dance, too. You can have a dancing or singing competition if you want, but don't leave your friends out. Let everyone win at some point. Or, you can make up your own dance to a song as a group and record it to watch later. If you have a disco ball or flashing lights, don't forget them!
Play dress up. Although you may think that you're a little old for dress-up, you're not! Instead of just dressing up, have a fashion show. Find some old hats, beads, Halloween costumes, wigs, anything that you and your guests can wear. Take turns being the judge and judge the girls (be nice) on style, creativity, anything you want from 1 to 10, 10 being the best. Have each girl pick their song and strut your stuff!
Sit in your sleeping bags and chat. Do this when you are getting tired, but still don't want to go to sleep. Catch up with each other and talk to your heart's desire! Don't hurt feelings, of course. Everybody loves some juicy gossip at a sleepover. Talk about crushes. What girls don't? Who is cute/funny/totally a jerk? If you want to, look through an old school yearbook to see the boys. You could also talk about sports (which do you like/dislike) or school (teachers/tests/homework). If you find that everyone is totally silent, crack a few jokes, tell scary stories, or play "Would you rather?". For would you rather, take turns asking each other what they would rather do. For example, would you rather lose an arm or a leg, kiss _________ or __________, walk into a glass wall in front of ____________ or step in a giant hole in front of ________?
Stock up on snacks. Popcorn, chips, ice cream, soda, and maybe even pizza rolls work well. If anyone has any allergies, try not to include those foods.
Dance to fun music. If you have a computer and an iPod or iPhone, download some songs you can dance to. Get out the nail polish, and if you have a make-up kit, get that out, too.
Rent a couple movies and try to mix it up. Get a couple comedies, some scary movies, and dramas. That way, everyone's happy.
Reserve a large place. On the day of the sleepover, find a large place with a television, like your living room.
Think of other situations. When your guests get there, if it's still light out, go play outside. Some fun games are: Blob tag. It starts out with one person as the blob, and they tag people. The people they tag connect arms with them and go to tag other players. When the blob has six people, they can split into two groups of three. Hide-And-Seek tag. The person who's It counts to thirty with eyes closed and the others go and hide. The “it” person has to find them and tag them. The first one to be tagged is the new It. Or the last person can be It. Volleyball, kick ball, baseball, etc. You get it.
Have your parents start a fire, and you can tell spooky stories, roast s'mores, and sing songs together. Don’t do this if you won’t attend to it while you are having fun with friends. Do it if you can attend to it while it's burning.
Plan activities for when it gets dark. When it gets dark, play games in the dark or go inside and watch a movie. If you have a trampoline, you can sneak out at like, 3 am and jump on it. If it's cold out, stay inside and… Play truth or dare. Tell scary stories. If it's not too late, prank call boys/pizza places. Do make-overs. Practice gymnastics.
Think about the breakfast. The next day, make a nice breakfast with your friends. Mess around for a few more hours, or until they get picked up. After everyone leaves or there's only your really close friend left, clean up.
Planning Some Simple Activities
Pick your favourite. Here are a few simple and fast activities to add to your party. Do just one or a few of these. You don't need much, and you can still have fun inside or outside.
Make some snacks. You can decorate cookies with frosting, sprinkles, and m&ms. Or, make Chex mix to have for movies. Put in pretzels, m&ms, popcorn, raisins, and marshmallows. You can also roast marshmallows when it's starting to get dark out.
Get outside! Play flashlight tag! It's the same as tag, but with flashlights in the dark. In the summer, run through a sprinkler if a nearby pool is not available. Go for a walk if it's still lights out. You could also work on your gymnastics (make sure everyone knows how to at least cartwheel first, and if not, teach them how.)
Have fun indoors. Don't worry if it's raining, just go to the movies. You can put on makeup with your eyes closed (make sure you clean up, though). Play hair salon. Braid the hair, or give each other ponytails or buns with cool hair clips, barrettes, and scrunchies. If you are bored, play Charades. Make your own videos or take a lot of pictures of each other. Or, play Wii. Some good games are Mario Kart, Wii Sports, and Just Dance 2, but anything works. Hide and seek is also a great game, and you don't need anything.
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