Slumber Party Ideas, Slumber Party Games

                                                                                                    

Begin planning a slumber party by asking your child what fun slumber party ideas she or he may have, in addition to ideas for food, decorations and slumber party games. After all, it is their party! Girls especially would have a slumber party every weekend if you let them and if you had the stamina to endure one every six days. And they would like to have these parties often, till they become 20!

Boys aged 7-12 will like them as much, especially if you prepare some great slumber party games, that are fitted for boys at that age, or if you find a funny DVD to watch.

Probably the most difficult part of organizing a slumber party is deciding how many guests you are going to let your child invite. Practically, this depends on how large the area is in which the slumber party will be taking place. If your child wants to invite more than ten friends, you might want to think about having a camp-out type of slumber party by setting up the grill and pitching a tent in your back yard, weather permitting, of course.  

                            

Even though I said that girls like slumber parties till they become 20, this page is mostly directed to parents with kids that are approx.  7-13 years old.

Slumber Party Tips

Before writing down your slumber party ideas, here are some tips to make the experience less stressful and more enjoyable for everyone:

• After everyone arrives, inform guests about rules and be clear regarding what is allowed and what is not allowed.
• Obtain contact phone numbers from guests before allowing the riot to begin.
• Ask if anyone has any food allergies you should be aware of before serving snacks.
• Make sure the day after the slumber party is free, as you will need all day to clean up and recuperate.
• Do not use only your slumber party ideas. Let your child and guests have plenty of free time to decide what they want to do.
• Have extra blankets, pillows or sleeping bags available in case of accidents or spills.
• Check your medicine cabinet prior to the slumber party for Pepto-Bismol and Tylenol in case someone overdoes it.
• Go paper and plastic when it comes to eating utensils.
• Inform everyone they are welcome to stay up all night but after a certain time, they will need to keep the noise to a minimum.

Creating Slumber Party Invitations

Slumber party ideas for homemade invitations can be as creative as mailing decorated pillowcases or making cute paper invitations using clip art from this page or from the pages Party Clip Art, Cartoon Drawings of Animals and Birthday Clip Art.

Most of the slumber party clip art on this page is actually larger than you see them. You can always make them smaller, but I made them big, so that you can use them on invitations.

About the rules for using my clip art, please go to Homepage and read about the two quite simple limitations (that shouldn't be relevant for slumber parties at all).

Pillow case invitations--Purchase plain white pillowcases, Using fabric markers, write information regarding the slumber party, such as beginning and ending time, address, what to bring on the pillow case, fold the pillow cases and mail them to guests in manila envelopes. Decorate the outside of the envelopes with relevant images found at Slumber Party Clipart.

Cardstock slumber party ideas for invitations--Obtain different colored cardstock and paste clipart pictures of the moon, stars, flashlights, sleeping bags, junk food and laughing cartoon animals on the cards. Purchase tiny star stickers and create fun borders with them. If it is a birthday slumber party, add birthday clipart as well. Include small items with these invitations like travel toothbrushes, shampoo bottles or combs and mail then in padded envelopes.

 

Slumber Party Ideas for Decorations and Party Favors

 

Toss a few beanbag chairs into the cleared area where most of the slumber party is taking place.

Oversized stuff animals are neat items to use as lounging chairs.

Hang strands of tiny colored lights to illuminate the room when it gets dark.

Purchase glow in the dark stars and stick them on the walls and ceiling.

Helium balloons, streamers and confetti also provide festive decorations if the slumber party is a birthday celebration.                           

Slumber party ideas for party favors include:

• Providing each guest with a small plastic flashlight for extra fun after dark
• Feather boas
• Blowing bubbles necklaces
• Lip gloss
• Glow sticks
• Friendship bracelets
• Fuzzy coin purses
• Temporary tattoos and stickers
• Nail polish

One of the slumber party ideas to keep your guests busy is to make your own gift bags by reusing cereal boxes and old wrapping paper or covering the boxes with plain white tissue paper. Cut off the cereal box top, and then punch two holes on each side of the box using a hole-punch for ribbon handles. If you decide to use white tissue paper, decorate the gift bags with Slumber Party Clipart and glitter glue.

Slumber Party Ideas for Activities

Star Lights

Give each guest an empty, clean frozen juice cans with ends cut out so you can see through the can. Also, provide them with rubber bands, black or dark-colored tissue paper and small scissors. Fold several pieces of the tissue paper over and cut tiny stars, circles or diamonds on the crease, like you would when creating a snowflake. Place the paper over one end of the can and secure it with a rubber band. Put a small flashlight into the can, turn it on and turn out the lights. You should be able to see stars and diamonds flashing on the walls and ceiling.

          

Stop-Dance

Explain the rules thoroughly before you begin:

When the music plays, you dance like wild and crazy, and when the music stops, you have to stand still - do not move at all! If you move, you are out and it is the judge who determines who is out.

After a while, maybe when half is left, the judge yells break! and from then on, you must stand still when the music plays, and dance wildly and fervently when the music has stopped. This looks so funny, and it soon makes only one left to receive the award, if there is one, otherwise to be celebrated with applause.

              

Slumber Party Ideas for T-Shirt Decorating

Purchase enough large white t-shirts for each slumber party guests. Provide the group with fabric markers and let them decorate the shirts with doodles, autographs, little drawings…whatever they like. You can also let them decide to embellish t-shirts with iron-on patches, but you will have to do the ironing for them if the guests are too young to handle an iron safely.

          

White Elephant

Write instructions on slumber party invitations telling each guest to find a funny item lying around their house that no one uses anymore, wrap it as a gift but don't put any labeling on the gift. During the party, put all these "white elephant" gifts on a table and have each person pick one. Make sure you have a few of these gifts wrapped ahead of time in case someone forgets to bring a present so no one is left without a gift.

Slumber Party Ideas with a Beauty Salon Theme

Here are some things you can do to create a "spa" at the slumber party:

• Provide items needed for pedicures and manicures, such as emery boards, clippers, nail polish, nail polish remover.
• Provide items needed for producing a new hair style including hair spray, brushes, crimping irons, if guests are old enough, ribbons, hair ties, various hair ornaments. Old wigs are fun play with as well.
• Purchase little girls' cosmetics that easily wash off and non-irritating such as lipstick, blush, body glitter and eye shadow.

      

To make it seem like a real spa, make a homemade facial mask to apply and leave on for about ten minutes. Since this recipe is for sensitive skin, you should not suffer any skin irritation:

• 1 tablespoon of brewer's yeast
• 1 tablespoon of oatmeal
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 1 medium cucumber
• 2 tablespoons of sour cream

After peeling the cucumber, put it in a blender and process until liquidated. Pour in honey and yogurt and blend a bit more. Then add the oatmeal and yeast, and mix until smooth

Bowling Game

Slumber party games such as bowling is always fun and playable indoors or outdoors. Collect 12 empty two-liter bottles to use as bowling pins. A tennis ball or softball works great as a bowling ball. Divide the guests into teams and provide prizes for the winner of the game.

Face Painting

Homemade face paint is easy to make and easy to remove from skin or fabric with soap and water.

• 1 teaspoon of corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of face cream
• Assorted bottles of food coloring

Apply face paint with small brushes, wedges or sponges. Since you can mix food coloring to create a variety of colors, the only food colorings you may need are red, blue, white and green.

Slumber Party Ideas for an Outdoor Party

During the summer, outdoor slumber parties can be a lot of fun while also preventing your house from being pillaged. Party game ideas and general advice for having a successful backyard slumber party include:

• If possible, build a bonfire and roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Tell ghost stories after eating or play hide and seek in the dark.
• Play flashlight tag after the sun goes down.
• Provide instructions for a scavenger hunt to guests. Hide glow in the dark items around the backyard. Plant some fake rubber snakes around for just for fun.
• Play card games inside the tent such as Uno.

     

Other slumber party ideas for fun party games include for indoor and outdoor slumber parties include playing Twister, throwing glow in the dark Frisbees, creating shadow puppets in the tent using flashlights and singing silly songs.

Slumber Party Ideas for Food

In addition to the usual pizza, popcorn, chips and candies giving kids upset stomachs at slumber parties, a recipe for delicious homemade cupcakes is:

Chocolate-Cherry Cupcakes:

In order to get started on this recipe, you will need:

• 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
• 4 ounces (115 g) of broken bittersweet chocolate
• 1 cup of dried cherries
• 1 cup of water
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup of light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 split vanilla beans
• 1/2 cup plus one tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
• One 8-ounce softened package of low fat cream cheese

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 Celcius). Line two muffin pans with cupcake liners. Boil water and cherries in saucepan, and then place this mixture in a food processor. Add butter, cocoa and chocolate. Mix and let cool for about one minute. Add vanilla, salt and brown sugar. Puree until the mixture is smooth. Add eggs and blend well. In another bowl, whisk together baking soda and flour, adding to food processor when finished.

Pour the batter into muffin liners and bake for about 20 minutes. To make icing, scrape vanilla bean seeds into small mixing bowl. Add confectioner's sugar and cream cheese, beating the mixture well. Spread on cooled cupcakes.

For more slumber party ideas, ask other parents what they did to entertain kids when they hosted a slumber party, in addition to advice about food and fun party games.

 

 

Other great sites about slumber party ideas and slumber party games:

http://party.kaboose.com/the-perfect-slumber-party.html

http://www.amazingmoms.com/parties/sleepover-party-guide_56011