Throw a fun-filled slumber party that your son or daughter will always remember with our Sleepover Party Ideas! Read on for general party planning tips as well as great decorating, food, game, and activity suggestions that compliment our Sleepover party supplies, as well as many of our other themes for girls and themes for boys.

• Hang or float bunches of balloons throughout the party area. For girls, you may use a combination of pink, purple, and white, or your daughter's favorite colors. For boys, red, yellow, and blue work well, unless your son prefers other colors.
• Twist together streamers in the same color scheme as the balloons, and hang them along the walls and doorway(s) of the main party area(s), such as the room in which the children will sleep. For a fun touch, you can also hang long strips of streamers in a row across each entryway into the main party area(s), creating curtain(s) for your guests to pass through as they come and go.
• Decorate the party area with glow-in-the-dark stars and planets. (These can be purchased at most local discount or novelty stores.) The kids will love seeing the sky appear when it's finally time for lights-out!
• Make the party an indoor camping sleepover, and set up a few tents inside the house before your guests arrive. You may want to decorate the inside and/or outside of the tents with streamers and balloons. Or, for a camouflage touch that boys are sure to like, try draping fake moss or dried sheet moss over the tents.
• Hang a lantern or flashlight near the sleeping area. If you're using a tent, hang it inside or place it close by on the outside so that light shines through the tent's walls. This adds realism to the "camping" experience while solving any night-light problems at the same time. Please only use safe, battery-powered lanterns—no gas or kerosene!
• Make it a movie night! Help the kids make a "box office" and a "concession stand" out of cardboard boxes, then give them Monopoly money to buy tickets and snacks. Set up lawn chairs or beanbag chairs where the kids can watch movies—but none that are too scary! Some good bets are:
  • Old Classics - The Love Bug, Swiss Family Robinson, The Absent Minded Professor, The Shaggy Dog, The Apple Dumpling Gang.
  • New Classics - Sky High, Cheaper by the Dozen, Holes, Hoodwinked, Chicken Little, The Incredibles, The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone/Chamber of Secrets/Prisoner of Azkaban
  • Just for Girls - High School Musical, The Princess Diaries I and II, Raise Your Voice, Ice Princess, The Lizzie Maguire Movie, Ella Enchanted.
  • Just for Boys - Star Wars: Clone Wars (Vols. 1 and 2), Justice League Unlimited: Saving the World, Batman: The Animated Series, The Iron Giant, Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows.
• Last but not least, make sure you have plenty of spare pillows and blankets near the sleeping area so that your guests can help themselves and bed down whenever they're ready.

• Funny Face Bagels - Cut bagels in half and toast them, if desired. Slice smoked salmon into strips or chop chives to use for hair; cut small black olives in half for eyes; cut slivers of red peppers or halve small cherry tomatoes to use as mouths; cut baby carrots into quarters for noses; finely chop peanuts to use as freckles; and use any other fruit or vegetable you wish. Slather cream cheese on the bagels for a base that will hold all of the decorations. Then, let your partygoers make funny faces on their bagels using the pre-prepared fruits and veggies.
• Smiley Face Pancakes - Make a batch of pancakes, and set them out along with canned whipped cream, chocolate chips, maraschino cherry halves, chocolate syrup, finely chopped nuts, blueberries or halved strawberries, or any other sweet treat that can be used to make eyes, a nose, a mouth, hair, etc., on each pancake. Let your guests decorate their pancakes the way they like.
• Restaurant-Style Breakfast - Let the kids decide who will help cook, who will "wait tables," etc. They can create an actual menu, picking from standard breakfast foods such as pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and bagels. The "servers" can take everyone's orders and pass them on to the "chefs" who will be wearing chef's hats and aprons, and who will assist mom and/or dad in cooking breakfast for everyone.
• Waffle Bar - Set up a waffle bar with a selection of syrups and toppings such as cherries, whipped cream, strawberries, chocolate chips, and nuts. Let each child make his or her ultimate waffle.
• Fruit Pops - Let your guests make fruit pops using our recipe (below) or your own for a fun, yet nutritional, morning treat.

  Ingredients:
  
  

  • Long Lollipop Sticks
  • A Variety of Cubed Fruit
  • Peanut Butter
  • Honey
  • Yogurt (flavored or plain)
  • Coconut
  • Candy Sprinkles

  
  
  Directions:
  
  

  1. Slide a few cubes of fruit onto each lollipop stick.
  2. Create a dip from 1/3-cup smooth peanut butter mixed with 1/4-cup honey. (More honey can be added to taste or for a thinner consistency, and the mixture can be heated in the microwave for easier mixing and blending.)
  3. Give each child a fruit pop. Have them dip their fruit pops into the peanut butter-honey dip or yogurt, and then roll them in candy sprinkles and/or shredded coconut.
  4. Enjoy!

1. No leaving the house.
2. Lights-Out will be at XX:XX O'clock. (10:00 PM is usually a good time for Lights-Out, but don't be surprised if the kids are too wound up to actually fall asleep!)
3. No crank calls.
4. No unsupervised cooking.

1. Set up the sleeping bags in a starburst pattern with the openings pointed toward the center of the starburst. This assures that there won't be any fighting over who gets to sleep next to who.
2. Transition to bedtime with a calming activity. A good movie is usually the best choice.
3. If some guests are ready to go to sleep before others, put them in a guest room or an adjacent space where you can dim the lights.
4. Be certain you have a way to reach each child's parents in case a child who has never been to a sleepover before wants to go home. If possible, try to address your guest's fears before calling his or her parents; the solution may be as simple as plugging in a night light if the child is afraid of the dark. However, if you can't quell the child's fears, or if a child is sick, don't hesitate to call his or her parents.
5. If possible, call each child's parents before the party to discuss their child. Find out if there's anything you can do to ensure the children will feel safe and comfortable. Don't hesitate to take notes! They will be very useful if something does come up, and you won't have to stress about remembering what each child needs. If you need to talk to any of the parents when they drop their children off, be sure to pull them aside so as not to embarrass any of the children.

This is the perfect solution for little ones too young to stay all night. Guests arrive in pajamas with their pillows at dinnertime, but leave by 11 P.M. Make ice cream sundaes, play games, and tell stories. Everyone can go home to sleep in their own beds, and you can still get a full night's rest!

• Once it gets dark, let the boys play laser tag outside.
• Let the boys play indoor basketball using an indoor basketball hoop set, or let them play outside if you have a basketball hoop - and if it's still daylight out!
• Let the boys make their own mud desserts using crushed Oreos, whipped cream, gummy worms, hot fudge, chocolate ice cream, and/or any other "gross" ingredients. See who can make the most disgusting-looking snack!
• Have a bowling tournament inside with either a kids indoor bowling game or a homemade bowling set using empty 2-liter soda bottles and a tennis ball.

• Set up a beauty salon where the girls can give each other new hairstyles, pedicures and manicures. Stick with nail-filing, nail polishing, braiding, brushing, and hair ornamenting. To be safe, don't allow haircuts. To make things more interesting, give the girls dress-up clothes, wigs, and glasses, and be sure to take plenty of pictures!
• Print out copies of our Slumber Party Booklet for the girls to fill out during the party and take home as keepsakes that will be fun to re-read as they grow up.
• Help the girls make some baked treats, such as cookies and cupcakes!
• Let the girls make jewelry using a kit or a random assortment of beads and rolls of necklace leather or heavy thread.
• Make homemade soap, lip gloss, and/or face masks with the girls using our recipes:
  • Homemade Soap
  • Homemade Lip Gloss
  • Homemade Face Masks
• Printable Sleepover Coloring Page - Your guests will have fun decorating our Sleepover coloring page. Print out one copy for each girl, and have a supply of markers, gel pens, crayons, and other decorations.