Slumber Party Ideas

We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but at some point, your kids are going to ask you to host a slumber party. Don’t confuse this with a sleepover which usually involves only one or two kids. A slumber party starts at six and finishes somewhere into double digits. Feel free to grab a seat if you need to.

There is no set-in-stone appropriate age for a sleepover and it depends as much on the kids involved as it does their parents. Helicopter parenting has meant that the average age has moved up closer to ten-year olds compared to seven or eight when we were kids.

So no point trying to dodge it, it’s time to embrace a slumber party for what it is – a chance for your kids to build some lifelong friendships with their peers at midnight. If you’re looking for a little inspiration here are some unforgettable slumber party ideas.

The one thing you want to avoid with a party like this is the kids spreading themselves to every room in the house. If you have a kitchen that adjoins a living room, this is perfect and where you want to maintain the action until it is time for everybody to hit the sack. If you have a TV or tablets in your children’s rooms, DO NOT use this as the base of operations. They will get bored of the space and when it is time to go to bed, there’s no transition they need to go to which is common to most kids routine’s. Keep them in the living room until 9-10pm and then move them on.

Now that the room has been decided you can juice it up a bit with a few favourites you might encounter at the cinema. Obviously, a movie or two is going to keep the kids entertained without your supervision, so maybe giving the night a movie night theme is not a bad idea.

We recommend creating a small lolly bar that the kids can go back to with their own little favour boxes throughout the night. Style the table with one of our awesome Hollywood balloon garlands and a banner and that’s about all the styling you need to do for less than $30. Foodwise, Chocablock offers personalised popcorn boxes that can have your child’s name added as well as individually packed custom bags of fairy floss in a range of colours. The only other food you need is maybe a bowl of mixed lollies and chips.

If a movie theme isn’t your bag, then you can go for an indoor camping slumber party instead. Lay a broom on the back of two chairs, throw a sheet over the top and hand out a few torches and you’ve transported the kids to a National Park. DO a few fun things like toasting marshmallows on the stove, creating a fake fire pit and surrounding them with wildlife toys for them to snuggle up with and you’re done.

For the girls, you can’t beat a little karaoke (with a definite cut off time!). If you don’t have the dough for a karaoke machine, just tune the TV into Youtube - girls love to bop along together to their favourite online videos. During down time, the girls can play with pretty nail polishes and lipstick to live it up a little.

The next morning, don’t forget to plan a big breakfast so everyone can talk about the events of the night before over the kitchen table. Then you can send everyone home, sleepy-eyed but full and ready to tell their parents that their next party is going to be a slumber party too….yay…..