Hi all,
So my daughter is going to turn 8 soon. Having a slumber party for her as that is what she wanted. Just 4 other girls.
They are really self-sufficient and low maintenance... and pretty much play on their own... too. So I don't know if I have to do the usual "planned" activities, for a party???
What do you think?
These girls are my daughter's best friends and we all know each other well and the parents too.... and they know our house well as I always have play-dates and we are play-date central.
The girls, always just say THEY are doing stuff... and don't really rely on me, to entertain them. They are real independent. And just go about the house playing games they make up on their own or pretend play etc. In fact, they often tell me to "go away" because they are "busy".... (little girls who have a mind of their own!)
So I don't know.... what to do???
We have a low budget... and I will have goody-bags... and my daughter wants pizza and smoked salmon with cheese... and juice... and instead of a Birthday "cake"... she wants a pie. So I will do that.
But as far as 'activities"..... Hmmmm......?????
The girls have all little brothers too, about the same age as my son... and so their brothers will be staying a bit to play with my son... since they are his little Dude buddies too. But they too, are pretty independent.
So like 8 kids in the house, plus my daughter. And that is manageable.
But ACTIVITIES????
I don't know if I should, or don't need to.....???
My Daughter is fine either way... she says THEY know what to do.... without "Mommy" telling them. (Ah, precocious little girls).
And my daughter is busy making an "itinerary" for her party....
Drop off is for late afternoon... and pick-up the next morning.
Anyway, if any ideas?
I had movies for them, at prior sleep-overs my daughter had... but alas, they didn't even watch the entire movie... before they got "busy" with other stuff and sidetracked. Once we all even made pillows! Which they sewed themselves. I don't feel like doing that again.
Ah.. yes... she is "low maintenance" when her friends are around. Not when home just with me or her Brother! LOL
Let her pick out a couple movies. Have some nail polish so they can do manicures if they want. That should just about do it.
hi susan, i just helped my friend's daughter's 10th b-day party (pretty close in age to yours!) and we had a blast! we did a scavenger hunt early in the evening, but she had a bigger group...might not work for 4-5 girls...okay, but then she just turned on pop music and had the girls make up dance routines & videotaped (which she played in the morning while they ate breakfast. they LOVED watching themselves on t.v dancing!) they all konked out before 11 p.m. so i think the dancing & scavenger hunt wore 'em out good. my friend also had stuff for hair/face make-overs but they never got to that. the dancing thing just turned out to be so fun. when i was that age, i had a dress up party in my dance costumes, etc. same idea basically. anyway, making sundaes are fun too. good luck girl - have so much fun w/those little girls! they're gonna remember this forever! :)
let them have a pillow fight..maybe make some cupcakes and let them decorate them, or make their own banana split with all the goodies on top, go buy some cheap dollar store make up and let them do make up and paint toenails and fingernails, get some face mask cream and cucumbers and let them do facials before bed and get the make up off.
I think your daughter sounds very low maintenance...love it! I would have a few movies just in case (maybe Greece...I loved that movie at that age) and I 2nd the nail polish and maybe even an assortment of hair ties and barrettes so they can do up their hair all funny! Maybe even a few of those face masks so they can have a face scrub/peel or what have you? IDK?
It all sounds positively wonderful to me and I can not wait till my daughter is that age (yes, I can..Hee-Hee)!
My daughter has been to a lot of slumber parties. Some of her favorite 'activities' have included:
Making banana splits
'Makeovers' w/ the mom's help
Mom painting toenails and fingernails
Wii tournaments
Scavenger hunts (would need more adults to assist, could make 2 teams of 4, and include the boys)
Facials (could buy a cheap, kid-friendly mask, or make your own)
Staying up all night talking and seeing who could last the longest
Karaoke
Hi Susan!
Our daughter loved slumber parties for her birthdays also.
We always pulled out lots of her games, she and her friends loved Pictionary and Charades, so I would make up special cards geared towards their personalities and the people in their lives.. Their teachers, their friends, their pets. siblings.. . etc..
They loved it..
Also we ALWAYS had a Pinata.. they did not care so much about the treats, they just liked wacking at it..
We also always have a jigsaw puzzle going and this worked well for the girls that needed a break or wanted a quiet time..
Over all they talked and laughed and made up things to do.. Crazy fashion shows, crazy plays.. They had a great time just hanging out..
Take a ton of photos.. On Face book they have been posting lots of their childhood photos.. Of course they are all in College and think they are a Hoot!
One of the best sleep-over activities we did with daughter was making sock puppets! The kids had a blast decorating with scraps of ribbon, buttons, and all manner of junk form my sewing room! We also did one where instead of goodie bags, I bought cheap white sneakers (obviously I had to check with the other moms for sizes) and bins of paint and gems and the girls decorated their shoes. By morning, the glues were dry and they got to wear them home. Anything involving fabric (like t-shirts) paint and glue and anything shinny!
Hi Susan,
So, I think your daughter is on the right track...she and her friends are at an age that they could probably do a few unscheduled things, if given the right props. I would offer a stack of board games you know she likes, some kind of beading kit with enough materials for everyone (you may have to supplement with extra thread, needles, so check whatever kit you get. I've been caught up short more than once), some origami paper and, if you approve, some inexpensive makeup, and their promise to wash their faces before bedtime.
One of the stretches of my nanny work involved taking care of a group of 4 girls, pairs of siblings that were each 9 and 5. The activity that was met with the most enthusiasm and fun from the girls was doing a 'fashion show'. I gave them a bunch of dress-up clothes . They had a blast and hammed it up. This will be great for your daughter and her friends too, because once you get the photos printed, they'll have a little memory of the fun event. (I'm not being sexist in suggesting this-- this particular group of girls was raised in very forward-thinking families. Some little-big girls like to play dress-up if they can find a socially acceptable reason for it.:) )
For the boys, I'd give them some raw materials if you have them, most of what's in your recycling bin--toilet paper rolls, corks, tape, boxes as well as construction paper and markers-- and lots of masking tape and see what they come up with. If you have bristle blocks or legos, bring them out. I've found that having some organized gross-motor activities at this age really helps. If you can take them outside, have them blow and stomp bubbles. You can make up a story about the bubbles and some reason for stomping on them and they often completely get into the game. If inside, you can use masking tape to set up an obstacle course, with a card table to crawl under and pillows to hop over. You can set up a place for them to play 'skatepark' in or out, with pieces of cardboard, pillows or a kneeler pad for a 'skateboard'. (If you use a kneeler, be sure it's flexible enough not to accidentally knock the child off if they're jumping on it. If you are outside a piece of wood will do.) Boys also like water play; I don't know how the weather is in Honolulu these days, but if you have space outside, the boys might like to play in the sprinkler.
Paper airplanes: if you want to fold a few paper airplanes before the party, you can set up an experiment. Or you may need to walk them through folding one.Lay out a strip of masking tape on the floor to create a landing strip and have the boys help mark one-foot measures. Then, label the measurements, and have the boys throw the airplanes to see which one goes furthest. (It helps to number the airplanes). You can do several rounds of throwing airplanes and I've found that once you get out the big measuring tape, kids get very keen and interested in measurements.
I know this is probably tediously detailed, but I wanted to fill you in on why these activities worked.
I read the scavenger hunt idea. I think it would work well with a small group if it was just the challenge of it and they all worked together as a team. You could have a big bowl of 'gold' popcorn as a surprise treasure at the end.
I hope everything goes well. You might want to offer them some chamomile tea before you go off to bed that night!
If they are self sufficient, then I think you have it made. I always had themed parties for my daughter, they were with her ideas of course. We did a DIVA karaoke party, butterfly themed (where they made a butterfly sun catcher), tea party (with dressup clothes, finger foods, etc. and they decorated a jewelry box to put all there dressup jewels in), backwards party where you serve breakfast for dinner and hot fudge sundaes or cake for breakfast, etc. I have always tried to do a craft because that ate up time. We also did a movie party. We got a couple of their favorite movies, popcorn, licorice, all the movie theater fixings and just let them go. They were pretty self sufficient also, so they were easy. We have had many over the last several years. She's 16 now and I am glad that we did such fun slumber parties.
i USED TO GO TO A MISS AMERICA PIG OUT SLUMBER PARTY WHEN I WAS YOUNG... WE WOULD ALL GO TO THE PARTY, WATCH THE BEGINNING OF MISS AMERICA, VOTE FOR WHO WE THOUGHT WOULD WIN, THEN WATCH.. .OF COURSE WE WOULD HAVE TONS OF JUNK FOOD TO SNACK ON... IT WAS A ANNUAL PARTY, AND SUPER FUN... NOT SURE IF ANY OF US SLEPT.. BUT IT WAS SO MEMORABLE.
