Slumber Party Ideas

I had a camp out for my daughter and her friends. Put a tent in the backyard. Get flashlights or glow bracelets/necklaces from the dollar store. Smores etc. Really fun.

Hi J.,
If you have a wii thats good thing. bowling in the living room is fun, movies, arts and crafts , or bake cookies and let them put the toppings on like frosting or sprinkles....I hope that helped some

J.

Hi,
I do spa parties, and some of the free services are peppermint foot soaks and hand treatments. They might also like paraffins for $15. I can do up a $10 goodie bag with Body Shop products.
Thanks,
Cynthia
http://cindyflesher.tripod.com

Any craft that they can then keep is great for 9's. Friendship bracelets (check out the Klutz book on them) or beaded animals with key rings for their backpacks are both a lot of fun to make and a good favor as a keeper. I did a party for my daughter's 9th or 10th where we did fabric painting on square of white fabric (painting takes longer than tie-dye, so keeps them busy longer) and the week after the party, I bought bright printed fabric to back the panels and made them all pillows--my daughter is 20 and still has it on her bed, it was such a good memory. (And NO, I am not a seamstress at all--this is four lines of stitching and a store-bought pillow stuffing it, it's simple.)

We did a scavenger hunt (2 or 3 teams) that had find objects, take pictures, and create something. One year it was a commercial for a made up product (That's what they had to make from what they collected.)

Last year, music videos. Children broke off into groups (by fav. artist) and group went off to select a song and create a music video. They performed and I recorded. I downloaded the videos to a dvd and sent them home with the girls in the morning. Next time, we'll mail them with thank yous so daughter can work them through iMovie.

I usually take them to the pool to swim until they can't swim anymore. Make their own pizza and a sundae bar for dessert.

Breakfast has been pancakes with sundae bar toppings (to get it out of my house). Then a trip to the park which is 2 blocks away.

s

Here's a few ideas which are lots of fun:
- split them into teams and give each team 1-2 rolls of toilet paper. Each team picks one girl to be the "model" and the others are the designers. Using the toilet paper, they need to create an "outfit" for their model...give them about 15 minutes or so (you'll know when they're done.) Then have a fashion show with the results. (A variation on this is to get a big box of clothing items and have the girls work in teams or pairs to create a character with those pieces: a new superhero, a new cartoon character, a fictitious actor or actress/singer, etc. and have them introduce their person with a description - could be pretty hysterical!...they'll probably want to take turns on being the one who gets to be the model!)
- create a "Hollister's Got Talent" show. Girls can form groups to create a "talent" act: song, dance, skit, parody, etc. Enlist other family members to sit as judges.

Take lots and lots of photos - it's sure to be a blast they'll be talking about for weeks to come! Have fun!

We did a Peter Pan Party complete w/treasure hunt, that had several rhyming clues. Clues took them all over Neverland. One of the clues was even inside one of the black balloons (cannon balls)that were all over the floor in one section called Skull Rock Island (we made signs out of cardboard). They had to stomp the balloons to find the clue, that said to go to Mermaid Island for the next clue...Mermaid Island was under the tree outside(blue streamers hanging straight down in the tree, like seaweed. That clue led them to crocodile swamp (green streamers hanging straight down, and underneath them, a sea blue sheet put up (do this inside in a corner)where my hubby crouched behind and put treats/gifts on a fishing pole, gave a yank, and the child drew up the pole to find their prize. The birthday girl got the added benefit of the next clue attached with her prize..(we made sure she was the last turn). Much excitement came when a clue was found. The last clue did take them to a hole out in the yard where we dropped a bucket full of loot (chocolate coins, jewelry, etc)and covered it with branches. My birthday girl (6) dressed up as Tinkerbell and my son and hubby dressed up like pirates. My older daughter dressed up like Wendy (in fact all the girls can dress like wendy - in their gown and slippers!)don't forget the pixie dust (pixie sticks) to help them fly, and have fun! Make magic wands for crafts. give out fairy wings as a going home gift. We bought the Peter Pan soundtrack from Amazon. We played the song "Never Smile at a Crocodile" while the kids played "hot potatoe" with a stuffed green sock that we made into a crock. (For fun you can sew a timer inside of it!) Just make sure its stuffed loose enough that you can turn the dial on it. Make sure to let the girls watch the movie before lights out.

Hi, my daughter is going to turn 10 on Friday, last year for her 9th birthday she had a slumber party and the girls had a great time making jewelery, I found large tubs of beads and jewelery making accessories at Big Lots and they were entertained for 2 hours and everyone went home with a few necklaces or braclets

A fun thing to start off with, is to let the kids decorate the room they'll be sleeping in. For this, I'd get some cheap fabric and tule and ribbons from a discount fabric store, or if you are flexible, check out Goodwill for curtains and bedsheets.

For after dinner activities, a movie is totally an option. Or if you like more interaction and less passivity, 9 year old girls are ready to start playing charades, which takes care of a medium size group of girls on two teams. Cookie mixing, baking and decorating also an option.

Depending upon your kid's interests, you might tempt them with journal writing - could be dream journal theme.

Hope that helps.

I remember a slumber party where the parents took the group of us out to a late movie at the theater. It was fun as I'd never been to the movies that late before. We all got a slurpie of our own and a couple of big popcorns to split. When we got back to the house we set up our sleeping bags in the living room in front of the TV while we looked at the movie selection. Something got picked and put on but most of us just ignored it to talk and laugh about stuff while the birthday girl’s parents brought us pizza and snacks.

The first girl who fell asleep got her spare pair of undies soaked with water and put in the freezer. This happened after parents went to bed. ;)

How about a dance contest and making and decorating cookies.

Barnes & Noble has a really cute kit to make your own tiaras and crowns. What girl doesn't love a little Bling?

Crafts! Girls this age love to make things! Go to Michaels and get some of the door knob hanger kits and they can make one with their name, they have tons of other stuff to choose from too. Also, make sure that the rules are given out prior to the party getting in full swing. Have fun!

For my son's 9th b-day, we cut out guitar's from foam core, had the kids decorate them. I also used paper towel rolls, covered them with paper and put foil on top for the microphone. Got this idea from Family Fun. We put on some music, and let the kids dance and sing. They loved it.

I was surprised at how well this went over.

Pillow fights, charades, and make-your-own ice cream sundaes are some of the fun things I remember from slumber parties when I was that age (so many eons ago!)

The crafting projects and camping out that other mamas are suggesting sound really fun, also!

Wow those slumber parties sound like fun, but alot of work on mom's part. I have boys so all I ever did was have lots of snacks and they played video games and watched movies. When I was a kid and went to slumber parties we did the same thing. I guess it all depends on how much time you (mom) wants to spend planning, buying stuff and cleaning up.

We did the Spa Party using ideas from the American Girl book. Homemade facials, back massages, hair styles. Dinner was pizza and we showed a new release DVD movie with popcorn. Breakfast was smoothies and muffins.

I used to have slumber parties every year for my birthday. Have plenty of food, a few games up your sleeve, and be ready to referee fights, but don't overplan! Mad Libs work well. They'll want to listen to music, most likely. We used to get a kick out of playing outside (in the lighted driveway) late at night.

Have them make something. Crafts are great. You can also let them decorate the birthday cake. My kids still like this. I just make a plain sheet cake and frost it plain white. I make extra frosting and color it different colors in small ziptop bags. Just cut of a small corner of the bags and you are ready to go.

You could also as around to see if any of your friends have a Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) video game, or one of the Sing It type games that you could borrow. Nine year olds love them and will keep occupied for ages!

movies are always fun. popcorn,pizza, play games,dressing up .at this age they may be interested in make up and a little teaching is fun they can put on light lipstick or lip gloss , and a little eye shadow . they feel so grown up and they can learn how to look natural but can try to learn how to wear it .most anything you do they will have fun with because they are together. if you are really feel entergetic they could cook something ,like make thier own pizzas ,make cookies ,well have fun S.

I asked my 11 year old about her favorite slumber party and it was: when the girls slept in a tent in our backyard.(If raining you could do in living room) We also did a scavenger hunt, made smores, tie dyed t-shirts, and I made two cakes and divided the girls to decorate.(used these as the birthday cake for the birthday girl) We played a game where they split the party girls in half and made mummies out of toilet paper with birthday girls two older sisters. Also, did a water balloon toss. We did not do prizes as we went along just gave out party favor bags at the end. She is only nine once, have fun:)

Hi J., scrapbooking is a fun thing to do. You can get small scrapbooks that already have paper, stickers...stuff like that and ask the girls to bring pictures, of family, friends..etc...Also make your own ice cream sundaes is alot of fun. good luck

My daughter has never been into the spa stuff, but she loves crafts. At age 9, we got those clear plastic free- standing photo frames and some bubble paint, stickers and doo-dads. They each decorated a frame, and we printed photos of the party for the frames. For her slumber party last year, we decorated the living room with Christmas lights and hung a beaded door curtain to make it festive. You can buy a Twister game for under $20. Maybe water balloons in the backyard, music on the stereo, pizza, popcorn and a dvd. Build your own ice cream sundaes. They will have fun no matter what you do. Good luck!

Hello J.: When ever I think of my daughters slumber parties the word slumber never seemed to be with the difenition of the books. The very first thing I ever did was to speak to each childs parents so we were all understanding my expectations, made sure they knew what movies I would be showing and if there were any special things I needed to know about their child & time for drop off and esp time for being picked up the next day. Once we had a child that didn't get picked up until 5pm the next day because the mom "decided she needed to get things done".
We always chose a theme and had things we did center around that. Example Princess: A friend came over to help with fancy hair do's and dress up clothes watched the Princess and the Pea & the Princess Bride and had royal pudding for treats. Tea party: we used the good china and we got pretty cups and saucers from discount stores they could take home and had sandwhiches and coco, herb teas, and strawberry milk. The girls had the fancy hats and I got some fun gloves and boas they had a great time and we got fun pictures for their moms to put in scrap books. Magic night: I hired a teenage magician we knew from church and he did about an hour of magic tricks and then taught some to them.
The best thing I can say is the memories are fun and the sleep is little but if you are clear what your boundries are and what your plans are then even in this day and age of danger of your child going places it should go well and be good.
If someone needed to be picked up in the middle of the night who would I need to call (with children staying with different parents on weekends this is an issue). Take Care and enjoy the adventure of parenthood, Nana G

Hi J.,

Slumber parties are great! I had one for my 9yo last year. I had an art project for them and then they watched movies and ate popcorn until about midnight and then they went to sleep. The party theme was "Be a Super Star" so the girls all came dressed up like a pop star with glitter and make up and we had extra dress up clothes. It was so much fun.

D.