Planning
This was my daughter’s first sleepover party. First, we decided on a number. I thought eight was manageable. The only rule was, “No drama girls.”
About four weeks ahead of time, we sent out a Save the Date via Evite. We mailed invitations two weeks later. The photo above shows the photo card I created on Shutterfly. My daughter is an Instagramer, so this fit her personality.
Her theme started as leopard and hot pink, but as we were shopping for items, she decided she liked zebra and hot pink better, even though it’s a bit overdone. I found plates and napkins at Big Lots for $ 1 per pack. At some point, moustaches were thrown into the theme, which made it a little more fun.
Preparing
For gift bags, I used four hot pink and four black paper bags from Wal-Mart. My husband cut zebra Duck tape into strips the width of the bag and placed them in the center of one side. Pink bags had black fuzzy socks and black bags had pink ones. The birthday girl’s socks were zebra striped. I have a ribbon hole puncher and used at the tops of the bags.
I found party mints at Wal-Mart in zebra wrapping and added candy and a chewable grape flavored moustache. I used a sheet of shipping labels to print each girls name with a little moustache above it and secured those to the back of the bags, which served as name cards for place settings.
I bought two 4-packs of clear plastic cups, and my husband again cut zebra Duck tape and secured around the tops of the cups. He first made a template with paper to determine the width that would fit without having wrinkles (which is the area of the cup before it begins to taper down). He used an Exacto knife and a plastic top to a storage container to measure and cut the tape.
Another cute Wal-Mart find were moustache party straws. The pre-cut holes in the moustaches were too small, so this was a bit stressful trying to attach without ripping the cardboard. These could easily be made with card stock, a Google image, and hole punch.
For the sleeping area, we used one of my boys’ rooms (they both were kicked out for the night). That room already has two futons, so we opened them as beds and then put one more mattress on the floor between the two futons. This was still a tight fit for eight girls, but we thought it would at least work for movie watching, and then as they became sleepy, they could always get up a find another place to sleep.
I found zebra striped pillow cases at Wal-Mart for $ 2.50 per two-pack. Pillows were $ 2.50 each. Of course, they weren’t high quality ones, but they served the purpose of a cute party favor. We looked everywhere for hot pink, soft fleece blankets, and finally someone posted a lot on eBay and I snagged them. We set up each pillow and blanket on the mattresses, and my daughter and husband hung streamers from the ceiling.
Girls were dropped off at our house. My husband and I then transported them in our vehicles to the mall. In order to eliminate any drama over who rides with whom, I used one of the bags the pillow cases came in to create a drawing. My husband’s vehicle was the moustache and mine was zebra. This made it quick and easy, and we used it each time we drove somewhere. It was also good for mixing up the groups so that little cliques didn’t form.
The Photo Scavenger Hunt
My boys met us at the mall and were the leaders of the two photo scavenger hunt groups. The instructions were in sealed envelopes, so that no one saw them ahead of time. Again, we drew from the zebra bag in order to select teams. The rules for the game were as follows:
Every girl in the group has to be in the photo.
The group leaders are the photographers.
Photos must be texted to Mom.
The first one to text an item receives 2 points; the second one receives 1 point.
Items do not have to be completed in order, so a good strategy allows more “firsts.”
The first group to return to Mom with all texts completed receives an additional 5 points.
The winning team took a photo making “We’re #1″ signs.
And the losing team made the sign for loser.
Afterwards we had a snack at Auntie Anne’s.
The Dance Class
After a stop at home for a quick change, we headed to my daughter’s dance academy for a hip hop class and pizza. Even the non-dancers enjoyed the class, although one had to skip this part in order to go pitch a softball game. An alternative to paying for studio time would be to pay a high school dancer to come over and teach a dance to the girls.
We had pizza delivered to the studio and brought a cooler with drinks. Very easy.
Time for Cake
Back at home, we had cake and ice cream and opened gifts. I learned years ago to purchase individual ice cream cups and bottled or can drinks. However, because we had the cute moustache straws and zebra cups, we served milk or water this time.
Paaaarty!
I tacked a pink plastic table cloth on the wall and the girls had fun posing for pictures with photo booth props from Wal-Mart.
The Nail Polish Game kept them busy for at least 30 minutes. Girls who had recent manicures painted their toes instead of fingers.
After nails dried, the girls put on pajamas and their new socks and headed to the sleeping room to play Truth or Dare and then watch movies. I found a 4-movie Girls’ Night DVD at Target.
Some girls were asleep by 1:00 AM and some stayed up until 4:00 AM, but they were quiet enough for me! Of course those who fell asleep first woke up with moustaches drawn on their faces.
Breakfast
Simplicity was again the goal. The girls served themselves and enjoyed a sleepy-head breakfast together before everyone was picked up at 10:00 AM. My daughter pitched in to clean up, gave me a big hug, and headed for her bed.
Post a Comment