How to Host a Fun Sleepover
A sleepover party is a great way for a tween to celebrate a birthday, or kick-off the weekend. But there are secrets to sleepover party success. If your child is having a sleepover at your house, it pays to have some ideas so that the kids don’t get bored. DIY tips to make it a party that kids will be talking about for weeks afterward. For starters, you’ll need to provide yummy food.
DINNER
Make Your Own Pizzas: Kids love pizza and there’s no reason everyone has to have the same thing. Buy prepared pizza dough and sauce, and let the children choose their own toppings. Provide cheese, pepperoni, bacon bits, onions, black olives, sliced mushrooms and spices such as basil and oregano.
Spaghetti Bar: You don’t have to use spaghetti noodles, in fact, you can cook up a batch of spaghetti and a batch of penne or macaroni. Provide marinara sauce, alfredo sauce and melted butter. A side of cooked meatballs, garlic bread and a healthy salad round out the meal for your sleepover guests.
Make Your Own Tacos: Same idea as the Make Your Own Pizza suggestion, just with taco ingredients. Provide cooked taco meet, soft and hard taco shells, mild and spicy salsas, and all the other ingredients that make tacos so yummy: shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, diced fresh tomatoes and diced onions.
BREAKFAST
Rainbow Pancakes: 2 cups Original Bisquick Mix, 1 1/4 cup milk, 2 eggs (beaten), 2 tbsp. sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, Food coloring gel. Stir all ingredients until blended. Divide the batters evenly, depends on how many colors you want. The more color you add, the brighter the pancake gets. But don’t put too much or you will have a bitter batter pancake.
Funny Pancake Shapes: Clean an empty plastic ketchup bottle and fill it with pancake batter. The opening is perfectly sized for making funny pancakes. You can spell names and create turtles, flowers, puppy dogs, caterpillars and bunny ears. TIPS: If you’re spelling a name in batter, write backwards so the pretty, golden brown side will be on top when you flip it. Since the batter expands, it’s best to stick to shapes with rounded features, avoiding sharp angles and triangles. Use ¼ more mix than your recipe calls for. Otherwise the batter will be too thin to hold a shape.
Breakfast-on-A-Stick: Try skewered (with chop sticks or kabob sticks) French Toast Bites (cut up French Toast) alternating with blackberries. Add blackberry syrup for dipping on the side. This is a fun way to eat French toast, because you can can dip the Kabob into the sauce. You can also make with mini frozen waffles, fresh strawberries, and Cool Whip Whipped Topping. The kids will love them!
GAMES
Glow-in-the-Dark Party: You’ll need a black light, and highlighters and T-shirts for each kid. Let the kids go crazy coloring on each other’s shirts, and then turn on the black light for some glow in the dark fun! When it’s time for bed, the black light can double as a nightlight for anyone who wakes up during the night.
Super-Sized Sumo Wrestlers: Clear a large space in the room (or play this outside), get out some old T-shirts, and prepare to have kids bounce around. Pick two people to put on the T-shirts. Stuff the fronts with pillows so the kids are extra padded. Now here’s a chance to pretend to be a professional sumo wrestler. Have the two chubby people bow in front of each other and then proceed to bump into each other. Encourage loud grunting sounds as they smash their padded stomachs together. Let everyone have a turn at bouncing off each other’s stomachs. In Japan, sumo wrestlers are considered great sports heroes!
Who’s Who in the Bag?: Can kids disguise their voices while inside a sleeping bag? Spread out all the sleeping bags in one room. Select a person to leave the room. Everyone else climbs inside a sleeping bag, pulling the tops shut. The remaining kid (“It”) comes back in the room and taps a sleeping bag. Then she asks a question such as “What’s your favorite food?” or “Who is your favorite rock star?” The person inside the sleeping bag disguises her voice to answer the question while “It” tries to guess their name. “It” can rotate from sleeping bag to sleeping bag, asking different questions. If she guesses correctly, the person inside the stuffy sleeping bag gets to come out for some fresh air!
Puzzle Races: Divide the group into two to four kids each. Give each group a 100-piece puzzle. On “GO!” see which group can put together their puzzle first. After everyone has completed their puzzles, combine all the pieces of all the puzzles. Staying with the same groups, have them try to assemble their puzzles again, selecting pieces they need from the pile of jumbled up puzzles.
Frozen T-Shirt Contest: A day before the sleepover, get two or three T-shirts completely wet. Wring out as much water as possible and form each shirt into a tight ball. Freeze overnight. At the sleepover, divide the group so there are three to four children in each group. Give each group a frozen T-shirt. Their goal is to defrost the shirt so that one member of their team can wear it. The only rules are no liquids allowed and no microwave allowed. You’ll be amazed at how they rub the frozen shirt on their bodies, sit on it, blow on it, and roll it in an attempt to thaw out the shirt.
