Seeking Ideas to Entertain Kids at a Sleepover

Hi There. I do a lot of youth work and intergenerational events, and I have had some luck using the following website. Don't let the name fool you, there are some great printable games and some very fun low budget ideas. Good luck!

www.diva-girl-parties-and-stuff.com/diva-parties.html

This one is specifically for Junior Parties, but if you just use the main part it will get you to a page that has all sorts of ideas for all kinds of parties.

We did this at my bridal shower but I still remember how fun (and funny) it was. We had teams of 4 and they were given 2 rolls of toilet paper and had to make a wedding dress. (Imagine a bunch of women with wine coolers making toilet paper wedding dresses, hello youtube moment!) Anyway, buy a pack of cheap toilet paper, have the girls pair off and let them "dress" their partner. Then they can have a fashion show.

Hope they have a great time!

one year for my daughter's birthday we did a sleep over and we made "no sew" pillows out of fleece. you can buy fleece with patterns or colors that the girls would like at a local craft store... not very expensive. the girls loved the pillows and they got to sleep with them that night! :) here's a link for directions. http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&...

u can play truth or dare. maybe a board game .have a contest who can go to be first and give that child a prize and maybe who ever sleeps in the latest gets a prize.

Well L., my friend just had a sleepover for her 10 yr. old last week. They had movies, popcorn, pizza....did each others nails, told stories, musical chairs, made a bead project, made cookies, and braided each others hair. My daughter had a ball. I hope this helps you and your friend. Good luck and have fun. Also, I would blow up balloons and have them put them between their knees, pass to each other and at the end, try to pop them to the music. Always a fun thing....

Make your own pizzas (boboli crusts, they add whatever toppings they want), make your own ice cream sundaes (healthy ideas, huh??)...hmmmm get lots of cheap nail polish and toe separators so they can do pedicures and manicures. Movies, obviously. Maybe rent a karaoke machine, so the girls can sing? It's not so expensive, for one night!

We have sleepovers every other weekend. Some fun activities for the girls has been to do a makeover and baking projects for some yummy treats. And in the morning we always cook pancakes and the girls help.

We have also had double sleepovers, when both kids each have a friend sleep over. These nights with more kids, I make up charades and we do an hour of fun. And then of course we make Webkinz forts and make-believe restaurants out of boxes and other found materials.

A little about me:
I am a mom of 2, I love to paint and I work from home helping other moms work from home too.

Hi, L. :)

When my niece was 11, she had a sleepover birthday party where we made handcrafted Melt and Pour S.!

ALL the girls had a blast, and I think you can probably find everything you need locally now in a craft store such as Joann or Michaels :) More often than not, the girls choose a fruity scent, in case you need help in choosing (there are literally hundreds of choices these days!) Please let me know if you would like the source I used to get my supplies, I am not sure if we're permitted to post such things here or not (just to be clear, I have NO commercial interest in this company, just a happy customer! So I am not trying to promote my own business here or anything like that :)

HTH!

Magic shows are always fun. Just make sure the show is approprate for the age of the kids. 11 year olds don't want to see a "little kid's show," they want something funny and amazing. http://hijinx.tv for more info on that!

Hi L.,
for craft ideas you can get nice craft kits cheap through oriental trading post. You can go on line.
Another thing that girls age 11 might like to do is a manicure. they can soak their hands and file their nails and apply nail polish and little stickers to them. I have done that with a church group of girls and they loved it.
M.

Hi L.,
2 years ago for my daughters 10 birthday she had a sleepover. We had a "spa" party.
The girls made their own lip gloss, face masks, hand exfoliate, etc. I love looking at the photos of the girls with the face masks on one of the ingredients was oatmeal. Most of the "recipes" were relatively inexpensive since most of the ingredients you will find in your kitchen.
The girls also did make up and nails.
If you would like the recipes to everything we did please send me an email and I will find it on my computer and send it to you.
J.
____@____.com

Hi L.,
You can find lots of craft items, many of which are not terribly expensive, in the Oriental Trading catalogue, or check out their website www.orientaltrading.com. Some of the items are geared at younger kids, but when my daughter was 11, she and her friends made tote bags and sand art. You could even just buy plain tshirts in a solid color and a pack of fabric paints/markers and let them decorate their own shirts.
Good luck!

Get inexpesive makeup (dollar tree) and have girls pair up and sit in chairs one in front of the other with a desk or table in front of each pair. Mirrors are good too. Wrap a sheet around the girl in the front chair (she keeps her hands in her lap) like a cape covering the girl behind her too (so she can't see and have the girl in the back reach around and see who can make up their partners face first (no mascara!)

Mummy wrap with toilet paper fun too.

facials, manicure/pedicures, bake cookies, dress up/model/photoshoot, twister, tell scary stories in the dark, ice cream eating contest, create a scrapbook page for the birthday girl.

L.:

Great times --after the crafts, etc. I would select a nice quiet movie to calm them done (oh, don't offer candy during the sleepover, big mistake!!!) Popcorn and whatever drinks you offer, don't make them too suggary. My old time favorite is the old chair game, you have the music playing and then you stop it and everyone is to sit down, of course your a chair short, that is always a cheap and fun game, just have a prize to give at the end, it could be a nail polish and nail file, something inexpensise in a goodie bag to give away. I would search the web, it's a wealth of information -- you can also do make-overs, you'll have to have a few other moms to help depending on the amount of girls your having over. Good luck, have fun!

Aida

depending on how many girls stay over..you could get the uno cards and they can play that..you could get from the dollar store or dollar general store or what every is a cheape store in your area of living...picture frames and stickers or puffy paints or jewels and things for them to decorate their own way..take a picture of each girl with the birthday girl to go into that frame...for about 4 bucks i know you can get a container of the puffy stickers in hearts and things or flowers or what ever to use around the frame and paints from walmart or places like that are cheap for changing the background color of the frame...either way enjoy the sleep over