Osleepover Party-6 YO Tons of Questions Need Idead! Including Hardwood Floors?

Nah, I did 22 girls and lived. The best thing I did was sleeping zones. So like my daughter's room was for early sleepers. Then the guest room, lined the halls, then the family room for those that don't sleep. Yeah it takes a lot of space for 22 girls.

The nice thing about the zones is you don't have crabby kids whining they can't sleep.

All the kids knew they were sleeping on the floor so those that didn't want to sleep on the floor brought air mattresses. I didn't even concern myself with that issue.

Will you be at the new house? Swimming!!!!! J. make sure you have someone to watch the pool. I have never had trouble getting another parent to stay while they are in the pool, or three. Nothing takes the wind out of their sails like swimming. Then they sleep, then you don't have murderous thoughts throughout the night!

I agree, that number is way high for this age group. If you really want to do it, go for it, but be aware that if one or two of them get a little teary or homesick late at night it will spread like wildfire among them and/or the ones who are hardcore sleepover veterans will get ticked off with those who are having trouble. J. be prepared to call parents late and say "Your daughter's needing to come home."

If you have a group that big you MUST have planned activities. You are wise to want games. When I need games for specific size group of girls I go online and search "games for kids 10 players" and that gets hits for children's games for 10 or more players. You also can search "Girl Scouts group games 10 players" which is helpful because GS and Boy Scout sites have LOTS of games, so try Boy Scouts in that search too.

Plan more games than you need. Plan craft activities too -- they love crafts at this age so have several planned through the evening. It stops them for a while and gives you a break from leading games. Have varied crafts -- making bracelets, making their own lip gloss, decorating a canvas tote bag from the craft store, etc. (this is where frankly it will cost you having 10 or 12 kids there-- craft items will add up if you have enough for everyone and do more than one craft, but it does keep girls very occupied).

Be tough on having a set time for "wind down" followed maybe 20 minutes later by "lights out" and then 15 minutes after that, "quiet time" when they really truly do have to stop talking, period. You may have to stay very near by for a very long time to enforce this. I know it sounds like "no fun" but seriously, some girls will want to chat and mess around all night long, but others possibly will really want to go on to sleep and again, you can end up with some hurt feelings and angry moments if these two kinds of girls clash. (This is the voice of much experience with Girl Scout campouts.) I always feel that the girls who want quiet so they can actually sleep always win over the girls who want to yak, because the yakkers are the ones who'll be the grumps in the morning and their parents will not thank you.

We had a sleepover party for my son's sixth birthday. Your invite list does sound a little high. We told our kiddo he could invite 6 guests and in the end we had 8 kids over...it felt like A LOT.

We made sure to have phone numbers for every parent when they dropped off their kids. I asked each mom if they wanted us to call. A few did want to say goodnight and few wanted to hear when their kids fell asleep (so they were assured they didn't have to come get them).

We have concrete floors. We asked that everyone bring a sleeping bag or stuff for a pallet. We set up our tent on our area rug, the kids were fine. A few opted to sleep in our recliner and couch. My hubby slept in the living room on one end of the couch in case they needed a grown up. I slept in our room with some night lights on in case one of the boys wanted M. instead.

We had a few games, but not too much. Mostly the boys entertained themselves.

At 10 p.m. we put on cartoons to settle everyone in and get teeth brushed. By 10:45 it was lights out. I gave each kid a flash light as their "goody bag" and they could use those if they needed to get up.

We also had a water station on a table near the tent in case anyone got thirsty. I J. bought mini water bottles and wrote their names on them in sharpie.

For the sleep over party we didn't really decorate. We had a tent in our living room and a cake on the table. That seemed enough. If you decide to decorate, make it simple, streamers and maybe balloons. I wouldn't worry about making things "girlier" add 12 girls and that's plenty girlie.

And if you decide to do the glow stick idea, check the party store first. I bought some balloons at Walmart that had LED lights in them at the fourth of July. You pulled a sticker that turned on the lights and then blew them up. The kids had a ball playing with them. The Dollar Tree also carries packs of 15 glow stick bracelets.

GL!

I think 10-12 is way too many for 6 yr olds.....but hey, Have a blast !!!!!
The tents are a great idea.... and yes air matresses or many blankets under their sleeping bags is good.

Glow in the dark stars ?
Hand Made lanterns or those cute ones from Hawain parties you can light up the ceiling ?
You can do smores and marshmellows in the microwave... or what is that rice crispie treat with coco ris crispies ?
Glow in the dark everything is great. I would put things around the house and have them do some kinda " spot " and maybe like a scavenger hunt ?

First off, 12 girls...are you crazy!?! Okay, that said - I would recommend the kids sleep on something other than hardwood floors. Even tons of blankets put down on the floor can help. Borrow some blow-up mattresses, yoga mats or camping pads.

I have had 2 sleepovers for my 9 yo daughter and both times I came in and lied down until the kids were really quiet and began to fall asleep. I don't mind them being up late (10-11 pm), but this 2am stuff is insanity and the kids and parents pay dearly afterwards!

Easy cheap - balloons and crape paper - chinese style lanterns (Pier 1) are fun even without lights inside. Tissue paper flowers (this can be a make it at the party project and then you can hang them up-Martha Stewart.com for instructions). Any kind of sit at the table craft is great - Rock Pets (foam stickers, rocks and googly eyes), or big beads on stretchy elastic cord.

Games - keep it simple - the classics have worked for us - musical chairs, egg race (outside only!), hide n' seek (outside only-inside it gets crazy).

Good luck!

I think this is incredibly ambitious and a very large group for young kids. But you say they are cousins and used to sleeping over, so I'd be sure to have a lot more supervision than J. you and your mother. And I doubt you and your mother will be doing any "sleeping" at all.

Those beach tents are fun but if they have curved poles to hold them erect, remember that those pole points will scratch your hardwood floors. Put blankets down under them, or stick furniture protectors on the bottom and hope they stick.

I wouldn't try to make them more "girly" - that sets the kids up for all kinds of feminine stereotypes like "camping isn't fun" which can lead to the tearful homesick stuff another mom posted about. Instead, put a couple of sticks through the tops and put pictures of birds or owls on them, any kind of woodsy nature-y props you can find. Cut stuff out of magazines or hunt in the yard - don't spend any money. The kids are only around 6 years old. But don't go crazy because the kids won't care. Get a couple of cheap lanterns at the dollar store (be sure they come with batteries or you will go broke with those!) and hang one inside each tent. Have a system in mind to "assign" kids to each tent because otherwise it can get clique-y as they choose some and ban others. Maybe assign them numbers, and each tent has a 1, a 2 and a 3? Something like that. Then move them around.

They can sing campfire songs - you can probably get a CD of them at the library. If you serve marshmallows as someone else suggested, be aware of the dangerous trend among kids to see how many they can stuff in their mouths. There have been some deaths because the marshmallows soften with body heat, stick together, and block the windpipe. So definitely supervise!

If you have a lot of open space (which it sounds like you do with unfurnished rooms) then engage the kids in organized games - use the old fashioned games that kids play at camp. You can get a book with ideas and rules from the library - they all use cheap or standard household props, and of course the book costs you nothing. We did this for our kids' parties for years, and they all loved it because they had never played them!

I think separating the kids by early sleepers/early risers is a good idea. You can do it like a real camp - they have bunks and schedules and assigned chores/roles: the group that will help with breakfast goes to sleep first, the group that does clean-up goes to sleep last (and that will encourage more of them to go to sleep first!).

If you have a pool, you absolutely need a bunch of parents to supervise, and do not count yourself as you will be answering the door and dealing with the kitchen.

Kids can J. sleep on the floor unless you have some air mattresses and some cushions from chaise lounges. Borrow from cousins and neighbors - don't pay for new stuff.

Consider a movie to quiet them all down later at night. J. serve popcorn and some pre-made s'more snacks (sort of like rice krispie treats).

Boy, you are brave to have that many little girls!

I think hardwood floors are too hard to sleep on. I'd see if I couldn't find some sort of foam or something to put down on the floor and then a blanket over that and then they sleep in sleeping bags on top of that.

My hubby lays carpet for a living so I'd have him bring home some carpet pad. Maybe there's a flooring installation business near you that you could ask for pad scraps?

Or you could go to the dollar store and get some cheap air mattresses and let them blow them up and sleep on those.

I think you're right about the empty rooms being fun to play in.

Maybe you could set up a face painting/tattoo table, a fingernail polishing station, play music and have a dance contest.

At my GD's 9th birthday party, the kids played Bingo and LOVED it. I only planned for one game, but they ended up playing 3 because they were having so much fun. I made the bingo cards out of cardstock and when they were done playing bingo, they got out some markers and colored their cards. They had a great time!