Slumber Party - Fernley,NV

For my daughters's 10th birthday, she had over her 2 best friends. I then played a game with them..."how well do you know birthday girl". I asked all types of questions such as... Does X prefer apples or grapes, dogs or cats, how many times to disney, favorite subject, girly girl or Tom boy, if she was getting married tomorrow who would he be, more likely to be a teacher or doctor? Etc. It was really fun and I got to know my daughters's friends even better because I also asked them their preferences. For particularly funny answers, I would give them a prize such as, hand sanitizer from bath and body, nail polish, nail files, candy. Each girl ended up with the same stuff and that is what they took home as the party favor. We also bought a new movie for them to watch before bed and we let them camp out in the family room. Have fun!

How about a movie that you could rent....or two?
Board games?
Wii or Xbox?
Let them bake cookies?

My daughter always liked to do a craft activity during her sleep overs.

One year, we tye-dyed t-shirts. I found a kit in the craft section of Wal-Mart and it wasn't as messy as I thought it was going to be. I also bought a few $1.00 dish tubs to rinse the shirts in. It was a huge success!

Another year, the girls made erasers. Again, found the kit in the craft section of Wally World and the girls had a blast. At first, I thought this might be too juvenile for them, but they loved it and made some really creative erasers.

And then, there are always beads. You can go to www.makingfriends.com and get patterns to make things out of pony beads. The girls can create something to hang off of their backpacks when school starts. Or you can get nicer beads and they can make friendship bracelets.

Maybe they can make some chex mix together for movie time?

Sounds like you have a fun time planned! Good luck!

You can pretty much leave them on their own, but I would be sure to have some things for them to choose from to do, i.e., lots of nail polish colors so they can do their nails; make up for make-overs; supplies to do a craft or two; music to dance to.

I would open family gifts before the guests get there.

Have fun!

Sounds fun! At 11 they should be ok on their own. I'd buy some makeup and tattoos (the nice glittery ones) and some nailpolish and make sure they have space to do makeovers on one another. If they want you there, then fine. Otherwise, leave them be.

Have a blast!

Hello. This sounds like fun! :)

My kids are littler, but I do remember a few things about girls at that age. Let me first say that having an even number of girls is probably a good thing (your daughter and 3 others....). Don't feel like you need to be there at every second, BUT please do remember that girls can gang up on one another after an evening of sweets and little sleep. I think it will be helpful to have a few planned activities with 'free' time in between. I would work to make sure everyone is included.

We always opened our family presents on the actual birthday. Any party presents were usually opened up at the party itself. You might think about the timing of when you open gifts... Your daughter may be the type who wants to Ooooh and Ahhhh over gifts in a group, or she may be the type that wants to keep things more to herself. I remember a specific situation where my younger sister was a little upset after her birthday party, because after opening up the gifts, her friends convinced her to take everything out of the packages so they could all play. By the next morning, her craft set was all mixed up and one of the small pieces from a toy had broken off. Nothing was done with malicious intent...it's just that my sister takes really good care of her things and is a very organized person. I think she would have felt much better to open gifts in the morning so that there wasn't so much 'pass around' time.

As far as other ideas for entertainment, you might just ask your daughter ahead of time what she thinks would be fun. I would probably plan an age appropriate movie for a 'late' bedtime. Let's face it...it's a slumber party and kids want to stay up late. BUT if you set the scene around 10:30-11ish with the sleeping bags rolled out, the lights turned off, a movie on (but not too loud), then the girls may naturally fall to sleep during the movie.

Above all...have fun! :)

Family presents on her actual birthday and gifts from friends at the party. One of the best things of having a party on the weekend after your birthday is 2 days of celebration! Ask your daughter if there are any crafts she and her friends would like to do (jewelry making, painting, etc), then you've got something to do after they tire themselves out swimming. Have fun!

Family presents with family ahead of time if there's anything fun that could add to the party. Otherwise, it doesn't matter when.

Leave them alone. They are 11. They want to giggle and commiserate and watch movies and stay up too late and annoy you. Let them. They don't need help. That's the cool part of being a "tween" and a teen - you are separate from parents.

If they are into things like nail polish and so on, you can give them a supply and some basic instructions about keeping it off the rugs, but otherwise, it's hands off.

Feed them the main course and then let them go off on their own for dessert, entertainment, etc. If you feel you need to check in, go in with popcorn if they are watching movies, but just drop the food and go! You can sort of eyeball the situation to make sure they aren't doing stuff on the computer they shouldn't or calling boys to harass them, but otherwise keep your distance. They will think you are totally cool for doing so!

Assume they will not get enough sleep, and do not intervene to tell them they need their rest.

Good thought to send husband and brother out.

Welcome to the tween years - it just gets more and more wacky!

I would save one small family present to open with friends, but let her open the rest with the family.

As for entertainment, maybe you can find a good movie they will all enjoy (maybe that will be a good idea for the present she opens with them...) I had a friend whose mom always made a big bowl of cut up fresh fruits (banana, kiwi, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, etc.) and would give us bowls of that, along with popcorn. Most of us went for the fruit! Lol.

Maybe buy a kit of assorted nail polishes, and let them give each other manicures.

Or a cheap makeup kit, and they can do makeovers.

I had another friend whose parents rented a cheap karaoke machine. We had a BLAST with that!!

For the most part, I would provide them the entertainment, then disappear. Check in on them every once in a while, and if they seem receptive to 'hanging out' then maybe participate for 10 minutes or so before excusing yourself. I truly liked my friend's parents, but it was definitely easier to relax and have fun when they weren't hovering. Lol.

Well my daughter is 10, but since she was about 8 she's had slumber parties at our home. And had about 6 other girls, each time invited.
And basically, all the girls just did their own thing. And they were so busy!

We'd even have a movie, as my daughter requested, but.... they didn't even watch it or only watched it for like less than 1/2 hour, because they were just doing their own thing. And having fun, doing so.
They are all, very very self-reliant and entertained themselves and did things. I did not have to have projects or things for them. Even if I did have a back-up plan.
And my daughter and the girls had tons of fun and even told me they didn't want to do "planned" things.
Oh but we did have a Pinata.

Per opening family presents, do that amongst yourselves.
Unless your daughter wishes otherwise.
Ask, her.
Its her Birthday.

You don't have to "entertain" them.
At that age they are pretty independent.
But you may ask your daughter what ideas she has or what she, wants to do.
They are old enough.

They will end up entertaining themselves. Games, just talking, crafts..
A video or 2..

Family gifts with family..

Take lots of photos of the girls. When the kids graduate.. some of the old Slumber party and birthday party photos are awesome to remember their childhoods.

I would open family presents tomorrow on her actual birthday, then it keeps it more special too.

As for her slumber party, it seems girls that age love makeup and glitter. Why not get the girls glittery fun tiaras (cheap anywhere in the party aisles) and do make overs? You could do spa stuff like pedicures and paint their nails fun colors. You can do facial masks, and let them do make up and take pictures.

Then they can settle down with girly movies later on.

Have fun!

Only do the party gifts while the girls are here.They don't need to be part of your family party or family time. So just do the pool and let them have fun on their own.

I agree with all previous posts. I'll just add: silly games are great (Charades, Taboo, whatever she likes...one of those can be a birthday gift, as another post suggested). And, make sure you have plenty of FOOD. My parents talk to this day about my birthday sleepover when I was 10 or 11, and how much food all of the girls ate!! Buy a foot-long sub and chips and tell them where it is in the fridge, etc.

Open most family gifts on family time, unless something relates to the sleepover.

Great idea to send dad and son out to do their own stuff.

Have fun!

Maybe a movie but at that age they are happy just giggling over silly things!!

Other fun surprises: Leave her a note on her pillow to wake up to, one
on her bathroom mirror, one on the kitchen counter.
-Open presents on her special day before the friends come over
-Make her say special ALL day long w/little surprises.
-Let the girls swim (be sure to put "bring swimsuit on the invite or email
them all"), chat, paint their nails, have the radio on etc.
-Your food sounds great, just add a couple diff kinds of chips. I might even add mini carrots & Ranch, M&M's.

I recommend that you keep the girls busy to avoid them getting into mischief. All the suggestions by the other moms sound good.