One of the most exciting stages in a girl’s life is that first sleepover where she will get to spend the night over at a friend’s house. The mere fact that a tween girl gets to spend the night with a group of her closest friends is an exciting prospect for her. Here are some tips to help plan for the slumber party or sleepover to ensure that the party is a success.
Basically, the rule of thumb to follow is that the activities shouldn’t be too childish. Neither should they be suitable for those who are already in their teens. Remember that being a tween is that awkward stage in a person’s life which veers in-between being a child but not quite an adolescent yet. As such, the activities planned should be suited for those who are in this age group. So what are the things that need to be considered when planning for the ultimate tween girl slumber party? Read on to find out.
The Planning Phase of a Slumber Party
The first thing that needs to be done when planning for the ultimate tween girl sleepover is to come up with an agreement about the number of guests to be invited. A good rule to follow is the "one friend per year" rule, which means that if the tween is turning nine, she can invite nine friends over. If she's ten, she can invite ten friends, and so on. But for parents who think that the number is a bit too much, the number of guests can be limited to even numbers like four, six or an ideal maximum of eight.
Depending on whether the tween who will host the slumber party has the initiative, she can be in on the planning stage. For example, she can make personalized invitations that indicate a schedule of activities that will get the guests even more excited about the sleepover. Additional planning tasks that need to be completed include:
- Choosing a theme
- Planning a menu
- Working out sleeping arrangements
- Drafting out the activities that can be played on the sleepover night itself
Activities During the Sleepover Night
After sorting through the things that need to be done during the planning phase, how about the activities that can be done for the ultimate tween girls slumber party? This will depend on the theme that a tween has cooked up.
Along the lines of cooking things up, consider having the girls make their own snacks, such as:
- Personalized pizzas
- Cupcake decorating
- Snacks that require multiple ingredients
- Experiment with baking ingredients
Those who are having 11 to 12-year-old girls come over can hold a spa night. For this, purchase one of those extremely affordable masks that the tweens can experiment with, as well as some artsy stuff that they can put on their nails. Arts and crafts, including face painting each other, or the typical movie night are also great ideas for tween sleepovers.
Additional Slumber Party Planning Tips
Holding a successful tween girls sleepover is all a matter of planning for every eventuality. Create a schedule of activities that the tween girls can follow so that both the parents and kids know what to expect. Set the time that the tweens are expected to go to bed and stick to the schedule. Have plenty of food, drinks and party supplies handy – and don’t forget the party favors!
Regularly check on the girls, but do not hover, so that they can still have some unsupervised fun. More importantly, get the contact numbers of the parents, so they can be contacted in case of emergency. Follow these tips and tweens can have the ultimate girls sleepover for a night that they will surely remember.
Find more Parenting Tweens articles on Suite101.
 |
