Little Girl's Sleepover -8yr- Make Your Own Pizza

I threw my husband's sister's 8th birthday party.  She wanted a sleep-over and her mom was overwhelmed.  I think the key to a successful party is constant entertainment at that age.  I made a party plan and did my best to stick to it and the girls had a great time!  I had the parents drop the kids off at 5:30 on a friday and pick them up at 9am and had them bring their swim suits.  The decorations were limited as a was 6 months pregnant and not climbing up on ladders and such.  I had hellium balloons in the dinning room and in the family room along with streamers and a happy birthday sign.  The theme she wanted was tinkerbelle, so we had shades of purple and tinkerbelle, cups, plates and napkins.  I bought the plastic reuseable cups and just wrote the girls names on the bottom.  They could take these home when they were through as a favor, though I did have to wash them a few times.

The Party Plan: ONCE THE GIRLS ARE IN THE HOUSE:
1.Color your own goodie bag:  I had coloring pages of tinkerbelle out on the table along with purple gift bags (the kind with the handles, that I got at walmart for under a dollar)  The girls colored their tinkerbelle and glued them on the front of the bag.  On the back I had already written their name in marker so they wouldn't be confused.  These would be their goodie bags

2.Decorate pillow cases: I bought pillow cases and fabric markers and had the girls decorate them. The fabric markers dry fast and they were able to put them on their pillows at bedtime.

3.Water balloon fight:  This was August, so I had the girls go put on their swimsuits.  i had waterballoons out in 2 different coolers at opposite sides of the lawn and the girls came out and went to town on each other.  I also turned the sprinklers on and they played for quite awhile.

4.Make your own necklaces: I had found Tinkerbelle necklace packages in the dollar section at the craft store, so the girls came in and made their own necklaces, which were promtly placed in their goodie bags

5.Make your own ice cream: I found a recipe on-line on how to make your own ice cream...without a machine in ziplock bags with their names on them and had the girls make their own ice cream, which I threw in the freezer until later.Recipes as follows:  INGREDIENTS 1 cup half-and-half cream  1/4 cup sugar  1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract  4 cups coarsely crushed ice cubes  3/4 cup salt  DIRECTIONS In a small resealable plastic bag, combine the cream, sugar and vanilla. Press out air and seal. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the ice and salt; add the sealed small bag. Seal the large bag; place in another large resealable plastic bag and seal. Shake and knead for 5-7 minutes or until cream mixture is thickened. Serve immediately or freeze. 

6.Eat me if you can:  donuts game:then hung some string and mini powdered donuts from the eve of the house and had the girls stand with their hands behind their backs and the first one to eat the whole donut won a prize that went into the goodie bag

7.Decorate your own cookies: I pre made from refrigerated sugar dough some flower shaped cookies, bought vanilla icing in the can and bought different sprinkles and gel writing tubes and let the girls decorate the cookies.  I did 6 each, let them eat only 1 and put the others on paper plates and into ziplocks to go home with them.

8.Make your own pizza: I bought french bread and sauce and cheese and some traditonal topping and let the girls make their own dinner. which I served with fruit, carrots and ranch and juice boxes or water  while these were in the oven,...

9.Scavenger Hunt: I split them up into 2  teams and had an adult with each group.  gave them 20 minutes (enough time for the pizzas to cook) and sent them out with this list of throw-away items so we didn't have to return anything.  they group with the most items won and got a gift to put it in their goodie bag Scavenger Hunt Items: a packet of ketchup a colored napkin,  a tea bag a tooth pick a paper clip a 1999 penny ( her birth year) a plastic sandwich bag a paper plate an empty toilet paper roll a piece of gum a used dryer sheet a straw an empty soda can a Q-tip a cotton ball  a band-aid a broken crayon the comic section of the newspaper a fast food coupon a plain white paper towel  a rubber band a bobby pin a breath mint 

10.DINNER: then they ate

11.SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY & EAT CUPCKES & ICE CREAM: I served cup cakes with the ice cream that they made them selves. it was just vanilla, but the loved it beause they made it! 

12. GIFTS: then we opened gifts

13.Bingo: we played bing and use dried beans as markers (cheap and easy to find, plus they won't be eatting all the markers like they would if I used m&ms)  They loved this and played a few more rounds even without prizes

14.Make up Shop makeovers: let the girls go into the bathroom and put on their own make up or do eachother's face.  Took pictures of them

15.Spa/ wash faces: I gave them washcloths and face soap and had them wash their faces then I put a facial masque on each girl, one at a time (took their picture) and had them use the washcloth to remove it, then they were all clean and ready for bed (at least their faces and hands)

16.GET INT PJ's  

17.SET UP SLEPPING ARRANGEMENTS: in the living room

18.The cootie candy game: This game was easy.  i had a tray of random little indivually wrapped cand and we'd send one girl out of the room. The others would pick a cand on the tray that had cooties" and the girl would come back in and get to get as many pieces of candy until she chose the one with the "cooties"  then it was the next girl's turn.  They could keep two candies and the rest went into the goodie bags.

19.HAVE THE GIRLS GET THE SNACKS FOR THE MOVIES: I popped popcorn and had tinkerbelle fruit snacks and trail mix and pretzels set up along with bottles of water.  eacj girl got a plate and put what they wanted to snack on on it.  Then they settled down for the movie

20. Watch movies: I had had the birthday  girl pick 3 movies that we rented and they all picked one a I put it in for them to watch.  they were quiet and were told to be so!  They were all out before the first movie was over. It was about 11pm.

21.  GO TO BED!!: while they were watching the movie pencil boxes and a few other non-tinkerbelle items.  THen I checked on the girls and went to bed.

22.  SERVE BREAKFAST: they were up early which is why I suggest an early pick up time.  I served donut holes and fruit with milk and oj.  (okay not super nutrious but it was a party and after all they were leaving soon!)

23.  HAVE THE GIRLS GET DRESSED: I had them get dressed as they finished breakfast and round up their sleeping bags and clothes.  I lined up all the sleeping bags pillows bags of clothes along with their goodie bags and the cookies the decorated.  We had taken a million pictures and so I quickly burned them onto a CD for each little girl so they would remember the party. I put on the other movies so the girls watch that and played in the birthday girl's room until their parents came.

24.  BYE BYE!: When the parents all their kids' stuff was by the door and no one was running around looking for a lost teddy and I didn't have any left behind items! This party was in August and the girls were still taking about it for the first week of school!  They had a great time and despite all the pre-planning that went into it it came off without a hitch and those girls had fun and I was in bed at a reasonable time!!!  I think the key to a sleep-over is planning.  If those girls got bored.  They could have destroyed the house in seconds!! They were so busy a couple of the girls asked me " Is it time to go to sleep yet?"  Ha!  That was just where I wanted them!!! "