How to survive a tween slumber party

Exactly 1 year ago today I was frantically trying to recover from the absolute bomb of a 8- girl slumber party that had just exploded in my home. I was tired and trying to clean up…all while “trying” to have a good attitude about the whole thing. I mean, this was my daughters DREAM!!! To have all of her friends come over for a sleep over for her birthday…but the piles of dishes, shredded streamers and mountain of clean-up just seemed so daunting!

Now here we are, 1 year later, happy, a little tired, but the house is clean and I’m ready to conquer the rest of the day today!

Here are a few things that I learned about not just surviving, but thriving while throwing a Tween Girls Slumber Party:

Use disposable….everything! Plates, cups, silverware. Toss it. Its just so much better for your sanity!
Plan simple and fun food options. My daughter wanted pizza for dinner. When I suggested how fun it would be to make our own pizzas, my daughter quickly and with great wisdom, corrected me and let me know that was “way too much work, mom!” She was so right! Plus, Little Caesar’s is just so tasty! We did Pizza for dinner and waffles (Snoqualmie Waffle mix) with whip cream (from a can!) and strawberrys (previously frozen!). I think I cut up some bananas too. After this is gone…kitchen is closed!
Let the kids play! 🙂 Seems so simple, but just getting out of their hair and letting them hang out is something that will give you a break.
Enlist help! Don’t be like me last year and try to do this all by yourself! I had my mom and some other girlfriends come over and were on hand to help blow up balloons, curl hair and glam up the girls. In turn, we took some fabulous photos and they left with a crown!! 🙂 It was so much for fun this way!!
Have 1 hr of activities planned. My daughter wanted to have a photoshoot, so I invited Nana and some of my friends to come and glam up the girls. We had 4 stations of hair, nails and a little make-up and designing a shirt…..we just rotated through each one, while music was blasting. An adult did each station and the girls were super happy. When everyone had gone through each station, we did a big photoshoot with a simple crepe paper back drop.
Get everyone settled in for a Movie! The girls watched the new Cinerella movie…which totally went with our theme. I had microwave popcorn on the ready and it was a hit. All the girls were snuggled, ready to nod off and I went to bed. 🙂 After throwing away all the disposable plates, of course.
Let it go, the perfect dream birthday ideas, I mean. Yes. I said it. Sometimes in our head we have the most picture perfect birthday party plans and if they don’t do the right way, we get frustrated (by we, I mean ME!) The fact is…it doesn’t really matter what WE want. Ask yourself a few questions along the way…Is my kid having fun? Is my kid making memories? Done.
Tell yourself this is once a year!!! Go all out, create amazing fun memories with your kids! Its fun to have fun!