Pillow fights, movies, midnight feasts and ghost stories — on a cold, wintry weekend like this one, what could be more fun than a slumber party? For decades, children and teenagers have loved to get together for sleepovers, telling secrets and jokes late into the night and arguing over who is the loudest snorer.
If you want to throw a slumber party, the most important thing is to get your parents on side, so promise to help with tidying up the next day. Choose a big room that’s far away from your parents’ bedroom, so that they won’t be disturbed by shrieks of laughter and screams of terror. Next, invite all your best friends so that no one is left out, reminding them to bring a sleeping bag, pillow, toothbrush, slippers and their favourite pyjamas.
Ask your brothers and sisters to help to make party food such as home-made pizzas and Rice Crispy cakes so that your guests won’t go hungry. Pick out some of your favourite DVDs, dig out your nail varnishes to paint each other’s toes, or prepare a computer game tournament with a prize for the winner and a forfeit for the loser.
Don’t forget that some people need more sleep than others. So while you and your wildest pal might be up until sunrise daring each other to eat a tablespoon of mustard, keep the noise down so that others get some rest. They’re called sleepovers for a reason.
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Great pyjama party games
? Light as a feather, stiff as a board: one of your guests lies flat on their back while the rest of you sit spaced around them, each with two fingers underneath their bodies. Together, begin to chant “light as a feather, stiff as a board” ten times, and now try to lift them up.
You’ll find they’re incredibly light and easy to lift. A mind trick, or is something spooky going on?
? Ghost stories: Borrow a book of spooky tales from the library and use a torch to give your storytelling extra impact The Friend Game: each player writes a list of words describing the personality of another player, folds it up and puts it in a hat.
Then everyone takes turns to take one out, read it and give it to the friend they think it describes.
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The Big Sleep
? Children from 8-11 will be finding out if a dino snores on Saturday night at the Natural History Museum’s first sleepover. Tickets are sold out but you can find out more at nhm.ac.uk The world’s largest sleepover will take place on June 19, 2010 at venues all over the country, from the London Aquarium to the York Dungeons, to raise money for charity. giantsleepover.com You can snuggle down with a 3-D film when you stay over at the National Media Museum in Bradford.Nationalmediamuseum.org.uk