As I mentioned last week, this was the first year since we’ve celebrated “Birthday Week” that my daughters insisted on celebrating their birthdays separate (serious tears). On top of that, Leila decided she wanted to have her first Slumber Party! At first, I thought she was just too young for a sleepover party, but I think I may have been about her age or just maybe a year older when I had my first sleepover party and I still remember just how much fun it was. It was my mom and my friend’s mom who hosted all of the fun activities (we made shirts) and just had an all around memorable night. I wanted nothing more than to create that same memory for my daughter.
As I searched for slumber party ideas, however, I had a hard time finding ideas that catered to girls 10 and under, who wouldn’t necessarily be shoving me out of the room to talk about boys, but would instead require lots of things to keep them busy. That’s when it was clear that if I were going to throw the ultimate slumber party for 8 year olds, I’d have to get a little creative. Here are some of the ideas that helped rock this sleepover!
The Invitations
It all starts with some totally cool invitations. I made the party invitations myself on this site, printed them out on some HP photo paper and it was easy as ever.
Another important thing to note when throwing a slumber party for younger girls is the fact that there would surely be some kids she’d invite who did not know me personally and would be a little apprehensive about leaving their kids overnight. I included the following note along with the invitation to make sure she’d still get a good turnout, even if kids couldn’t spend the night.
Dear Parent,
If you prefer for your child to not spend the night, we will be finishing up all planned activities by 9pm. We hope you can join us for the party.
At the very least, this prompted some of the parent s to contact me for party details.
The Activities
Leila has seen me in my DIY mode making my own soaps and toiletries and seemed to really enjoy the times I let her make some with me. Therefore, I thought that would be a really fun activity for the girls to take part in during the party. I found this company called Kiss Naturals that actually makes these easy DIY kits for kids to make their own soaps and toiletries, as well as to package and label them pretty easily. I also double checked the ingredients and was happy to see that the kits provide the same all natural ingredients I use when I make the products myself. We used the kits for DIY Soaps, DIY Bath Fizzies, DIY Lip Gloss, and DIY Moisturizers.
All of the kits are available on Amazon.com.
Food /snacks
As much as you want the kids to have a fun time, sleepover parties are a little different in the sense that you don’t get to send them home after filling them up with junk and sweets. Keep that in mind as you plan your menu for the slumber party. The last thing you want at the end of the night is to have a room full of ultra hyper kids with stomach aches.
For Leila’s party, we served pizza, cupcakes, popcorn, and my favorite, Juicy Juice Splashers (because they have less sugar) and absolutely NO CANDY! lol.
My daughter insisted on red velvet cupcakes…
I also made sure to ask parents ahead of time for any food allergies, but just to be on the safe side, I still kept the party nut free.
Games
I found so many fun slumber party games online, but after all of the crafts, the kids settled on just watching a movie, eating popcorn and endless (yes I mean, ENDLESS) chit chat till 2AM!
Favors
What I loved most about the KissNaturals kits was the fact that they doubled as slumber party favors for the girls, which made my job as simple as putting the products each girl made into a favor bag for them to take home the next day.
As an extra surprise for the girls the next morning, I threw in one extra favor. I was sent these adorable new Cupcake Surprise Dolls that my daughters adored and wanted to share with their guests. The kids were fooled at first thinking I was giving them some delightfully fragrant cupcakes for breakfast. Then they got the surprise of their lives watching the cupcakes turn into real dolls! There are several varieties of these dolls and they each come with a hairbrush and pretty dresses for the dolls. They were a huge hit with the kids and the parents!
I also couldn’t resist but to throw in some eye adorable sleep masks the girls could use at the party. The birthday girl got these Girl’s Travel Princess Crown Sleeping Eye Masks and they were a big hit.
All in all, I think I pulled off a pretty good (and affordable) slumber party the girls will remember for a long time.
Have you thrown the ultimate slumber party for girls 10 and under? Feel free to share those tips in the comments!
OMG, those are so cute! I absolutely love those little cupcake surprises. Thanks for sharing these!
They DIY bath fizzies and soaps kits are the best idea ever. It’s like a DIY spa date!
We JUST had a slumber party, and another is scheduled for next month. I am definitely bookmarking this. Great ideas here.
Sounds like a fun slumber party. I like that you included the note for parents who are wary of sleepovers.
How fun, especially all of those awesome DIY activities. Sleepovers were a huge part of my childhood and I even celebrated a few of my birthdays with a giant slumber party.
Sounds like a fun time. Having twins… I always made sure to have enough stuff to do when we had more than one girl stay over. Would not want bored kids.
My kids loved slumber parties for their birthdays! What a cute idea to do the bath bombs and fizzies.
What little girl wouldn’t love this! You really have thought of everything.
Making some fun DIY soaps and things is a great idea! I’m loving those little kits. They’re perfect for the kids.
What a great slumber party guide! It brought back so many fond memories of when I was growing up. I will save this post and refer to it when it is my granddaughter’s turn to host a slumber party
thats nice! looks like a lot of fun!! ill remember this post and will recommend to my younger sister !!
These sound so much fun for the girls! I love how you picked those cute items! From invitation to party favors, and that DIY party favors! They will surely remember this all their lives!
These all look like good ideas.
My 8 yr old niece would love these.
Love the idea of birthday week! I am so happy you have a plan and had lots of activities!
These are great ideas! I’m in the process of planning my daughters party and will have to keep these in mind! Love the cupcake toppers!
I love what you planned. We have had many many sleep overs (2 grown daughters). Our biggest sleep over was when my daughter was in high school and the entire dance team picked my house for the traditional Thanksgiving Eve sleep over. I had 22 teenagers and yes I was having about 20 for dinner. Truthfully I miss it so much!