How to Create a Missing 1850’s Sleepover Party

Looking for a unique way to create a sleepover party for girls between pre-kindergarten and eighth grade? Why not create a “mystery” theme party where the girls will have to play “trick or treat?”

This is a simple to assemble party the girls will want to relish. There are all kinds of general supplies available on-line or you can purchase instructions or do it yourself and make it yourself.

First, don’t get your kids involved in finishing the lists for their party favors. The number 1 mistake people make when taking care of party favors is finishing them as much as they start. At this age, kids love having a say in what’s for their party favors and won’t like it if you come up with something they don’t like. When you send out your invitations, don’t ask your guests to supply a gift for a basket we can fill. Many of your guests will pass out candles and treats as they arrive regardless of the gifts they chose, so be flexible. If necessary, ask the girls to fill out their names on the baskets provide with the candy and treats to divide among themselves.

Your guest of honor will not appreciate having a bunch of her friends show up and, even if they do, she might want to have a little time to get to know them and make her party special. In addition, you’ll want to have an activity or treat that’s all the girls’ own to take home (as opposed to former child revelers, such as pinning the tail on the donkey.)

One way to do this is with a scavenger hunt. Here’s how it works: When you create a scavenger hunt based on a theme, get the girls to narrow down 2 or 3 places each that they might find clues to. Each one of the girls will take a clue or two and have to bring back the rest of the group to the location of the next clue until all can return to the starting location. At the end of the hunt, you can have the girls join together and sing “Happy Birthday” to the birthday girl (or others they chose to honor.)

A fun thing to do for prizes is to have mini scavenger hunt pinatas that get filled with party favors or candy, and have slotted them so girls can take them home with them. Here’s some ideas if you’re going to use pinatas: use a theme of disco; movie characters; celebrities; TV shows; etc. So, do a search, or make it a group event.

If your guests are coming in full out, don’t forget to fill some disposable cameras in the bags they go in. You can get the girls involved and have regular “omitations” where you gather the photos of each place guest was or had been to, and the group can enjoy a little embarrassment on the part of the birthday girl at each activity.

Have a back-up plan if the party goes well and is gone before the planned time. You could have the party at another venue, such as a park or the home of one of the brides, where the girls can have fun in the sun.

You could also create a ” rotatearticles” party where the bride has a get-together with her closest friends after the ordeal of the surprise.

One musing idea is to have an “after the surprise party” party where your guests go full circle with a few former friends of the bride in their own party dresses and dressed as their favorite celebrity of the moment. This can even be done with a band of girls, so if you look on any Hollywood gossip magazine the girls will have a perfect assortment of rich ladies.

These are just a few possible ideas. I hope you can come up with your own creative twist on a name-your-own-con dod.

Happy People to all!