A sleepover is an important rite of passage in any kid’s childhood. I can remember loving them when I was little, and my daughter has absolutely loved having her friends to stay over too.
If you are planning a sleepover for your child then you may be worrying about what to serve for food and what is going to keep them entertained for the entire time.
And if you’re anything like me, you may also worry if anyone is going to get any sleep at all (especially you!). In my experience, it’s best to keep your expectations low when it comes to sleep – my daughter and her friends rarely get to sleep before 2am on sleepovers.
However, lack of sleep aside, there are tons of things you can do to make this such a fun experience for everyone involved.
Whether you are hosting a sleepover as your child’s birthday, or as a fun treat for them and their friends, this will help you plan how to keep everyone fed and entertained to ensure an amazing experience for everyone.
Food
The first place to start when drawing up your plan for what food to serve is finding out if any of your young guests have allergies or any food they really hate.
Once you have this information, you’ll know what the big no-nos are so you can focus in on what food will please everyone. If you want to really delight the kids, then the food is a great place to start. The good news is that kids can be quite easy to please.
Here are some ideas for elevating your sleepover food to make it into a super fun experience for your child and their friends.
Charcuterie board
A charcuterie board gives you so much scope to play around with what you add. Pick your child’s favourite type of food and use that as the theme for the board, or go with something classic!
Here are some ideas:
- Nibbles board. Grab a selection of cold meats – such as salami, ham, and prosciutto arrange prettily in slices – and add slices of cheese and cubes of cheese. Little bowls of olives, cherry tomatoes and bunches of grapes plus some crackers and sliced baguette make this a feast for the eyes and appetite.
- Chocolate board. This is a great one for kids! Get some chocolate macarons, chocolate covered treats such as pretzels, chocolate biscuits and mini chocolate-filled doughnuts, plus some strawberries dipped in chocolate. Add some sliced pieces of apple or other fruit for a healthy touch. Have chocolate dipping sauce too to really please the chocoholics.
- Sweet treats board. Your sweet treats board can have all of your child’s favourite candy. Have bowels of M&Ms, gummy bears and jelly beans, plus their favourite cookies. To make it a birthday celebration, add some iced cookies, including one extra large one and write “Happy Birthday” on there with colourful icing. You could also add mini cupcakes to the board too.
Hot dogs
Who doesn’t love a hot dog? Plus if you have any vegetarians you can simply grab some veggie sausages at the supermarket.
Make it more fun by creating a hot dog toppings station, with sauces, onions, pickled cucumbers, relish and maybe even some grated cheese.
Pizza
Pizza is not only a crowd-pleaser to feed the guests, but it’s also an opportunity to keep them entertained too.
Making pizzas is such a fun activity and it’s quite straightforward to set up a DIY pizza station.
Get small bowls and add different ingredients such as: pizza sauce (you can just use pasatta for this), grated cheese (maybe try a cheddar ands mozzarella), chopped ham, chopped peppers, chopped olives, pepperoni slices, salami slices, cherry tomatoes sliced in half, chopped onions and whatever else your kids want on their pizza.
If you want to make it really easy on yourself, then buy pre-made pizza bases and have the kids add the toppings of their choice. I find making dough is quite simple!
Rainbow fruit platter
Who says that healthy has to be boring? If you want to balance out the unhealthy snacks at the party with some that will keep the kiddos’ parents happy then try a rainbow fruit platter.
Grab fruits in the colours of the rainbow – strawberries, raspberries, oranges, pineapple or mango chunks, bananas, kiwis, blueberries, grapes – and arrange them beautifully on a round platter in a rainbow shape.
Cut all the fruits up into bite-sized pieces and then leave it out so that they can graze on this healthy snack whenever they want.
Fruit skewers
Not sure about buying quite so much fruit to make the fruit platter work? Try fruit skewers instead! You can buy three or four different types of fruit, chop them into bite-sized pieces and then pop them onto wooden food skewers for the kids to enjoy as a healthy snack.
Popcorn
If your slumber party includes a movie night then you have to serve popcorn! You could serve the popcorn in individual bowls or why not go for a popcorn bar where guests add their own toppings.
You could have big bowls of different types of popcorn, then have smaller bowls of toppings such as candy (M&Ms), caramel sauce, and melted butter.
Nachos
You can make one big pan of nachos and then serve them on individual plates to guests, or have them serve themselves.
There’s a delicious baked party nachos recipe here.
Homemade ice cream sundaes
As a delicious dessert, why not serve ice cream sundaes but let the guests DIY their own?
Toppings for your sundae bar could include chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, berries, nuts (check for allergies), liquorice, cookies, mini brownie pieces and M&Ms. Plus don’t forget the whipped cream too.
Pancake station
This is a great option for a fun breakfast, but I am also a huge fan of breakfast for dinner so it could be the evening meal too.
Create a pancake station, or a platter if you have a big serving board you can use, for guests to create their own pancake stack.
Having savoury options such as bacon and maple syrup, as well as sweet options like whipped cream, marshmallows, chocolate sauce and even M&Ms.
Cool sleepover decor ideas
When your guests arrive they will probably already be extremely excited! But to dial up the fun it’s nice to add some little touches to your party decor, especially if it is for a birthday celebration.
For my daughter’s sleepover party, we chose a Harry Potter theme, which was really inspirational creating a fun environment for the party. We got Harry Potter cushions for the beds, we had battery tea lights everywhere and banners featuring Harry Potter signs and phrases.
I also added these cool hanging gold streamers to the doorway into our living room, just to make it a bit more exciting when my daughter’s friends arrived.
Here are some other decor ideas and extras you can add to make the party really special.
Teepees
There are private companies that will rent you mini teepees with beds so that the kids can have a really exciting place to fall asleep.
You could try and DIY this yourself, but you will need the space in the room where they are sleeping to put these up.
If you are on a budget, then find ways to make the beds where they will sleep look exciting. You could add small wooden bed tray tables and on those put some fun stuff like lip balm, a face mask, eye mask, bag of sweets and a fun headband.
Fairy lights and balloons
Add magic to the room where everyone will be sleeping by adding lots of fairy lights. Use clips to drape them from wall to wall and across the ceiling. Alternatively you can use tea lights and battery operated candles.
Add pretty balloons too for extra fun and colour.
Activity baskets
These work for any age group but are particularly good for younger kids whose attention span may wonder a lot during the sleepover.
Why not add these things:
- Pot of slime
- Pot of play dough
- Colouring book
- Blank notepad and pens – challenge the kids to do self portraits or portraits of each other
- Printable games such as bingo or a treasure hunt
- Silly string
Care packages
A lovely way to welcome guests to the sleepover is to place care packages on each of their beds filled with some fun and relaxing goodies.
Inside their sleepover care package, you could add:
- Sleep mask
- Face mask
- Nail polish – I always go for the stuff that washes off in water with kids under 11
- Notebook and pen – for writing down memories from the sleepover
- Pretty hair scrunchy
- Lip balm
- Snacks – a little bag of popcorn or some chocolate pretzels
- Friendship bracelet – a lovely keepsake from the party
- Hair clips
Disposable cameras
It’s quite retro, but it’s nice for kids to be able to keep the memory of this fun party with cameras to take pictures of themselves together and document all of the fun.
You could give each child a disposable camera to use. Alternatively why not get a simple polaroid camera and buy several packs of film. This is a good option as it means the kids can take a selection of pictures and each take some home with them.
Activities for a sleepover
What are you actually going to do to pass the time during a sleepover? The good news is that in my experience kids have a way of just entertaining themselves when they have their friends over.
However if you want to set up a few activity stations to keep people busy and ensure everyone is having a great time, then why not try these cool sleepover activities.
Taylor Swift friendship bracelets
My kids are absolutely obsessed with making friendship bracelets at the moment and loading their arms up with them.
There’s a fantastic tutorial for making Taylor Swift friendship bracelets here.
Set out bowls of beads, elastic and maybe some printed pictures of friendship bracelet designs for inspiration.
You could also try loom band kits or threads for making weaved friendship bracelets.
Make your own slime
If you don’t mind a bit of mess, then having slime-making kits is a great way to keep kids entertained.
They could make slime from scratch if you are feeling ambitious. Alternatively, have different coloured slime and some beads, cute little plastic toy animals and glitter they can add to the slime to make it fun.
Pillowcase decorating
Get some plain white pillowcases and fabric markers so that each child can decorate their own pillowcase! You can also buy pillowcases with outlines for colouring in if you think your guests may need a bit more inspiration when it comes to decorating.
Pampering
Turn it into a pampering session with face masks and nail painting.
I like to set up a nail painting station when my kids have sleepovers. I do it in an area of the house that’s easy to clean when they inevitably spill the polish!
I always use polish that can be washed off with water for children under 12.
You could also have some make-up for the kids to play with giving each other makeovers.
Rock painting
For a creative activity, why not get some palm-sized rocks and paint so each child can decorate their own pet rock.
Print off some pictures from the internet to give them ideas for what they could do with their own rock.
Karaoke/dance party
Who doesn’t love karaoke? The neighbours, probably!
You can get really cheap karaoke microphones from Amazon to add to the fun, but you don’t have to have a karaoke machine to make this work. Even just singing along to tracks played from a smartphone will be fun.
Invent a handshake
A great bonding activity for kids is to create a secret handshake. Challenge them to each add a special move to the handshake and then put it all together to make a cool friends handshake.
Besties photoshoot
Either give each child a polaroid camera (which is such a fun idea but can add up in terms of cost) or give them a camera to play with and enjoy a besties photoshoot.
For younger kids, you could take the pictures for them and then print off copies of the pictures for the kids to take home with them.
Another option, for older kids, is to give them a camera to film their antics on. Your child will likely treasure the footage for years to come.
Cupcake decorating
Either bake some plain cupcakes or buy them from the supermarket if you are pushed for time.
Now put out different coloured icing, types of sprinkles and other fun toppings and decorations so that each child can create their own cupcake.
Bath bomb making
You can buy simple bath bomb making sets with all the instructions you need for making your own bath bombs at home.
This makes a great gift for the slumber party guests to take home with them.
Slumber party games
A little healthy competition is a great way for kids to pass the time and bond. Why not choose a series of games, or just one or two, to help them enjoy their party? Here are some ideas:
- Lawn games – croquet, skittles, bowls, miniature golf
- Scavenger hunt
- At-home escape room
- Would You Rather
- Pictionary
- Charades
- Twister
Movies to watch at a sleepover
One of the best things to do at a sleepover is to stay up late watching movies!
These are some fantastic movies for kids to watch. Always do your research on a movie before you make your choices so you can ensure it’s appropriate for every one of the guests.
- Harry Potter
- High School Musical
- The Princess Diaries
- The Princess Bride
- 13 Going on 30
- Mean Girls
- Clueless
- Frozen
- Moana
- Wicked
- Beauty & the Beast (cartoon and live action versions)
- Finding Nemo
- Lilo and Stitch
- Home Alone
- Jumanji
- The Goonies
- Pitch Perfect
- Freaky Friday
- Despicable Me
- Turning Red
- ET The Extra Terrestrial
- Matilda
- School of Rock
- Paddington
- Bring It On
- Inside Out (1 & 2)
- Labyrinth
- Willow
- The Neverending Story
- Wonka
- Stardust
- Grease
- 17 Again
- Enchanted
