2976

Dream Sleepover -10yr- Pass Ball of Surprises

December 2001

Molly in Old Greenwich, CT

Special Mention

For my daughters 10th birthday party, we had a dream sleepover theme. 

INVITATIONS: For the ones we used, you will need a piece of light blue felt, nice stationary, and white ribbon. On the piece of stationary write the following: Come to (child's name) snoozapalooza dream slumber bash! Date: Time: Location: RSVP:. Then, glue on the piece of stationary to the felt, leaving about a centimeter for a border. Then, roll it up and tie it with the ribbon - it is a slumber bag! 

ACTIVITIES: When the guests arrived, we gathered them all on the couch until everyone go there. Then, we made dream catchers to stick to the dream theme. I got the instructions for this craft on askjeeves.com. After the dream catchers, we got out the surprise ball. To make the surprise ball follow these instructions (gotten out of the American girl magazine): Pick out around 15-20 small, cute favors that are flat and small, as well as one round favor. Cut a roll of crepe paper streamers right down the middle so you have two long strips (every strip equals one surprise ball). Take the round favor and start wrapping the strip around it, stretching it slightly as you wrap. Wrap in the other favors as you go along, until you get to the end of the strip. Use colorful stickers to secure the end of the ball and then decorate it. Pass the ball around in a circle to some music, then when the music stops, whoever has it unwraps it to the nearest prize and gets to keep it! The type of music you should chose for this activity is anything that has to do with dreams or that seems heavenly.

When we had finished unwrapping the surprise ball, we ate dinner (see below for food suggestions). After dinner, we made sweetdream bugs. Cover an empty matchbox with cloud paper, stickers, anything you like. Then, glue small googly eyes on to flattened, decorative, glass marbles (you can get these at craft stores). Let them dry, then put them in the box. Put these under your pillow and you will have sweet dreams forever. The last game we played was called dreamland express. Make a blue cloud shaped sign that says 'dreamland' on in and post in on the other side of the room. Give each guests two paper clouds. The object of the game is to get to dreamland first by stepping on only YOUR two clouds. Place one cloud in front of you, step on it, grab the other, put it in front, step on it… etc. The first one to arrive at dreamland wins!

Then, after all these games, the guests made their own ice cream sundaes. To wear them out so that they would go to bed, I put on a The Princess Diaries. Before each girl went to bed, I handed out small cloud covered pads (fifty cents each) to each girl. When they woke up in the morning, they had to write down their dream that they had. We would then decode them. This is the decoder we used: If you dreamed about flying, you feel confident; if you dreamed about falling, you are uncertain or fearful. If you dreamed about Missing a class or test, you are feeling unprepared or you are pressure. If you dreamed about moving in slow motion, you feel like you can't make the right decision. And if you dreamed about running or racing, you feel you have energy and confidence to reach a goal.

In the morning, we opened presents and had a breakfast buffet. After breakfast, since I had planned an activity in case we had time left, we made birthday scrapbooks. I had gotten a small blank unlined notebook (a dollar each at the dollar store) for each guest. I put out glitter, stickers, and photos I had taken of the party (Polaroid instant camera or izone), and set the girls free. They pasted in the photos, had each girl autograph their picture, and decorated the cover with the glitter and stickers. 

FOOD: For dinner, we did the traditional-ordered in pizza. For dessert, we had a make your own sundae bar. I put out strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, and mint chocolate chip ice cream, as well as sprinkles, gummy bears, snow caps, butterscotch, and hot fudge sauce for the girls to create their own ice cream fantasies. For the cake, we had vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, shaped like a sleeping bag. We wrote in frosting: Happy Birthday ______, and may all your dreams come true….. For breakfast, A made a plate of cloud pancakes sprinkled in powdered sugar. I also had a fruit salad and fruit smoothies for everyone.

FAVORS: In the favor bag, we gave out little cloud erasers, candy, the scrapbooks they made, the dreambugs, and socks with clouds on them.  Here are some good sleepover party tips: 1. Have a separate, quiet room for girls who want to go to sleep earlier than others. 2. Only invite up to 8 people otherwise it gets out of control. 3. Always have an extra activity in case the girls get bored or you have extra time.

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