Does the question, “Mommy, can I have a sleepover?” strike fear into your heart? When you think about planning a slumber party, is “mimosa for mommy” the only thing you can think of? I’m here to help! In June, I hosted a sleepover for my twins and four of their friends. (For my lessons learned the hard way, click here.) The girls totally lived up to the Night Owl Sleepover Party theme: they were awake until 4:45 a.m.!

Want an easier way to plan your sleepover party? Buy the Night Owl Sleepover Party Plan.

Our little owls were greeted with this welcome sign I made from Love the Day printables. (See the tutorial here.)

SLEEPOVER PARTY Dessert Table

I hosted this party in our basement playroom. That’s where I staged the dessert table, activities and sleeping (if you can call it sleeping). For dinner and breakfast, we moved upstairs to our kitchen.

• I draped our toy storage/bookcase built-ins with white sailcloth curtains to hide the toys and made a dessert table out of the center area. In between the bookcases, I hung a tension rod with a two-panel navy blue curtain. (This was really just raw fabric with a rod pocket sewn in.) I let the curtain drape onto the dessert table and finished the edge with jumbo pink rick-rack that I stapled in place. (Don’t let lack of sewing abilities stop you!)
• I chose navy blue to look like the night sky and then added stars cut out of silver glitter paper. I also safety-pinned up Lindi’s Happy Birthday banner.
• On either side of the table, I used white tree branches in white vases. Then I clipped on owls from Lindi’s collection with painted clothespins left over from another party.

Sleepover Party Dessert Table Menu

So that everything would pop against the navy backdrop, I kept all my serving pieces white. The owl cookies and s’mores are on doll beds lined with patterned paper from the Night Owl collection.

Our treats included:

• Chocolate cake with white icing and polka dots to match the printables. The owl topper is from Edible Designs by Letty; her Etsy shop has since closed. (Budget tip: the Target bakery is great about custom cake orders and keeps down your costs so you can add fun touches, like the little fondant owl.)
• Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. (See my owl cupcake tutorial here.)
• Owl cookies from Truly Scrumptious Cookies.
• S’mores made with strawberry marshmallows.
• Popcorn. (The handled sacks made it easy to carry the popcorn to the TV for movie time.)
• Pink gumballs and M&Ms.
• Fruit water.

I love the felt owl clips that attached the food labels to the doll beds!

Sleepover Party Dinner

Dinner was “make your own pizza” but I totally could have skipped this! The girls were so ready to get to activities and sweet treats, that even though they said they were hungry, they hardly ate a bite!

But at least the dinner table looked cute with our “Whoo Wants Pizza?” sign! I put all the pizza fixings on my fondue lazy susan. (It’s only the first time in 16 years of marriage that I’ve used the fondue set!)

My favorite touch may be the button napkin rings. I found buttons pre-strung on wire and just wrapped these around each napkin. These come in all sort of colors and I’ll definitely use this technique again.

Sleepover Party Activities

Our activities were classic sleepover fare: facials, painting nails, decorating pillowcases, photo booth and movie time.

The facials were a hoot (pardon the pun). I made them using plain Greek yogurt, honey, and cocoa power. The concoction was cold, so all the girls were giggling fools as I brushed the masks on. The robes and headbands were essential for keeping the chocolate mask off the girls’ PJs.

For nail painting, I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Nail Polish. This is not a long-lasting polish, but it goes on in one coat and dries in one minute, so it’s perfect for little girls who can’t keep still until their nails dry. (We have a huge collection, because I tend to use this polish as a stocking stuffer.) I tried my hand at little owl designs and they actually came out OK!

The pillowcases were leftover from my Nancy Drew Mystery Party. The girls decorated them using fabric markers.

The photo booth is another piece of fabric with a rod pocket sewn in. (It’s left over from my Wizard of Oz Party.) I pinned pennant banners from Lindi’s collection to the front of the fabric, and the girls posed with owl masks (also by Lindi).

And here they are waiting for the opening credits to end on our movie.

Sleepover Party Midnight Snack

Thank goodness I planned a midnight snack, since the girls ate so little dinner. To dress up my Craig’s List bar cart, I lined it with patterned paper from Lindi and used more of the paper to make bunting. (See the bunting tutorial here.) I used the green milk bottle from my Trick or Treat Party and added Nutter Butter Owls and pink chocolate chip cookies. (The milk bottles are re-purposed Starbucks Frappuccino bottles. I love these because the caps help prevent spills. Here’s my tutorial on how to make your own.)

Sleepover Party Breakfast

I made breakfast easy on myself by prepping everything ahead of time. We had chocolate chip pancakes made in muffin tins. (Just cook these at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, then add butter. Store them covered and in the morning, heat them in the microwave for about 20 seconds on high.) We also served fruit, Cheerios, and doughnut holes.

The table had a “Whoo’s Hungry?” sign from Lindi. I also used her pennant banners on our bay window. With two sheets of her patterned paper, I lined a vase. Then I put flowers arranged in a smaller vase inside that vase.

Sleepover Party Favors

For our party favor, I had Custom Creations make sleeping bags sized for an 18” doll. (Perfect for American Girl or My Generation dolls!) Amy also made the plush owls you see on our activity tables.

If you want to plan your own slumber party — and want even more photos, tutorials and instructions, grab your copy of my Night Owl Sleepover Party Plan.

Vendor Credits

• Party styling: The Party Teacher
• Photography: Viridian Images
• Printables: Love the Day
• Fondant owl topper: Edible Designs by Letty
• Owl cookies: Truly Scrumptious Cookies
• Doll sleeping bags: Custom Creations
• Felt owl clips. owl lip glosses, and white vases: Cost Plus World Market