There are plenty of great places that you can visit to open your child’s mind and introduce them to new experiences in your local area. However, when it comes to enjoying fun and simple socializing, there’s nothing quite like a pyjama party.
If your children have been begging and pleading for a friend or two to come and stay the night for a while now, then it might be time to give in and host your own pyjama party. Fortunately, the experience doesn’t have to be as daunting as it seems. All you need to do is make sure that you’re prepared. Start with these must-have things.
1. Somewhere for Everyone to Sleep
It’s easy for kids to get overwhelmed by excitement when they know their friends are coming to stay. However, as the parents in the household, you need to keep a level head and think about the practical things – like where people are going to sleep. If your child has a cosy single bed, then it’s probably not big enough for a group of five people.
You may need to consider investing in an air mattress for the kids to share downstairs or you could consider setting a few kids up on the sofas around your home. Depending on how cosy your floors are, you could even throw down some cushions and invite your child’s friends to bring their own sleeping bags.
2. Extra Comfort
Even if the people coming to your pyjama party bring their own things, there’s a good chance that someone will forget about something including essentials like blankets, pillows, and even pyjamas. The last thing you want is for one of the children in your care to spend the entire night shivering. Make sure that you’re prepared for anything by having some extra beddings, cushions, and other cosy items stocked away just in case. You might even need a hot water bottle if the weather is particularly bad.
It’s a good idea to have extra toothbrushes handy too. This is a common item that children forget about when they’re preparing for a slumber party. Even if you don’t use your spare toothbrushes, they’ll be useful later.
3. Food (a Menu)
You’re probably going to need to make food to keep all the kids at your home happy all night. Even if the children staying at your house have already had their dinner for the evening, they may want extra snacks too. After all, some of the biggest fun of having a slumber party involves enjoying a midnight snack.
If you want to keep the kids busy when everyone arrives early, you can get creative and invite people to make their own pizzas. Pizzas are incredibly easy to make, and you can even do it without the dough if you have some wholemeal wraps available. For other food, just stick to things that are easy to eat and aren’t going to keep everyone up all night. That means that it’s best to keep sugary foods to an absolute minimum.
4. Activities
There’s more to a great pyjama party than just going to sleep in someone else’s house. There’s a good chance that the kids visiting your home are going to be looking for something to entertain them while they’re still awake. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways that you can ramp up the fun. For instance, consider playing a game of truth or dare, just like you used to back when you were a kid or having a movie marathon with your own home-made popcorn.
If you want to keep things simple, a selection of board games can be a great way to pass the hours. What’s more, you can even invite the people coming to your home to bring their own games to play too – so that there’s a wider selection to choose from.
5. A Plan
Finally, it’s worth at least having a plan for what’s going to happen at each stage of the night. You should know when your kids are going to eat, when they’re going to sit down to watch movies, and even when you plan on turning the lights off so that they can hopefully begin to settle down for sleep. Although things might not go entirely according to your schedule, that doesn’t mean that you can’t keep your plan in mind to guide you.
Kids can easily end up staying up until they’re way too exhausted to think straight if they’re left to their own devices. Having the right plan in place will help to keep the chaos to a minimum.