Mia's sleepover birthday party

We've hosted various birthday parties over the last few years, mainly whole class affairs involving soft play as that seemed to be the done thing. I'm hoping that we are coming to the end of these now, and the invitations have definitely tailed off as children start to opt for smaller parties with just their closest friends.

This year when we asked Mia what she would like to do for her birthday, she immediately came back with - 'a sleepover!'. I wasn't sure at first, she's only 7 and she's never even been to or hosted a sleepover before. We chose a couple of her closest friends and I approached their Mums to see whether they thought their daughters would be up for it. Neither of them had either been to a sleepover either, but they all seemed very excited at the thought so we decided that we'd go for it.

With a date set we started to plan activities. Mia didn't have much idea what a sleepover would involve so I made some suggestions. We arranged to watch a film and I came up with ideas for party food. I suggested that we have a go at making some bath bombs (we found a fab, simple recipe here - Red Ted Art bath bombs) and Harry offered to lead a slime making workshop. I purchased a gingerbread man decorating kit and we got out all the toys that she thought her friends would like.

When it came to sleeping arrangements they all wanted to sleep in the same room. Mia has a loft bed, so I put a double airbed down on her floor for the other girls. We decorated her room with all the birthday themed things that we could find, including this Happy Birthday banner from Twinkl in her bedroom along with a Fairytale themed Happy Birthday banner from Twinkl. for the kitchen. I also turned to Twinkl for some Birthday party toothpick flags to decorate some cupcakes.

To my relief, the party all went very well. I was worried that one or other of the girls would back out at the last minute and I'd be driving them both home, but I managed to get them all settled down to sleep by 10 pm without any mishaps! They were all up at 5.30am the next morning but I'm used to an early start and at least they all played happily until it was time to go home. Mia seemed to be pleased with how it all went and they all appeared to have fun - now I'm wondering if it will become a yearly event!

I just can't believe that my youngest is 7 years old already, she's growing up so quickly!

I have been provided with a Twinkl subscription in exchange for sharing the resources on my blog and social media.