Sleepover birthday party for 8yr old ds? AIBU?!

[NevermindtheBollocks]

Will it be a total nightmare basically?!

Struggling to know what to do for ds for his 8th birthday.
It's in September so although I know he'd prefer something outdoors, I just can't guarantee the weather!

He's grown out of softplays and bouncy castles at the village hall (but tbh, I can't think of anything worse!)

So I started thinking of cinema with 3 friends but then thought that'd be expensive! So now thinking a sleepover 'cinema' party with 3 of his friends, all camped out in lounge.

Is this a terrible idea? Would it be an absolute nightmare?!

Any tips or experiences you'd like to share?

Thanks!

Perfectly fine - you wont get any sleep and neither will they !

You will need wine. And contact details for parents. Changes of bedding. Good luck!

Okay! So not too stupid an idea then! Great! Wine noted, thanks!

It's fine but be prepared for kids who suddenly want to go home at midnight, kids who wet the bed and kids who don't want to join in.

In fact, don't do it!

I decided when mine were about this age that we'd celebrate with a party every OTHER year.

So on non party years, they get a dinner or lunch out plus a nice gift and a birthday tea with their grandparents at home on their actual birthday.

No need for a bash every single year.

Or, instead of cinema or sleepover, you could just do one friend to the cinema and lunch out....

We did This for most birthdays from 8 onwards, except at least one teary eyed home sick child. Don't let them eat sweets too late and except not much sleep at all!

I did this for my dd this year 8. It's the year when most parties are sleepovers.

You could take them swimming first which helps with the energy levels later

I did it all in my house and had a few silly games organised (skittles with a straw, Vaseline the nose moving cotton balls etc) they played on the wii dance and watched movies. Camped out in the lounge.

They had a fab time at all the sleepovers. One was camping in the garden. Go for it

mrs ds has only had 1 birthday party, last year. With 10 class mates.

He's not keen on 'proper' parties so always asks for just a few friends. So thought a sleepover might be good.

If your DS and his friends are anything like my ds then you need to do some sort of activity prior to the sleepover to burn off some energy or they'll be bouncing off the walls!

We did this for DDs 9th birthday. Her plus 4 kids. Total bloody nightmare and I've refused to do it again. One on one sleepover is fine. For DDs 8th we had 6 or so kids come over after school on a Friday and we did a PJ and pizza party. Basically they changed into pjs and watched a film and I ordered in pizza. They had ice cream abc cake for pudding. Was very successful and easy. Think kids were collected at 8pm. I strongly recommend that option

My DS has an August birthday so has had very few proper birthday parties due to most of his friends being away in the summer holidays. Things we have done previously have included trip to the zoo, cinema and pizza (paid for with Tesco vouchers) bowling (groupon) usually just with one or two friends. This year we went to a local NT place with one friend and let them play all day with pizza and cake for tea. The day before we had a couple of friends round for a play and tea here before sending them home.

If you know the kids and parents well and are prepared for a possible sleepless night then I would go ahead if that is what DS definately wants to do.

We also did what Caco did for my 7 year old DD. A sleepover that wasn't a sleepover. Her 2 friends arrived in pj's with teddies and sleeping bags, played games, watched a movie, had a "midnight" snack and went home at 8pm. Perfect

A 'sleepover' without the sleepover sounds ideal!