How to manage a sleepover for 9 yr olds

[popgoestheweezel]

Madly, I have agreed to having five friends sleepover tonight for dd's 9th birthday. She had been asking for years and I had said she could do it for her 9th birthday which has finally arrived. I'm now dreading it.
It's not helped by the fact that I had a really bad night's sleep last night so I'm completely knackered and won't have any patience when they keep me awake tonight.

Can you please give me your best tips for managing them and ensuring that we all get some sleep.

Tell them all to bring sleeping bags and then let them sleep on the floor downstairs or buy some earplugs

Agree - sleeping bags, a supply of suitable DVDs and a few snacks (there WILL be crumbs, but you can hoover tomorrow!)

Can you get them outside for a bit earlier in the evening to burn off some energy?

We did a sleepover for dds ninth birthday too. They all slept downstairs on those camping mats in their own sleeping bags.

We made pizza and they decorated pillowcases with fabric pens.

We had three movie choices and they watched two then we switched the lights off.

One of them went a bit crazy and was still racing round at 3am. I had to tell him off and then I had to stand over them until he piped down.

Then they got up at 6.30 and we were in the park by 7.30...

If I did it again, I would take them swimming first. Tire them out.

I'm sure it will be fine. I think I was just unlucky! I just wanted my dd to have a good time, which she did.

Resign yourself to the fact it will be noisy, they won't sleep and they will be over-excited.

For a special sleepover (birthdays etc) I do this:
Plan one activity which they can get on with before tea, order in pizza (google for discount codes to make it affordable), cans of fizzy drink, crisps, popcorn and a massive bowl of sweets. We put a TV in their bedroom for this, get them in their PJs, and a DVD in their beds.

I make it clear that if they aren't quiet then I will make them go to sleep (I have sat outside the door at midnight before now) but if they are quiet and don't disturb anyone I will go to bed.

For general sleepover for one friend it's less treats, an earlier bed but an understanding that if they are good and don't take the piss there will be more of them.

I had 10 9/10 year old boys to a birthday sleepover recently. I was dreading it, but once I decided to let them get on with it it was fine.

Good luck. It wont be your first choice of how to spend the weekend but they will love it and it is only one night

Ahh Savoy, there is ALWAYS one!

"It wont be your first choice of how to spend the weekend but they will love it and it is only one night" - hold that thought.

I'm a hard-liner and I set a bedtime and make them stick to it - anyone who is still messing round and repeatedly disturbing everyone has their parents called to collect them

IME girls are a bit less hyper, but agree with tiring them out if you can - swimming, roller skating if you want to get them out of the house, or set up a disco in the lounge or just dance or something like that. DD is fond of playing "beauty salons" so we have mashed bananas on faces and feet in foot spa then paint nails which is an easy wind down activity before bed

Tire them out. Get them ready for bed, and then stay up late watching DVDs, then give them a bit of time for giggling and chatting in sleeping bags. Personally, at 9 I would insist they do sleep at some point - though DD has been to quite a few when this hasn't happened, and is a monster the next day and usually fallen out with some of her friends in the morning after when they're all grumpy with lack of sleep.

If you want to get them to sleep you need to give them a warning that they will have to sleep after X o'clock (suggest midnight?) then tell them to be quiet - make yourself a cuppa, or wine, or a good book and sit outside the door with the door ajar for about half an hour so going "sshhh" everytime there is any noise. They won't be able to lie quietly without talking and stay awake very easily so with any luck you get them off.

But like one of the posters above - we ended up in the park at around 7am after very early rising on my DS's 9th or 10th birthday.

Don't have much planned for the next day!

Oh, and I did once remove one child that was keeping all the others awake and make him sleep elsewhere. Think my DCs friends probably think I'm a dragon

I turn the lights out and threaten to send anyone home that pisses about too loudly after a certain time. I am a dragon.

Watching with interest - have a birthday coming up soon and so far have refused to allow more than one friend to sleepover. Am considering three or four friends for birthday but dreading it because they are all so hyper and one in particular drives me mad! They are 11 yrs, girls. Our house has very thin walls!

Sounds like good advice. I think I will start with some disco games to work off the excitement a bit, then have food, make ice cream sundaes, then do beauty/nails/hair/outfits then a bit more disco, then spa style relaxation treatments, then pjs then films in bed. I also have a frindship bracelet making game on standby if I need it.

Yeah, I would give the disco games a miss if you ever want them to settle down

Sounds a good plan - but don't forget to give them some unstructured time for giggling and chatting well before you actually want them to sleep. That's what sleepovers are all about IMO.

I turn the light out an hour before i actually want them to be quiet

Thanks for the good advice. We actually had a lovely evening where they were so grown up it felt like I was having a girls night in with my own friends. There wasn't a single falling out (can't always say the same for my own friends and what with them choosing music, eating pizza and veg sticks, I did make up and nails for each of them and we had some posh tattoos which they loved. Then they made ice cream sundaes and put on a show for me. By that time it was 10, so they went to bed and had half hour to chat, then I sat outside door and shushed them. It did take until 12.30 for them all to go to sleep, I dread to think what time they would have been up to without the shushing! This morning they were up at 7, played musical statues, on the trampoline and had breakfast. Still not a single falling out and their verdict was 'the best party ever, ever, ever!!' so everyone's happy.

Excellent