Sleepovers

[Mornel]

Hi everyone. Sorry for my language, I am not English so it's quite hard for me to make my post clear :) Can you please tell me how you do your kids sleepovers? My DD (12) has a lot of English friends and often goes for sleepovers but never invites them at our house. I would like her to do it but a bit confused and afraid to do something wrong :)

We haven't gotten to that stage yet. But I still remember my sleepovers clearly. My parents didn't get involved other then to arrange with othe parents. My friend would come and I would be left to it. Entertaining and figuring out food etc. We always had nibbles. Might watch movie. Ice cream. Chatting. Maybe do face masks or play games. Maybe a few prank calls (calling boys and hanging up). All very innocent and funM!

To start off I would say only one guest at a time (so it doesn't get out of hand and so they don't start dividing up). They never (yet) have had them for birthdays because I feel there is more potential to go wrong than a 2hr party, numbers are restricted and mine can never just choose two for their birthday. I fortunately haven't had too many disasters but I have read a few on here and would prefer not to throw a birthday into the mix too.

I find that 5pm-10am seems to work quite well (depending on the situation). They have food - I usually plan together with dd before what they would like to eat. Then DVD, popcorn, bed and they usually try to manage a 'midnight' feast. I try to ensure an 11pm lights out policy. It is a fine line between being too strict and ending up with grumpy girls in the morning. Breakfast I usually buy some small cereal boxes - mine don't generally like cereal so we don't have many in, some bacon/eggs and some waffles so there is plenty of choice. Then pack, maybe board game/ more chatting and home.

The biggest dilemma I always find is picking a DVD - probably easier if you have netflicks. You don't generally want anything too scary/ violent, but at 12 nothing too babyish either. My girls aren't particularly into romantic films yet so I tend to go for comedy. Hope she has fun.

Thanks for your replies. Can you tell what kind of food your kids prefer? Usually I give pizza, chips, nuggets or fish fingers to my DD's friends if they come around for few hours. But I am not a big fan of ready meals, especially for kids. I cook a lot but don't really know much about English home made food :)

That food sounds perfect. Maybe get some snacks in for later.
Mine like to take biscuits up with them. I wouldn't normally allow it but make an exception for sleepovers.
Or popcorn if they are watching a film.
Other than that, you're good to go.

I would say it depends on the child. When your dd has identified who she wants as a guest and they have agreed to come I would get them to discuss at school what they want to eat. Some of my dc's friends will eat anything, others won't eat anything but bland food, one of my dc won't eat any bland too. Pasta is quite a good meal - I give them a selection of toppings - cheese, tomato sauce, ham, sweetcorn, tuna etc and let them add their own to a pasta portion.

If they have done food tech they might be able to cook something that they learnt about in that. Or something from your culture that is somewhat westernised with fewer spices. Particularly if served with other options you might find that they enjoy it. Generally your dd will probably have a good idea of what her friends will eat.
Hope it goes well.

Thank you shouldwestayorshouldwego pasta is a very good idea :) I'm from Eastern Europe so our food is not spicy, just different :) I don't have English friends so only can get information about your food from pubs, shops and Come And Dine With Me

My dc tried chrusciki from Poland recently which they loved. I am sure Eastern European food will become more mainstream just as Indian and Chinese but maybe have after immigration waves from Hong Kong and Indian subcontinent. Maybe though 12 yr old girls don't make the best food critics!!

That's what makes me a lot of problems shouldwestayorshouldwego :) My preteen DD is a very fussy eater at the moment :) I suppose most of kids at this age are?