Tell us your top tips for surviving sleepovers and have the chance to win £100

[Carriemumsnet]

DryNites want to know your top tips for surviving sleepovers (whether your child wets the bed or not). Do you allow midnight feasts (conveniently moved to the earlier time of 8pm) ? Is it best to just leave them to it and live with the consequences? What do you do with early risers? And if you do have a child who wets the bed (or has a friend who sleeps over who wets the bed) how do you deal with that with sensitivity?

Everyone who offers a tip will be entered into a prize draw to win £100 vouchers for the store of their choice.

Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

Best for sleepovers is to have set rules, which they know in advance, then everything goes smooth without having to argue what time is bedtime etc.

Dry-nights are really easy for our 4yo to take on and off himself. We send him to sleepovers with a little plastic bag which he uses in the morning to dispose of it.

We make sure the hosting Mum knows the score - and they've been great at not making a big deal with it.

To add extra confidence we've made sure that his ready bed covers and sleeping bag are machine washable but (fingers crossed) we've never had a leak.

When we host sleepovers on the weekend we do let them stay up as late as they like. We ensure there's nothing planned for the next day so it matters less if he's still sleepy. To be fair - they never make it past 9:30 - but you cant beat how excited they are by the prospect of no curfew!

Take a deep breath, chill out and accept there will be noise and over excitement!

Talk to the parents of the kids coming to get them to encourage their offspring to behave (and choose the kids you invite v. carefully!).

If you can make up a tent arrangement using sheets etc they can all sleep in - makes them more inclined to want to get in it in the first place.

Let them watch a DVD for a treat (staying up an extra hour and a half later than normal), put a dry sheet under the normal bed sheets and avoid drinks after dinner. Make up a tray of flavoured ice cubes for sucking on halfway through the film!! Healthy ones such as smoothies or cranberry juice will quench thirst without filling bladders!

Leave them to all get on with it...if they OD on chocolate they will learn for next time.

Earlyish night the night before and after to make up for lost of sleep....both children and parents

Exhaust them before they go to bed and then arrange for a fairly early pick up in the morning so you don't have to cope with more than your own tired and grumpy child!

My kids have had lots of sleepovers. Some tips i can think of that i use are:

Always have sleepovers on a weekend if they don't fall in school holidays. The whole point is for them to have fun. Both boys and girls will love snuggling up in sleeping bags and chatting into the night! It doesn't happen very often and won't hurt them to stay up late once in a while.

Make sure you have a manageable number of children to stay. Too many and it becomes stressful as opposed to fun.

A great idea if the children are girls is to let them have at it with some of your old make-up and clothes. Girls love to dress up and this will keep them occupied for hours whilst bonding over making up each other's faces. Mine used to even have pretend catwalk fashion shows!

Make sleepover headquarters in your living room if possible. Pushing back chairs etc to make a great camping area!

Another important thing is to ensure that you have all phone numbers and contact details of childrens parents in case they get upset or homesick. (or in case of an emergency)

Prepare the sleepover in advance making sure to get in any supplies you might need, but on the day don't make it seem too organised. It's supposed to be safe but fun!!

Keeping them occupied without it seeming organised is key to a good time for all. A brilliant game for wearing out children is Silly String Tag. You play tag and whoever is "it" has a can of silly string . They have to hit you with the silly string to make you 'it'. When that person becomes 'it' they get the can etc. My kids and their friends really love this game and they have a great deal of fun which is one of the most important aspects of a sleepover.

No sleepover is easy and the hours of sleep obtained will be fewer than usual; however ensuring some really active/prolonged outdoor exercise does help their brains to 'pull the plug'I have found. We live on a sheep farm and rounding up and processing sheep often does the trick (and lots of good food not sugary snacks of course). If all else fails sitting reading just outside the door does the trick as they cannot bear being overheard and once they have stopped talking you are 75% of the way home (provided they are tired and have not had sugary food/drinks in the past 2 hours...

We have a counting competition for bed to see how long my son can stay on the potty (ensuring he actually does something and/or everything) and that seems to make a game of it. So far it's worked! Dry Nights all around.

Whay are they called "Sleepovers" when hardly any sleeping happens? Shriek/ giggle/ wrestle (insert word of choice!) Overs would be more appropriate!
I think my top tip is to accept that they will be thoroughly overexcited and expect a very late night / early morning.
Make them for Fridays so that Saturday night van be used to "Catch up."
Keep a watchful, but discreet eye on proceeding, particularly with teens!
And most of all.. chill!

We don't call them sleepovers in our house, we call them pyjama parties as it encourages them to get into their pjs very early on in the evening.

I always get a couple of cereal variety packs and set the table the night before in the vain hope they will get their own breakfast.

Our midnight feasts happen at about 9pm.

Last time I had cheap t-shirts and fabric pens to make their own nighties, we also do hair, nails etc.

They are always great fun, I love hosting them.

We build a den in the living room from sheets and clothes airers. They are allowed one film to watch and then we have treats such as pizza, popcorn etc. Each child has their own individual snacks pack of treats to avoid arguments.

I agree with cece, the best tip is never do sleepovers

A tip for camping-in-the-garden sleepovers: children are like canaries - when you want them to shut up and go to sleep already, just take away their torches. They quieten down immediately, and are generally asleep within 20mins.

Don't give them drinks just before they go to bed, and make sure that fizzy drinks are kept to a minimum. It's best to make sure they remember to go to the loo before they go to sleep and having the childs comforter (favourite soft toy/blanket) will help settle a child better, hopefully helping with a dry night!

Don't expect a lot of sleep.

Far, far easier to arrange sleepover if you know the mums fairly well. Any Dcs with dryness problems can be flagged up discreetly between mums. Drynites are excellent as they can be worn easily under PJs. If the child is very sensitive about it allow them to get changed in a separate room.

Sleeping bags in the livingroom or even better a tent in the backgarden.

Try to give them a nice but relatively easy breakfast. Pancakes are good.

After the mayhem bear in mind that sleepover tend to be recipricol so you may expcet a child free night relatively soon.

Buy some earplugs for the rest of the household...

bit of a girlie one but get some extra large tshirts (Primark) and a handful of fabric paint/pens and let them draw their own night shirts. They love it and a its a great souvenier to take home

put them in the biggest room in the house,plenty of popcorn and warn them to keep the music low

Keep it to weekends only!

Only hold sleepovers in the summer and make sure it's a sorching hot day and make them sleep in a tent in the garden.

Dont let them drink too much before bed and then make them all visit the loo before lights out ....... rubber sheets and earplugs help too!

Movie Night - get hot dogs/pizza for dinner then take them to dvd rental to pick a film (or two!!). Stick them on sofa to watch with popcorn. Whoever is in pj's first gets the last do-nut =)

I just come down and investigate when the kids have gone out to play, and don't mention it to them!