Creative Sleepovers for Kids chock full of good ideas
Written: Apr 16 '08 (Updated Apr 16 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Many great ideas for both genders
Cons: .
The Bottom Line: This is a great resource for anyone planning a children's sleepover party.
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| Redlass's Full Review: Julie Lavender - Creative Sleepovers for Kids |
When I first started writing for Epinions, I wrote a rash of reviews for the Kids and Family section, in no small part because my son would turn two years old a few weeks after I posted my first review and our home was filled with baby stuff.
In February, that same son celebrated his 10th birthday--excited to have reached double digits. He decided that he wanted to have a sleepover and invite the three boys that he'd made friends with in his new school.
I wasn't sure what sort of activities one could do on a limited budget for a group of ten-year-old boys. My son was all about them just playing their Nintendo DS systems all night. I thought we needed to have a little more planning into it.
So we took a trip to the library and checked out a book by Julie Lavender called Creative Sleepovers for Kids!. It was stock full of ideas for both boys and girls and several that would work for both.
Lavender strongly suggests picking a theme for a party as it then becomes easier to select things around it. What does she think are important elements of a sleepover? The chapters include: "Designs for Dozers" which talks about preparation and planning, "Siesta Suggestions" which offers many different themes, "Notes for Nodders" which give a plethora of ideas for invitations to the party, "Dream Decorations" which offer suggestions on how to decorate for the party, "Recreation for Resters" which is a chapter full of party games, "Nocturnal Notions" which include examples of crafts and activities for party attendees, "Catnap Cuisine" which offers recipes for snacks and suppers, "Sandman Surprises" which explains how to create favors to put in the take-home goodie bags, and finally "Perfect Plans for Partiers" which takes 12 different themes and explains how to tie all of the elements together to make that theme work.
While she has many of the typical party ideas in it: Princess, pirate, circus, space, she also has some out-of-the-ordinary ones as well. For example, she gives ideas for a Lewis and Clark Party, a Secret Agent Party, and a Newspaper Party for would-be writers.
As a reference book, Creative Sleepovers for Kids is fantastic. She's not skimpy about the ideas and all of them show a great deal of creative flair. Even more importantly, the ideas are very reasonable. None of them require a lot of money nor are they difficult to pull off. They also seem like they would be a great deal of fun. Also, most sleepover books I'd seen were pretty focused on slumber parties for girls. While the cover of this book shows three girls, the contents were pretty well balanced with ideas that would appeal to both genders.
I also really appreciated the ideas for planning in the first chapter. Perhaps one of the best sections was on setting up rules for the party and making sure they are well-communicated to both the birthday child and the others.
While both my son and I read through the entire book and batted around a lot of ideas, we ended up not using any of the themes nor the party games suggested. Instead, we went with board games, bowling, and yes, a pretty heavy dose of Nintendo DS. However, the book is one I wouldn't hesitate to consult again in the future and it did give me a great deal of confidence to face the uncertainties of planning a sleepover for 10-year-old boys.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Redlass
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Member: Bridgette
Location: Lansing, Michigan
Reviews written: 526
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I have many loves: family, books, theater, writing, and the many communities I belong to.
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