Oh, the days of being a kid and going to a slumber party! I remember staying up all night, watching movies, giggling with my friends, and generally getting sick on junk food. The next day I would sleep until lunchtime and wake up feeling groggy and as sugar-crashed as a little girl could be.

Really, it’s a great memory, but who has time for that anymore?

Whether you’ve got little ones to delight or older ones to entertain, you can still have the fun of a slumber party without the huge investment of time and energy (not to mention the cost of all that junk food – sheesh!). That’s right, you can have your metaphorical cake and eat it, too. Introducing the FAUX SLUMBER PARTY!

If we think about the elements that make a slumber party really fun, you begin to see that none of these are things that have to happen overnight across the span of several hours. In fact, the faux slumber party makes a great afternoon party for the kids or a lovely brunch party with mimosas for the adults. Either way you can plan on about three hours, which includes enough time for visiting, snacking, and a movie. Here are the party details to get you started:

Pajamas and Slippers

Your faux slumber party really hinges on everyone wearing their coziest pajamas and slippers; otherwise, it’s just a movie party. Encourage people to dig in their closets for their softest, warmest pair of pjs, because they’ll want to be comfortable for this party. You can even suggest a theme (ex: superhero pajamas, silly-sayings pajamas, holiday pajamas, etc.) and give a prize for the most outrageous pajamas! To keep things affordable, remind people that they don’t need to go out and buy pajamas if they don’t have any: comfortable tshirts and pants are fine, too.

Pillow Forts

Another important aspect to slumber parties: sleeping bags, pillows, and PILLOW FORTS! That’s right, there’s no stiff-backed chairs at slumber parties. Ask your guests to bring a sleeping bag or blanket and pillow. You can then decide what’s more fun: building a pillow fort before they arrive or having them help in the build. We highly recommend building your pillow fort in front of a t.v. for prime movie-viewing. Just make sure you remove any breakable objects from the room first, as wildly swinging pillows have been known to get away from their owners.

TIP: If you search the web for “building a pillow fort”, you’ll be amazed by how many results are returned. For general building, it’s best to have tables and / or chairs as your walls and sheets or lighter blankets for draping over the furniture and acting as your roof. Don’t want the obstruction of a roof? Just surround the area – floor, furniture, etc. – with as many pillows as you can and declare it an ancient pillow amphitheater.

KIDS, you can even use your play tents if you have them!

Movie Selection

As we mentioned earlier, you’ll want to have a movie on hand to up your entertainment value. Make sure you pick one that has been around a while and isn’t too serious. Why? Because your guests are just as likely to want to chat with each other as watch the movie. Now is the not the time for an intense foreign film on existentialism; now is the time for comedies, action adventures, and maybe even cartoons! Bonus points if the movie matches the season or your pajama theme, BOOM.

Munchies

You can’t have a party without food, and movies go better with popcorn. Plan on popping some at the start of the party so it’s fresh and hot. You can even have different varieties to entice your guests, like extra butter, light, cheesy, or kettle corn… although you can’t go wrong with traditional movie theater butter! Just make sure you have lots of bowls – big and small – to make the popcorn sharing easy. Don’t forget the napkins and paper towels for all that hand-wiping, too.

If you want to up your popcorn game, try some of our movie mixes below or create your own popcorn bar for your guests to mix their own!

Movie Mixes

Classic Mix: popcorn, peanuts, and M&Ms

This is definitely a go-to favorite and crowd-pleaser.

Action Mix: buttered popcorn, cashews, goldfish crackers, and Tony Chachere’s seasoning (or your choice of spices)

This one is spicy and a little cheesy at the same time, which makes it perfect for action-adventure movies! Funny story, though: make sure you use buttered popcorn to keep the spices on the food. We tried doing this with plain, dry popcorn; inhaled the spices as we ate; and coughed like crazy all over the place for several minutes. Let me tell you, spices in your lungs burn. So use that buttered popcorn to keep the seasonings in your mix and not in your trachea!

Fantasy Mix: popcorn, almonds, and Lucky Charms cereal

My daughter loves this one with the sweetness of the cereal and the fun color of the marshmallows, although she strongly recommends adding chocolate chips… when her mother lets her get away with it.

Now that you are armed with everything you need for your next faux slumber party, we hope you have as much fun having one as we did!

Happy eventing!