Slumber Party Tips & Recommendations:
How to throw a successful slumber party
Kids love to have slumber parties, but they can be a little stressful for parents. Here are a few tips to throwing a successful slumber party that is less stressful and fun for everyone.
The Guest List:
This may be the most important part of having a successful slumber party. Agree on a guest list together and invite guests you are close to and can respect you and your home.
The Entertainment:
The Slumber Shack provides the perfect spot to hang out, has some fun activities inside and some you can add-on, but the key to having the best slumber party is to have activities lined up to keep everybody entertained.
Sleep is their last priority, which means your guests will want something to do for 8 hours or more. You don't need a set schedule, just plan on a time to eat, open presents if it is a birthday party and have a few activities ready when guests get bored. Start with high energy activities and wind down to calmer activities. Give them things to do or they will find things to do that you may or may not approve of.
Here is a list of games and activities that our customers have enjoyed playing or participating in. Click on the each link to scroll down directly to instructions for that game.
Don't have time to get games together but really want to give them something to do? Any tip featured here we can put the items needed together for you as a customized add-on, just let us know!
Saran Wrap/Paper Ball Prize Game
What You Need:
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A prize no bigger than the size of your hand (money, make up and gift cards are usually hot items)
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A roll of saran wrap, left over or dollar store wrapping paper or old newspapers and magazines.
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Clear masking tape (makes it more difficult)
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Set of dice
How To Prepare (the night before you party):
Take the prize and wrap it in a layer of saran wrap or paper. Keep wrapping layer after layer. I like to alternate layers, wrapping paper one layer, saran wrap the next, then newspaper and so on. Throw in an occasional layer of gift wrap ribbon or excessive clear masking tape. Keep wrapping and taping each layer until you get a decent sized ball, about the size of a basketball. It is time consuming, but the larger the ball the longer it will take to unwrap and the longer they will be entertained. You can also add mini prizes in between layers like quarters, candy, dollar bills to keep them excited throughout the game. See Tik Tok stickers in recommendations for mini prizes.
How To Play:
Take turns rolling the dice and the highest number rolled goes first. This person will start to unwrap the ball and while they are doing this the person to their right rolls the dice continuously until they roll doubles. Then the ball is passed to them and they start unwrapping the ball and the dice are handed to the person to their right. That person starts rolling for doubles. You keep playing this way until someone unwraps the main prize in the middle. If you added mini prizes, you get to keep everything you unwrap during your turn.
Rules:
You cannot use scissors, knives or anything sharp
You cannot leave the area or table you are playing at
You cannot purposefully throw the dice far away from the roller
You must pass the ball immediately when the next person rolls doubles
Item must be completely unwrapped in order to claim it
Frozen T-Shirt Game
What You Need:
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Gallon freezer bags
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Large T-Shirts - either one for each
player or divide into teams and one for
each team
How To Prepare (the night before you party):
Wet each t-shirt and wring it out. The wetter the t-shirt is the thicker the ice will be and may not thaw quick enough. Fold wrung out t-shirt into a flat square the size of your freezer bag. Put the t-shirt in the bag, seal it and put in the freezer laying flat. Let them freeze overnight.
How To Play:
Pass out the frozen t-shirts to each person, or separate into groups and give a shirt to each group. When you say go, each person/team needs to thaw the shirt enough to unfold and put on. Whoever gets it on first, wins. If playing in groups, each team member must put on and take off the t-shirt to finish.
Rules:
You cannot use water or any liquid to thaw out the shirt
You cannot use a knife or any sharp objects
You cannot use anything other than your body to thaw out the shirt (optional)
T-shirt must not be destroyed in the process of thawing
Set an area they cannot leave when playing
Water Gun Fight
What You Need:
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A water gun for each guest (soakers are the best and great for competitive play) See our affordable option in our recommendations.
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2 or 4 large buckets or coolers
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Water
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Optional: ice
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Optional: Items to hide behind like patio chairs with a tarp over them, a tent, ladder wit a tarp over it, lounge chair on it's side with a tarp over it, etc.
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Optional: washable colored dye.
How To Prepare (before you party):
Pick an area in your back or front yard that has a lot of space. Put a cooler at opposite ends of the area. One will be a refill station for Team A and the other for Team B. You can put two refill stations at each end if you want. Arrange things you already have to make bunkers they can hide behind. Be sure to have the same number of bunkers on each side of the playing area. Just before the party starts, fill the refill stations with water (add ice to make it cold) and put even amounts of soakers at each refill station.
How To Play:
Separate everyone into teams and go for it. Players will fill their guns and shoot at players on the opposite team. You can set a time and judge which team is the wettest or used washable colored dye in the water and have them wear white shirts over bathing suits to visually see who is colored the most.
Rules:
You cannot use scissors, knives or anything sharp
You cannot leave the area or table you are playing at
You cannot purposefully throw the dice far away from the roller
You must pass the ball immediately when the next person rolls doubles
Item must be completely unwrapped in order to claim it
Dare Corn Hole
What You Need:
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Corn Hole boards and bags
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Craft paper (can be purchased at Dollar store or Walmart)
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Sharpie
How To Prepare (the night before you party):
Cut craft paper the size of the top and sides of the corn hole boards. Cover the board and wrap it around so you can tape it at the sides. Take a sharpie and section off the board in as many sections as you want dares. Either write a number in each section or write the dare in each section. If you are writing numbers guests can come up with the dares the day of the party and write them down on a piece of paper corresponding to the numbers on the board.
How To Play:
Take turns throwing a bag at the corn hole board. You can either use one board and whoever throws the bag has to do what it says or use two boards and play in teams. Where ever you bag lands, the other team has to do the dare. If you make the bag in the hole you get to assign any of the dares to someone. If you miss the board you either do an assigned dare or the other team gets to pick one for you.
Rules:
You have to throw the bags from behind a designated line or board.
You can throw the bag any way you want.
Squirt Gun Canvas Art
What You Need:
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Canvas (either one for each guest or one large one for the host to keep)
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Small squirt guns (see affordable guns in recommendations, not the soaker guns)
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Tempura Paint
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Old empty shampoo bottle or something similar
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Optional: Vinyl letter or word
How To Prepare (the night before you party):
You will need to test the consistency of the paint in the water guns. With tempura paint you about 50% paint to 50% water works well but you may want it thicker or more runny. Loading the water guns is the hardest. I use old shampoo bottles and pour half the paint into a shampoo bottle then fill the paint bottle and the shampoo bottle with paint in it with water. Close the lid and shake them up. The lids make them easier to pour into the water guns.
How To Make:
They can either squirt their own canvas or one large one for the host to keep. Shoot it with different colors and just go for it. A fun option is to add a vinyl sticker before you start squirting. Once you are done painting take the vinyl sticker off and your design will show.
