This works best in good weather, but you can improvise for any time of the year! A neat way to make invites: Take a piece of construction paper and fold it in half. On the top half only, cut away a rectangle from the top. Once you are done, you can decorate it to look like a sleeping bag, and it opens. This gives you a lot more room to write info, and it's cute, too. Prep: Buy some Jiffy Pop from the grocery store! It's fun for kids to make, and it's inexpensive,too. If you have a flat top stove, then you can just make microwave popcorn. You can have everyone toast marshmallows (over a grill works), and if you're having good weather, you can pitch a tent in the backyard, and you can sleep there! If you're not having good weather, or if you have too many guests to fit in a tent, then have everyone sleep inside. Designate a special party room". Have everyone sit in the party room(distract them with a gameetc.) and then put a few flashlights turned on at a nearby table (don't get noticed!). Put a list of tasks the kids have to do next to them...For example5-10 things they have to find in the house (with riddles scrambled words etc.). These can be permanent or temporary items such as a tv rubber band computer paper clip glass etc. or they can all be the same thing such as find all 10 notebooks hidden in the room. Make sure to tell them that they have been assigned a mission and that the lights can't be turned on without their help(we'll get to that). MAKE SURE to tell them that they should not try to turn the light switches on incase some of the kids know where they are. Then after you are set up mysteriously turn off the lights (If there is more than one set of lights for the room have another adult help). Have the birthday girl/boy in on the plan so that she says innocently "I think we should go get the flashlights and see what happened!" The kids will find the list and have a lot of fun seacrching for the items around the room. The last words on the list that the kids have should say to do something that the parents can hear such as sing Happy Birthday etc. They should also have there eyes closed. As soon as the parents hear them they should go to the room and turn on the lights acting like they didn't know what happened saying "What happened?" or "Why are the lights off?". At first the kids are surprised but then they cracked up laughing since they seriously believed it! The rest of the night was a total blast and we had a sleepover!"