My daughter is turning seven this weekend and she has talked me into having her "first sleepover." She has invited eight of her little friends, who are set to arrive at 5:30 p.m. on Friday night. First on the agenda is PIZZA and birthday cake. (Sheet cake with dark blue icing and a "night" scene on it--stars, moons, etc.) After pigging out, the girls will make sleepshirts to keep. Each girl will use fabric paint to decorate her own shirt with stars, moons, or whatever she desires. Then, the girls will sign each other's shirt (on the back) and I will write the occasion and date on the right sleeve of the t-shirt. While the shirts dry, the girls will pull out the bags of dress-up clothes from my daughter's closet and choose her own costume. After dressing, they will receive a bag of hair accessories and makeup. When they are done "fixing up," I will pull out the video camera and we will have a "fashion parade." Each girl will take turns modeling her new style. Then, we will grab a snack and pop the tape into the VCR for laughs galore. At this point, I plan to let the girls choose their own activities. We have several "girl" board games and a huge assortment of barbies, baby dolls and polly pockets. An entire section of our front room will be devoted to music--furniture pushed back, CDs (brittney spears, backstreet boys, nsync, etc.) and a strobe light will be available for the girls to dance the night away. When the girls tire of this, I will pass out miniature flashlights, pop a movie in the VCR, roll out the sleeping bags, and turn out the lights to reveal the glow-in-the-dark stars plastered all over the ceiling. The girls can then wind down with the movie and girls who are still afraid of the dark will have the flashlight for comfort. (Not to mention the playing factor--who doesn't remember the fun of flashing the light across a darkened ceiling?) Of course, throughout the evening, the kitchen will be open to snackers. In the morning, we will serve a healthy breakfast (assorted cereals, fresh fruit, milk and juices) and the girls will gather their belongings (in addition to the sleepshirts and the bag of hair accessories and makeup) and we will deliver each girl to their parents. (This seemed to be a much better idea than "guessing" what time the girls would be up and around, and alleviates the problem of some parents not showing up on time--they go home when the party is officially over!)Also, I will take pictures of the girls throughout the evening and plan to give each girl a set of pictures the next week to keep as mementos of their first "big girl sleepover." (We live in a small town with no one hour photo...)