EASY SLEEPOVER (8 years, girl) I was nervous when my 7 year old told me she wanted a sleepover for her 8th birthday.  I didn't think I would be able to keep 8 girls entertained and calm for a night. I was so pleased to find this website, and between this website and a magazine I formulated a birthday plan that went smoothly, and was REALLY easy! I wanted to share the idea!  Here's the schedule:  -Kids arrive and put away sleeping bags (5-10 min) -CLAY CRAFT. I bought a kit at Hobby Lobby that had full instructions (30 min)  -Pizza. Ordered during craft time. (30 min) -SILLY PHOTOS. I bought a foam core board and some colored poster board.  I drew a baby with a bonnet and cut out a face shaped hole.  Each girl stuck her head through the hole, and put a pacifier in her mouth and we took a picture. The girls had fun laughing at each other with a pacifier in her mouth. This idea would work well theme parties too... just change the picture! (10 min)  -BALLOON GAME. During pizza I blew up an entire bag of balloons. The girls enjoyed the balloons by themselves for a while.  Then we divided the girls and balloons in half on either side of the coffee table that we put in the middle of the room. The goal of the game was to get as many of the balloons onto the other team's side as possible.  We set a timer, and when it went off we counted balloons. The side with fewer balloons won.  We switched teams and sides a couple of times so almost everybody got to be on a winning team.  Then the girls sat on, and popped, all the balloons.  This activity used up a little energy! (20 min) -CAKE AND PRESENTS White cake with white frosting.  Fruit gels and gum drops arranged in colorful flowers around sides and top. Matching colored candles. (30 min) -PAJAMA FASHION CONTEST. The invitation I sent asked each girl to bring something silly or fancy to wear to bed.  We had each girl come out, and we announced her name in a grand voice, and then announced what she was wearing. She posed and we took her picture. I made little laminated paper medals with prizes like, "Most Beautiful Pajamas," "Most Colorful...," "Funniest..." to hand out.(15 min) -DANCE PARTY.  My present to my daughter was a "Disco Ball." Only $20 at Target. We turned off most of the lights, turned on the disco ball and started some great dance music.  The girls went wild!  They made up dances.  They laughed. They shouted. It was wonderful.  Then they were TIRED! (30 min) -SET UP SLEEPING BAGS, BRUSH TEETH We set up the bags in front of the TV (30 min) -MOVIES. I picked two new releases I thought they would really like to see. And one movie that would be really SLOW PACED.  They were tired from dancing, so they were ready to sit down and relax during a movie. We popped popcorn and had no-caffeine sodas. We took a play break between movies. A couple girls fell asleep during the second movie, and all were asleep at the start of the third! -DRESS and PACK (20 min) -BREAKFAST Pancakes.  (30 min) -PAINT NAILS (10 min) then FREE PLAY -FOLLOW CLUES TO GOODIE BAGS. I wrote out little paper clues leading the girls to their hidden goodie bags.  Each clue led to the next hidden clue, until the final clue gave away the location of the hidden bags. The bags were hidden in the clothes dryer. We did this just before the parents arrived, so they had just received their goodie bags and were ready to go home!  After the friends left we developed the pictures we took (1-hour) and put them into thank you letters!