How many is too many for a sleepover birthday party?
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Anonymous
| My DD wants to have a sleepover birthday party for her 8th birthday. She has actually never had a sleepover at our place, but went to one such birthday party (and loved it). I told her she can invite 4 friends, so that there will be 5 kids altogether--figured that's a manageable number for a sleepover. The problem is, they have a tight-knit group of girls, and my DD said if she doesn't invite them all, they will get offended (and I agree with her, of course). But this means there will be 8 kids. Is it too many for a sleepover? I am not sure if all of them will choose to actually stay for the night, but if they do, I am worried it will be total mayhem. Advice? Should I tell my DD she should invite anyone she wants but it will have to be a semi-sleepover/pajama party/movie night or something like that? |
Anonymous
| 8 is a lot... But if one or two cant make it, 6 would be manageable... |
Anonymous
| If you don't know these girls and their parents, I would not have them overnight. Do an afternoon event. |
Anonymous
| OP here: I do know the girls well, and know all the parents pretty well. |
Anonymous
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Have you had all the girls at your house together before? How many times? Were there any problems? Did all the girls get along?
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Anonymous
| I have had all of these girls over in different combinations, and they all have attended my DD's previous birthday parties and everything was fine. That being said, they do bicker and fight occasionally, and the dynamics among them can get complicated, so I do worry about potential issues. |
Anonymous
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Um, there is basically no limit until we've run out of space on the floors. We have had 35 kids sleeping over a couple of times.
8 kids sleeping over is a regular Friday night at my house. |
Anonymous
Really? How has that come to be the case? That sounds like crazy fun and crazy chaos. What age are your kids? |
Anonymous
They are 24, 21, 12 and 9. The older kids were each allowed to do massive sleepovers on prom nights, sweet sixteen, camp reunion, etc. We also hosted a few bar/bat mitzvah after-parties when the hosts' houses couldn't accommodate guests. |
Anonymous
| We invited 12, all came but only 2 slept over. Not all parents are comfortable, even if you know them well. |
Anonymous
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Back in the day - so 30 years ago - sleepovers were the standard from about 2nd grade through 6th grade. Parties usually had about a dozen kids. Like a PP, I have fond memories of kids sleeping on every available floor space.
8 kids is totally manageable. No, they won't sleep. That's just how it is. |
Anonymous
I posted on here a few months ago asking similar questions for my DD's 8th bday party. In the end, she had 3 girls sleep over and it was perfect. They arrived at 6pm, did a craft, ate dinner, had cake, watched 2 movies, and played. They fell asleep around 12am and were up by 5am  , but they stayed down in the basement and were really well-behaved. DCUM told me to have pick up be after 10am but I am glad I stuck to my guns and had them picked up at 9am b/c by then they had been up for 4 hours and I wanted my house back.
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Anonymous
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I think that's manageable. If it's a tight knit group of girls, you can't make your dd choose!
Embrace the chaos 
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Anonymous
| 8 is fine. I would do it on a Friday night since they will get next to no sleep. They can have Sat night at their homes so they can catch up on lost sleep. |
Anonymous
| 3 kids are manageable to invite but for my daughter 4 was amazing! |