Hellobee Boards

I know this isn't what you asked BUT all of my girlhood sleepovers were more like:
-5/6pm-10am
-Pizza, movie or play around in bedrooms/playrooms, sleep, wake up and have pancakes or donuts.
- Asleep at a generally accepted bedtime in a sleeping bag, a guest bed, a trundle bed, etc. We'd stay up whispering and laughing for awhile.
- My parents would drop me off and pick me up.

@DesertDreams88: Agree with this! My parents were (are) anti social so I was allowed to go to sleepovers but not host them. I would love for DS to have the house that everyone comes to as he grows up ️ You handle dinner yes (pizza and ice cream). Choose some movies and leave our legos etc. Let the boys sleep together in sleeping bags. I wouldn’t worry about showers. In the morning they would generally be picked up between breakfast and lunch. Enjoy!

@PinkElephant: @irene: yeah, I think the prime time for sleepovers was late elementary school (4th/5th grade) - definitely the “tween” years. I remember sleeping over close friends houses sooner, but my parents were also friends with their parents, so a bit different. I don’t know, when I was younger, I couldn’t believe that some of my friends weren’t allowed to sleep out, but then something tragic happened to an acquaintance who was sleeping at her life long best friend’s house and it changed my whole perspective. I’m not sure if I’ll let my kids do sleepovers or not...

Definitely remember sleepovers being a big grade 5,6,7,8 thing for sure. Pretty much exactly what was described above. Pizza, movie, sleeping bags and giggling all night ha I also did sleepover birthday parties a lot and we maybe went out for pizza or just did it at home, bowling and then everyone in a pile in the basement. My parents just left us be at that age.

My coworker just had his son invite a friend for a sleepover for the first time and he’s 8. His friend was already over after school and his son asked for a sleepover so they just had the parents bring the kids stuff over. The friend wears pull ups still and is afraid of the dark so the parents discretely told my coworker that and it was no biggie. He was prepared to call the parents in the night in case but it was fine. The boy was a little nervous in a new place but they just stayed in the bunk beds and no issue.

I do remember once when I was pretty young getting scared at a sleepover and the girls mom called my mom to come get me at my request so I would be prepared for that just in case. It was not an issue when we were tweens!

i'd say my sleepover experiences were about the same as all the ones mentioned above - for school friends it started around grade 6-7-8 etc. Also around 5pm-10am with a simple dinner, lots of snacks, movies, and talking about boys/school, playing truth and dare.

we did have a few sleepovers when we were much younger, but all with very close family friends.

That said, my husband and I have decided that our LO's will not be allowed sleepovers in general. We've just had one too many friends relate experiences of sexual abuse or questionable activity to feel comfortable with it. No judgement for those that feel comfortable with it, though. I know I loved going to sleepovers as a kid. My childhood self would be sooooo upset at us, but at least for now this is where we stand. Thankfully most of our close friends have a similar plan for their kids, but i know it will be hard when our kids are old enough to receive requests from school friends.

ETA: oh and definitely showering is not expected :).

Oh wow, my son has had a bunch of sleepovers already and he's not 5 yet! Eep! First couple were with his best friend from daycare (a girl) - on the very first one I went with him, had dinner with the parents, and while the kids were watching a show I said good night and left - the mom kept me updated by text how it was going and they were both asleep by 8:15 or so. I picked up around 9 the next day. We've done back and forth sleepovers with her about 5 times now, its been awesome! He also does tons of sleepovers with his cousins and they come to us. Maybe its extra important to me since he's an only child - I want to give him as much of the company of other kids as I can. I was having sleepovers with neighbourhood friends from about 5 and we all loved it!

@irene: I wouldn’t worry too much about teeth brushing! I’d tell them to do it once but if they don’t then they can just have an extra good scrub the next day when the sleepover is over.

@irene: I can remember having sleepovers as young as 7 or 8 years old, with a couple different friends. One was my best friend all through K-12th grade, and our parents knew each other well, but weren't really friends with each other. The other was with a girl whose grandparents lived next door to us. This girl was one of my best friends until about middle school when she moved to a neighboring town and we grew apart. I remember hearing many years later that this girl had been molested by her step-father for her entire childhood, including during the age that I had been sleeping over at their house. This guy never tried anything weird while I was there - I don't even really remember him being around during sleepovers, but that could've been different...you just can never be sure about what's going on in someone else's house.

I now have two girls who are 1 and almost 3, so I haven't had to deal with this yet. I struggle with the fine line between being smart parents and being over-cautious. I think we will allow sleepovers, but not until probably about middle school, and only with kids whose families we know well. Or maybe we won't allow it at all. I haven't decided yet, haha.

As far as what people actually do during a sleepover - standard was pretty much pizza, movies and snacks, staying up a little late and talking/giggling, pancakes, then parent pickup.