8 Fun Slumber Party Ideas for Girls! | RuffleButts

10 Fun Slumber Party Ideas for Girls!

Sleepovers are one of the best parts of childhood. If your adult brain can’t quite recall the details, allow us to remind you: You and your BFFs would spend all night playing pretend, sharing secrets, eating snacks, laughing so hard that it hurt, and cuddling up in your cutest PJs to watch movies until you fell asleep. 

 

But slumber parties are more than just a fun way to spend time with friends. They’re a right of passage for young girls—a formative experience they can remember their entire lives fondly. 

 

If the young girls in your life have reached sleepover age, you might be looking for fun slumber party ideas to enhance the event. Well, look no further. You can make sleepover party magic with our 8 fantastic slumber party ideas for girls.

 

1. Build-Your-Own Pizza Party

Let’s face it—kids love pizza. It’s the great equalizer of classrooms, little league teams, and scout troops everywhere. If you’re hosting a slumber party for the first time, you can’t go wrong with a pizza theme. 

 

Here are a few points to consider if you decide to host a build-your-own pizza slumber party:

 

  • Make sure you buy enough ingredients to account for every party guest. If you’re industrious, you can prepare dough and sauce at home, but store-bought works great too. 

 

  • Offer a wide variety of toppings. Kids have varied tastes (and dietary restrictions), just like adults. It’s also a good idea to check in with your guests’ guardians beforehand about allergies they may have.

 

  • Dole out enough dough for each party guest to make a personal-sized pizza. Provide rolling pins and cookie sheets, and try not to help too much. For the kids, feeling independent is half the fun.

 

Prepping, baking, and eating the pizza will take up a sizable chunk of the night. Depending on how many girls you’re hosting, you may want to provide side activities (like a paper chef’s hat decorating station) to keep them engaged and entertained throughout the evening.

 

2. Costumed Movie Marathon

Movie marathons (complete with popcorn, candy, and maybe even a blanket fort) make for a guaranteed good time. Costumed movie marathons are even better.

 

Start by letting your kid  (or kids) pick the movie and establish the theme. Maybe they love all things Pixar. Perhaps they’re totally dinosaur-obsessed Jurassic Park fans. Whatever the movie choice, encourage your guests to come dressed as their favorite character. 

 

It’s also a smart sleepover idea to have extra dress-up materials on hand, just in case. You don’t want anyone to feel left out.

 

A movie marathon is a great choice for when parents and guardians feel a little stretched thin. It’s simple to set up, engaging, and fun. When you add costumes to the mix, the kids can naturally transition into birthday party games for kids when the credits roll. 

 

3. Fantasy Tea Party

For pint-sized princesses and fairytale enthusiasts, there’s no better slumber party theme than a fantasy tea party. Adults will find that this theme can easily fit any space and budget, too.

 

Check out these sleepover party ideas for this imaginative slumber party theme:

 

  • Host your tea party at the kitchen table. Pick up a lacy tablecloth from a thrift store, and serve cold tea or fruit juice from your child’s plastic toy tea set.

 

  • Turn your tea party into a picnic with an outdoor set-up. This is especially well suited to a fairy theme. You can even create fairy houses out of natural materials for an added sleepover activity.

 

  • Build a “castle” out of couch cushions, blankets, and whatever else you have lying around. The girls can dress up, drink tea, and feel like royalty, then fall asleep right inside the castle.

 

  • Before the tea party, design a quest that will take the girls around the house and yard on a fantasy scavenger hunt. Perhaps they’ll track down a friendly dragon’s lost hoard or reclaim the fairy queen’s tiny treasures (which were scattered across the kingdom by a rogue raven, of course). Then, they can reward themselves with a refreshing cup of tea.

 

Dress-up options are always a good idea for a fantasy kids party, but if your kids want to stay comfy, RuffleButts makes pajamas that are worthy of a real princess, like our floral-printed Summer Blooms Ruffled 2-piece set.

 

4. Fashion Show Eleganza Extravaganza 

A fashion show is a girls’ slumber party classic. Your daughter and her friends will feel fierce and fashionable walking down a homemade runway. Try constructing your runway out of a roll of butcher paper, so that the girls can decorate it with markers, crayons, and stickers.

 

In terms of the fashion, provide age-appropriate, adorable clothing from RuffleButts, and ask your guests to bring along some extra options. Make sure to remind parents on what to pack for a sleepover, this guarantees every girl can construct a fabulous outfit that fits. Scarves, belts, and accessories from Mom’s closet will also encourage the girls’ creativity.

 

Then, earn extra cool points by enhancing the atmosphere with a parent paparazzi seating section, runway music, and fun lighting (a heavy-duty flashlight makes a superb spotlight).

 

5. Obstacle Course Olympics

When you’re hosting a slumber party, tiring out your little guests with a fun physical activity will work in your (and your sleep quality’s) favor.

 

For an Olympics-themed slumber party, set up an obstacle course in the backyard. With a bit of creative thinking, you can build it out of objects you already own:

 

  • Draw a winding hopscotch section with chalk (this is a great task for your daughter to help with).

 

  • Pile cushions from deck chairs to make vaults. 

 

  • Design a classic “egg-in-spoon” race for a cheap and easy obstacle that will get the kids laughing.

 

  • Fill up the kiddie pool with water and pop in a few clear, giant orbeez. The sensory experience of wading through water to find “invisible” treasure will delight and stimulate young minds.

 

6. A Dramatic Affair

If your daughter and her friends are budding thespians, a night at the (home) theatre is sure to inspire. 

 

Plus, dramatic play benefits children in innumerable ways. From fostering creativity to developing communication and empathy skills, playing pretend is more than just fun—it’s also foundational.

 

Build a “stage” by clearing an area of furniture, setting up seating (pillows on the floor work just fine), and hanging a couple cheap shower curtains in doorways on extendable rods. Behind the curtains, create a dressing room with costumes, mirrors, and a box of props.

 

Your props box should contain inspiring items, like:

 

  • Stuffed animals
  • Kitchen utensils
  • Musical instruments
  • Small trinkets (plastic gems, costume jewelry, change, sea shells, etc.)
  • Art supplies

 

The girls will enjoy creating their show almost as much as they enjoy performing it for you.

 

7. Backyard Campout

Experience all the excitement of a camping trip, with half the headache. Pitch a tent, roast marshmallows over the firepit, sing campfire songs, and tell ghost stories from the comfort of your own backyard.

 

You can also incorporate outdoorsy activities into this fun slumber party idea—the options are almost endless. Here are just a few:

 

  • Set out comfy mats, blankets, and pillows for stargazing. Help the girls spot constellations, and explain how stars can be used for navigation.

 

  • Go on a bug hunt with nets and mason jars, but make sure to free your captives once the hunt is done. 

 

  • Cook aluminum foil camp dinner over the fire, and use clean up as an opportunity to teach wilderness survival and ecological responsibility concepts like “Leave No Trace.”

 

The biggest benefit of camping in the backyard? You and your guests are only steps away from comforts like running water, a clean bathroom, and a phone with service for late night “Can you pick me up?” calls to Mom and Dad.

 

8. A Gathering of Good Witches

At some point, every little girl will believe she has latent magical abilities. Foster that sense of empowerment and creativity by hosting a “Good Witch Gathering” at your next sleepover. 

 

The central activity of this slumber party idea involves magic-inspired arts and crafts, such as:

 

  • DIY potion-making – Save plastic bottles for a few weeks and set them out alongside food dye, water, vegetable oil, glitter, flowers, and other sensory water play tools. We recommend close supervision for this wonderfully messy activity.

 

  • Constructing a witch hat – Make pointed witches’ hats out of construction paper, and encourage your guests to decorate them with stickers, stamps, and other art supplies.

 

Outfit Your Slumber Party in Style With RuffleButts

From princess party ideas to outdoor excursions, there’s no limit to the creative spin you can apply to a sleepover. As long as you keep your child’s unique interests at heart, you really can’t go wrong. 

 

Once you’ve picked out an engaging theme, entertaining activities, and delicious food, there’s only one thing left to consider—cute and comfortable sleepover clothing. 

 

At RuffleButts, we offer a wide variety of cozy, stylish pajamas and play sets that are as adorable as they are wearable. 

 

If you want to go all out, encourage your guests to wear matching PJs, or stock up on our signature headbands for party favors. Matching with her BFFs at a fun, themed slumber party is a memory your little girl will cherish for a lifetime.


Looking for some festive PJs for your party? Shop our kids holiday clothes for fun patterns for the season!

Sources: 

 

Penn Foster. The Impact of Dramatic Play in ECE. https://www.pennfoster.edu/blog/2016/december/benefits-of-dramatic-play-in-ece#:~:text=Dramatic%20play%20engages%20virtually%20every,different%20from%20their%20everyday%20self.

 

Leave No Trace. The 7 Principles. https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/