Putting the 'Slumber' Back in Slumber Party

We’re having a slumber part tomorrow night to celebrate Alyssa’s twelfth birthday. She invited five friends over. We’ve received word that four of them can come.

Tom’s trying to figure out where he can go for the majority of tomorrow evening just to escape the noise that five twelve year olds can create.

Olivia declared two weeks ago that she was escaping to her Gram’s for the night. No way was she sticking around for the chaos of a sixth grade slumber party.

I, on the other hand, get the joy, the pleasure, the enormous privilege of sticking around, of feeding and entertaining the hoard of girls that will descend upon my house at 3pm tomorrow afternoon.

Seriously, though, I know Alyssa is looking forward to having her friends over and I’m excited for her. Am I excited to have to go upstairs three or more times after midnight to remind them that a slumber party means that at some point they actually have to sleep? Not necessarily but I was twelve once, I get that this is an exciting time and it’s fun to be surrounded by your friends on what would normally just be a Saturday night at home with your parents and sister, watching season 4 of Quantum Leap with your mom.

So yeah, I’m all for making the most of the time she has with her friends.

In all honestly, twelve year olds are pretty self-sufficient. I don’t think I’ll have to do much as far as entertainment goes. Food? Sure, it’ll need to be in constant rotation but they’ll figure out what to do on their own. In fact, I’ve promised Alyssa to try and stay mostly out of the way.

I feel like we’re so lucky to live where we live and have access to the school our girls attend. Alyssa has made some pretty great friends there and their families are pretty great too.

I’m excited for the party but I think I’ll also be happy when 10am rolls around on Sunday morning and the parents start arriving for pick up.

It’s fun to throw a party but it’s also a relief when the party ends, especially when it’s a party that involved having your house taken over by twelve year olds.