DIY Tween Slumber Party Ideas

Tween Slumber Party Ideas. www.houstonmomsblog.com. Top photograph of three adjacent V-frame tents in a carpeted room with bunting connecting them. In front of each tent is a caboodle. Bottom photograph of a single caboodle labeled with a name.

My eldest turned 12 years old this year, and she has been asking for a slumber party for as long as I can remember.  This is technically our “no party” rotation year, but I still wanted her to have a low-key celebration with a couple of friends. Madison has never had a sleepover before, so I agreed to the idea as long as she kept it to a few friends and there wasn’t much planning involved.  She was thrilled!  She told me that two of her closest friends would be attending, and they too had never attended a sleepover.  When I heard that, I just knew that I wanted the girls to have a memorable first sleepover experience. The only problem was that I had a week to put everything together…

An inverted V frame tent.

Individual Sleeping Spaces

I got onto Pinterest to find some slumber party ideas and saw these adorable, individual pop-up tents.  I needed something fast and easy to put together.  My tent tutorial was super simple to do and didn’t require any sewing. The frame of the tent cost me about $6, and I paid an additional $10 for fabric.  I’m certain that you can even go lower in price for the fabric if you shopped around or used a twin sized bed sheet, but I was on a time crunch and fell in love with the prints at JoAnn’s Fabrics.  Don’t forget to take advantage of the 40% off coupons at the hobby store or when they have fabric sales. I strung two strands of Christmas lights together and used a garland from a previous party to jazz up the tents.

Fun Photo Booth

A party isn’t a party without a fun photo area for the guests to pose in. All you need is masking tape and 2-3 rolls of streamers to make this backdrop.  Make sure that your backdrop is wide enough for at least four people to stand side by side.  I cut one continuous piece of white masking tape and used pushpins to secure it to the wall with the sticky side facing outwards.  Then, I suggest having a helper sitting on the floor to trim the streamers for you.  I simply placed the streamers on the sticky part of the masking tape and my helper did a rough snip off the bottom.  This helped me save on time since I didn’t have to climb up and down the ladder.  Target sells cute photobooth props in a packet for less than $3, or you can make your own at home by collecting things from around the house.

Three pairs of feet each wearing flipflops decorated with ribbons.

Personalized Crafts

For a fun craft idea, the girls got to decorate matching flip flops that I purchased on sale at Walmart for $0.25 each! I had a stash of satin ribbons at home already, and I gave them free rein to figure out how they wanted to decorate the strap. They had access to a low temperature glue gun if they needed it and scissors as well.

A project display board divided into 8 sections. Each section contains one bottle of nail polish. A spinner is at the center of the board.

Posh Pampering

The girls also got to play Spin the {Nail Polish} Bottle. It was a cinch to put together, and I had a collection of free nail polish bottles from my couponing days that I was able to put to good use. I made sure to include some eccentric colors that I knew the girls would dread landing on. I used washi tape to divide a project display board into eight sections. I put a bottle of nail polish in each section and a spinner in the middle for them to spin.  My spinner was merely a paper clip attached to the board with a push pin. The girls took turns spinning the spinner and painting one nail the color that they landed on.  The game continued until all of their nails were painted.  There was a lot of laughter as the girls played this game.  I just made sure to remind them to keep the polish on the board and to close the bottles each time to prevent any spills.

A caboodle labeled with a name.

Girly Gifts

After singing “Happy Birthday” and eating cake, the girls retreated upstairs to their tents to watch a couple of movies that we rented from Redbox.  I brought up popcorn, candy, and drinks for the girls to enjoy.  They could stay up as late as they wanted as long as they didn’t get too rowdy and wake up the baby. I snuck up early in the morning to snap a picture of the girls sleeping soundly in their tents and started making breakfast. Chocolate chip pancakes and bacon were on the menu for that morning.  I originally planned a make-your-own-waffle bar, but we were short on time since the girls were getting picked up early.  Each girl received her own personalized pink caboodle filled with hair scrunchies, candy, gel pens, nail polish, and stamps.  I adored my caboodle as a tween growing up in the ’80s and thought it would be a fitting party favor for a slumber party.

It seems like yesterday that my daughter was born.  How did twelve years fly by in a blink of an eye?  I realized during the sleepover that my baby girl is no longer my doll playing, snuggle bunny, mama’s girl that she was.  She was taking a step towards her adolescent years, and my heart broke a little inside.  I am so proud of the young lady that she is becoming … but I do miss those baby years with her.  So looking forward to the years and parties ahead though!

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Christine N
Christine was raised in Houston almost all her life, but currently resides in Sugar Land with her family. She graduated with a teaching degree from the University of Houston and taught elementary school for eight wonderful years.  She met her husband Martin while they both were teaching CCE at a local parish.  Together they have five beautiful children Madison {September 2005}, Caden {April 2007}, Cohen {April 2008}, Mason {August 2009}, and Anna-Marie {November 2016}.  Christine is also a self-taught baker, cake designer, and owner of The Sweet Boutique Bakery.  In 2016, her family felt a huge calling to open up their hearts and home to fostering babies.  When Christine isn’t juggling work, being an active school mom, or caring for her foster baby, you will find her creating DIY home projects, crafting, party planning, baking with her kids, and traveling with her family.  You can read more of her family shenanigans on The Sweet Boutique's Blog.

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