Remember playing truth or dare, hair braiding and making friendship bracelets? Sleepovers we’re just one of the things that made the 90’s so great. Getting together with a gaggle of girls for a night of giggles and prancing around till the early hours of the morning was one of the best parts of our teenage years.
As far as we’re concerned, you’re never too old to have a sleepover party and they needn’t be a thing of the past. A good-old fashioned slumber party is a fantastic way to have a break from the daily grind of adult life and a way to spend some quality time with friends – something that gets harder to do when working overtime, marriage and parenting become the norm. So take a stroll down memory lane, don your favourite pyjamas and follow these 6 IDEAL tips for throwing an epic old-school sleepover party.
THE ENTERTAINMENT
Watching movies at a slumber party is non-negotiable. Back in the day you had to rent a film from the local video shop (remember VHS tapes?) or buy one from HMV and persuade your mum to let you watch an 18. You couldn’t simply download a film or stream it, but times, thankfully, have changed. We now have the power of Netflix, Amazon and all those other streaming sites, so it’s easier than ever to binge watch romcoms and cult classic 90’s movie like Clueless or Cruel Intentions. Movies aside, entertainment wise old school games like ‘Never Have I Ever,’ ‘Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board’ (remember The Craft?) and of course ‘Truth or Dare’ are obligatory.
UNPLUG
The word ‘wifi’ wasn’t in anyone’s vocabulary back then. If you were one of those kids lucky enough to have a Nokia, you’ll know that the only thing you could do on your mobile phone, other than make calls and send texts, was to play snake. For an authentic sleepover, only use the wifi for the aforementioned streaming. Time should be filled with gossip, not everyone gawping at individual screens. Of course you can still have your phone on to call boys – another thing that always happened.
MIDNIGHT SNACKS
No sleepover party would be complete without loading up on junk food. Naturally, a delivery of Domino’s pizza is a must (one of the only time and places for this type of pizza). Every slumber party worth its popcorn needs lots and lots of snacks. Think bags of Doritos and Cheetos, Pop Tarts, strawberry laces and old school American Sweets. Just remember to do some extra exercise the following week – unfortunately our metabolism isn’t what it was as a teenager.
DON’T FORGET THE CHOREOGRAPHED DANCE
Remember reanacting all the Spice Girls videos with hairbrushes as make-believe micorphones? Or perhaps learning all the cheer dances from Bring It On was more your thing? Every sleepover party had some form of choreographed dance, where you would dance on the bed and around the coffee table, so be sure to make that a focal point of the evening.
BOOZE (YOU’RE ADULTS NOW)
You’re adults now. No longer do you have to raid your parents liquor cabinet, then top up the half empty vodka bottle with water. Concoct your own cocktails, make your own margaritas or go old school with malibu and coke mixers. Whatever you’re sleepover tipple of choice, a bit of booze will help make reenacting those Spice Girls dance moves more fun and even less cringeworthy.
GIVE EACHOTHER A MAKEOVER & PAMPER
Doesn’t a night of lounging around in pyjamas and doing some much needed pampering sound great? Share your best makeup tips, cover your face with green goo and cucumber slices and give each other a manicure. You could even go crazy and paint each nail a different colour or be really wild and break out the glitter nail polish, just like the old days.
