My last sleep-over experience was when I was thirteen years old (or thereabouts) and my good friend Mike Bains invited another kid and me for an overnight birthday celebration. The highlights from that evening, as I remember it, included a parental-sponsored toilet-papering of a neighbor's house, lots of pizza, and a slasher double feature: Halloween 3 and My Bloody Valentine. That's what boys do.
Last night I found out what girls do. In celebration of her ninth birthday, Alison hosted her first ever slumber party, and the good news is that everyone survived.
The first thing you need to know about nine-year-old girls is that they scream. And scream. And scream. After some video gaming, pizza making, and arts and crafting, the girls got down to the serious business of running around the house and shrieking about spiders real and imagined.
Once that was checked off the list, they spent some time (much more than I'd have liked) talking about the boys in their class, and then they played a thrilling game of telephone, attempting to pass mysterious messages around the table as they gobbled up a delicious birthday cake.
Next came a screening of High School Musical 3. Even though they all adore the right characters, I was secretly relieved when they squirmed during the kissing scenes. There will be time enough for that down the road. Far, far down the road, hopefully in a galaxy far, far away.
After that we entertained them (or scarred them for life -- you'll have to ask their therapists a few decades from now) by telling a couple standard ghost stories. We led off with one about a woman whose head falls off when the ribbon around her neck is removed, and then finished with the classic about the cab driver who delivers a passenger home to her parents, only to discover that she was the ghost of a girl who had died years earlier. There was also lots of Coraline fun, and for some reason I thought it would be a good idea (at two in the morning) to tape buttons on my eye lids and introduce myself as "Alison's other father."
The girls finally fell asleep around 3:30, and everyone was gone by noon on Sunday. More interesting than all that, though, were the small things that highlighted the differences between boys and girls. A few hours into the night, one of Alison's friends realized that she had forgotten her teddy bear. She called home to talk to her mother, and two or three of the other girls gathered around her during the tearful conversation. As soon as she got off the phone, every single girl give her a hug and Alison offered one of her spare bears. Nine-year-old boys wouldn't have laughed, but they wouldn't have noticed either.
During the movie, each time Troy or Garbriela or whoever broke into song, two or three of the girls would pop out of their sleeping bags and start dancing and singing along. Boys would have fast-forwarded through stuff like this to get to the parts where people were being slashed and gashed. Then they'd rewind and watch it again. They would also consider getting paper and pencil to keep track of how many people were killed in the movie.
And the kissing scenes? At nine years old, these girls are right on the edge, so they're not entirely sure how they should feel about a sweaty Troy Bolton or an un-Disney-like kiss between the romantic leads. Some watched through hands which only partially cover their eyes, others squealed their displeasure, but they all reacted. Boys? The boys would be stone cold silent so as not to betray any hint of emotion.
The main thing, though, is that all six girls -- even Alison -- had a great time. And even though there wasn't much sleeping during this first sleep-over, I'd still happily do it again next year.
And so in honor of the six crazy girls who had so much fun last night, I leave you with this blast from the past. Enjoy.
BAH! The buttons on the eyes...I would have thought that was VERY funny as well, and Drew and I would have peed our pants laughing I am sure! We haven't seen Coraline...it seems freaky. Now, I am DYING to see "race to witch mountain" though!
Posted by: JoAnn | March 16, 2009 at 05:56 PM