• Celebrate your child's birthday with a sleepover party.birthday image by Albert Lozano from Fotolia.com
  
  Birthday party sleepovers are a time-honored tradition. Most adults have memories of staying up all night with their friends in adolescence. But finding the best way for children in your home to spend time at your child's birthday party sleepover can be challenging. Fortunately, there are a variety of age-appropriate activities for tweens that will keep them entertained and out of trouble.
  
  

Invitations

• Store-bought invitations are just one way of getting the word out about your child's sleepover party. You can include pictures of all the friends who are invited. Another idea is to include sleepover-themed images such as slippers, pillows or sleeping bags in the invitation, or even cut invitations into these shapes. Make sure to include a list of things for people to bring, as well as a description of what activities will be going on so that your guests will be prepared.
  
  

Themes

• One way to make a birthday party sleepover for tweens particularly special is to have a theme. You can decorate the party area around a recent popular movie, a popular musician or group or something more classic and timeless. For example, a cops and robbers theme might be a good idea for boys, while a princess sleepover party works well for girls. Films are a popular activity for overnight sleepovers, so having a themed film lineup is one way to create a theme, with age-appropriate "chick flicks" or classic horror films.
  
  

Decorations

• Decorations may follow any theme that your tween child's birthday party sleepover may have. However, even parties that don't have specific themes can have a more general sleepover theme. Guests can also decorate the party area themselves as part of an activity. For example, guests at the party can be given a blank pillowcase and markers as party favors. Guests can decorate the pillowcase any way that they like.
  
  

Activities

• The activities are the part of a sleepover party that really make the party something to remember. An all-girls party can have makeover and spa time, as they play with makeup and other spa treatments. Other activity ideas for an all-girls party include making outfits out of tin foil or giving each other makeovers while blindfolded. An all-boys party might have activities like baseball card trades or sports in the backyard. Timeless classic activities that transcend gender include pillow fights, truth or dare, karaoke and candy hunts. When showing movies, having a concession stand where guests can get their candy and popcorn is one way to keep tweens entertained before the film.