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Oh what bad sleepover parties I've had. I remember the time that they woke me up at 3:30 in the morning by playing a guitar right outside my door. They seemed to be genuinely surprised when I was mad at them. It was the fourth time I had told everyone to go to sleep already. What is it I can tell you so you don't have the same problems I have had?

With three kids I guess I'm an expert on this subject, I probably have had between fifty and a hundred sleepovers at my house, and my kids have spent a similar number of night at others. There are good sleepover parties for the kids, and then there are good sleepover parties for the parents, I think it's great when it's a good sleepover party for both.

Here is my list of sleeping party dos:

1. Know the kids who will be sleeping over, if possible know their parents as well.
This will help you to know what to except when you are trying to get a few winks in between the shattering glass and rap music (OK none of the sleepovers have been that bad).

2. Keep the number of kids sleeping over to a minimum. It seems like some of the time the kids want to invite a particular kids, and you know they don't like them, but their friends do. I do like to encourage them to become better friends with these people, but at a sleepover I try and limit the number of guests. The amount of trouble increase exponentially. For example one kids = a certain amount of trouble, two kids is four times the trouble, three kids is nine times the trouble, four kids is sixteen times the trouble, and more than that, if you consented to this you should look for the nearest mental hospital.

3. Plan activities. There will be less trouble if their minds are occupied. There are many things to do to keep them entertained. Rent a movie, tell ghost stories. These will be very effective in keeping them out of trouble. Let them come to the video store to pick out the movie(s). Pop popcorn, make brownies. Let them help you bake cookies. I must admit, I don't do that, but it is always a hit when my mom does it for the kids when they go over there.

4. Set a firm time that they have to go to sleep. Threatening them with not having another sleepover is a good threat, but only works if you mean it. There is not very much you can do about the other kids besides this, its not like you can ground them. If you know the parents well, you might be able to threaten them with telling their parents. Oh well, you can only do so much. You have to worry more about your child's behavior.

Of course there are many things that you shouldn't do.

1. Have a coed party (teenage, younger kids it might be OK, especially relatives). See my article of unflattering things I have to say about this under the question, "Assessing the trend toward coed sleepover parties among teens." I was not kind to the morons who think this is a good idea.

2. Let the children drink a lot of caffeinated pop. 'Nuff said.

3. Let the children do anything illegal in the state of Maine (also probably where ever you live).

4. Drink in front of the kids. Bad example + bad judgment = TROUBLE.

5. Rent R rated movies. No matter what you let your kids do, it is not a good idea to involve other kids in R rated movies without the explicit consent of the parents.

6. Let anyone spend the night when you're sick. I leaned this one first hand.

If you follow this guide you should have a great sleepover party for the kids and the adults.

Learn more about this author, William Hamilton.
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