As a child of the ’90s, sleepovers were social currency. They were a rite of passage, from the endless games of Mall Madness and Girl Talk to unenforced bedtime to, yes, even the prank calls to our crushes. So when my husband announced he wanted to take our two boys to a golf tournament a few hours away from home—meaning I’d have the house to myself for 36 hours—I decided to throw an adult sleepover with my four besties.
While I could have luxuriated in solitude, having a mom’s only sleepover was what I really wanted. Nowhere to drive after too many libations, uninterrupted time to stay up late and talk, read, dance, watch movies, or whatever else. Plus, a sleepover evokes a certain sense of girlhood nostalgia.
I ordered matching PJs, eye masks, and a charcuterie board. One friend brought wine, another brought dessert, and a third brought a fun art project to do. Someone else was in charge of the games. Here’s everything we did at our mom sleepover, plus I’m sharing how to host your own, along with adult sleepover themes and ideas.
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How to plan a mom’s night slumber party
Having an overnight mom’s night out may take some strategic planning on your end: coordinating schedules, deciding what type of slumber party you want to have, and establishing childcare. But as far as when to have a slumber party—you don’t particularly need a solid reason to have one—other than filling up your social cup and spending quality time with your best girlfriends. However, an adult slumber party is great for celebrating a milestone birthday, gathering as an annual get-together (for the friends you can’t see often), and so much more.
Adult sleepover party ideas and themes
My friends and I had so much fun at our mom’s sleepover that we decided to make it an annual thing. A pressure-free night, charcuterie, cozy PJs, and sleeping alone in bed? Sounds like a perfect night to me. If you need some slumber party inspo for your next get-together, keep scrolling for adult sleepover party themes and ideas to get you started.
Rom-Com Movie Night
What’s a slumber party without a movie and some popcorn? Watching a classic rom-com is the perfect girls’ night sleepover activity to do with a group of friends. Have everyone suggest their favorite movie and make a decision by polling the group or drawing out of a hat. Plus, no one said that you can’t watch two movies (or more) in a row.
- Food: Have popcorn ready, an arrangement of movie theater snacks, BYOB, or your favorite beverage of choice. Or get creative and serve the very same dishes as seen in the movie.
- Hosting Ideas: Take it outdoors and project the movie under the stars. Set up a pallet of blankets and pillows as you all lounge in your comfiest pajamas.
- Activities: Add some fun and have a trivia session on the movie you’re watching.
Reading Retreat
If you’re like me, getting interrupted while reading in the middle of a plot twist with “Mommy, get me a snack,” may be a common occurrence. Plan a reading retreat where you and your friends sit around and read all day—uninterrupted—with some peace and quiet.
- Food: Stock up on snacks and finger foods to munch on while you read.
- Activities: Read your own book of choice or read a book together in silence or out loud. If you’re reading the newest book you’ve all been dying to check off your TBR list, have book club questions ready so you can collectively discuss the book as a group.
Spa Slumber Party
It’s time to pamper yourselves with a spa slumber party. Set up a relaxing ambiance with candles and calming music, and encourage everyone to come in their comfiest robe. Come for some social time and leave rejuvenated.
- Hosting ideas: If you want to commemorate the time you all relaxed together, gift matching robes.
- Food: Serve easy finger foods for guests to snack on as you partake in spa activities. Finger sandwiches, pretzels, fruit, sparkling water, and cold beverages are easy to set out around the room.
- Activities: Do each other’s nails, give each other facials, or hire a masseuse to come out for everyone to receive a massage.
Craft Night
For the craftiest of groups, gather and craft your heart out. With analog hobbies on the rise, taking up crocheting, sewing, and needlepointing is completely trendy. And getting crafty can be so much fun when you’re doing it with other people.
- Hosting Ideas: Provide craft supplies or encourage guests to bring their own craft.
- Activities: If you want to learn how to do a new craft together, hire an instructor to teach you how to play mahjong, crochet, needlepoint, or any other grandma hobby you’ve all been wanting to learn.
PowerPoint Party
Take it back to the ‘90s and the early 2000s when Microsoft PowerPoint was the ultimate presentation software. Nowadays, people are hosting PowerPoint night parties to present on anything and everything. From presenting what you do as a job to analyzing your past exes, a PowerPoint night is a creative adult sleepover activity that can make getting in front of an audience fun.
- Hosting Ideas: Pick a main theme for what people should present on, or make it a free-for-all.
- Activities: At the end of the night, have everyone vote on the most creative, funny, and informative presentation.
Vision Board Party
If you’re all about manifesting, then a vision board party might just be the perfect theme for an adult slumber party. Set out a table of poster boards and magazines, and have fun making a collage of all your goals for the year.
- Hosting Ideas: Make sure you have enough scissors, glue, and magazines to go around. Reach out to your friends to bring their own supplies if needed.
- Activities: Display everyone’s vision board at the end of the night or have each person share their biggest goal for the year.
Karaoke Night
Belt out your go-to karaoke songs with all of your friends from the comfort of your own living room. From singing Celine Dion’s iconic It’s All Coming Back to Me Now to the hit songs of today, a karaoke night can be enjoyable for everyone.
- Hosting Ideas: A karaoke machine isn’t absolutely necessary. Purchase a set or two of microphones and easily search song lyrics with backing tracks on YouTube.
- Activities: Make song requests for each other.
’90s/Y2K Nostalgic Slumber Party
Take it literally back to your tween/teen years. Whether you grew up in the ’80s, ’90s, or early 2000s, a throwback slumber party will maximize the girlhood vibes. Make a throwback playlist for the night, grab a point-and-shoot camera to capture pics, and camp out in the living room or basement in front of the TV (although, make sure everyone has a supportive sleeping surface—no one wants to wake up with back pain). Maybe even encourage everyone to dress as their younger selves.
- Food: Serve a smorgasbord of your favorite after-school snacks from back in the day (Pizza Rolls, anyone?) But consider mixing in some healthy bites, as well.
- Activities: Play MASH or Never Have I Ever. Make a prank call, practice a dance routine, flip through magazines, or watch a favorite throwback movie like Dirty Dancing or 30 Going on 30. If your friend group had more witchy vibes, break out the Ouiji board, play Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board (carefully), dabble in Tarot Card reading, and watch Practical Magic or a spooky horror film.
Camp Out Sleepover Party
For anyone who grew up watching Disney’s The Parent Trap (1998), camping (or glamping) as an adult may sound appealing. Camp out in the backyard under the stars or opt to sleep indoors but partake in traditional camping activities like taking a daytime hike, roasting s’mores, and sitting by a campfire.
- Hosting Ideas: Depending on where you live (and if sleeping in a sleeping bag isn’t favorable), rent out a local cabin on the lake to get all the camping vibes. For backyard camping, set the mood with twinkle lights and an outdoor fire pit, and have plenty of blankets and camping chairs available.
- Food: Roast s’mores, grill burgers and hot dogs, and have snack foods available like homemade trail mix.
- Activities: Play yard games, take a dip in a pool or lake, tell ghost stories around the campfire, and stargaze.
Hotel Slumber Party
In the ‘90s and 2000s, having an overnight birthday party at a hotel was all the rage. If it’s been years since you had one or you never got the experience as a kid, now is your time. Whether you’re celebrating a birthday as an adult, need some R&R with your friends, or need a vacant room sans kids, have an adult slumber party at a local hotel.
- Activities: Stay on-site for dinner or venture out to a local spot for drinks and dinner. Spend time by the pool and finish out the night with a movie in bed.
Unclaimed Packages Party
Apparently, unopened packages that never get mailed out don’t dissipate into the abyss if they’re unclaimed. And people have taken note, like Instagram user @chelsea_explains. She ordered an entire box of undelivered packages from a company called Fun Delivered and revealed what was inside. Some items included makeup, a fanny pack from Alo, security cameras, and more. So, for your next slumber party, order a box of unclaimed packages and open them up as a group. This slumber party idea may land you your next favorite thing you didn’t even know you needed, or end in a hilariously good laugh from you and your friends.
- Food: Go with the theme of a surprise factor. Call your favorite restaurant and provide them with the number of people you’ll be hosting. Give them your price limit and have the restaurant surprise you with an array of their top appetizers and dishes.
- Activities: Have fun and turn the unclaimed packages into a version of White Elephant, a popular holiday game. Number off each guest and place all the packages in the middle of the circle. Going in numerical order, each person will pick an unopened package and reveal what’s inside. As a group, decide how many “steals” each item gets before it’s officially claimed.
Adult slumber party hosting tips
Make it fun
When my boys have birthday parties, we choose a theme, complete with themed plates and napkins, snacks, and even sometimes on-theme outfits. Why should it be any different when I have a party for myself and my friends?
Enter the matching PJs, eye masks, and fun disco ball decor. Necessary? Not really. But it was so much fun to have the attention on us moms, if only for the night. Other options include a book–themed sleepover, where everyone brings their favorite book or current read and tucks in for the night. A spa theme, complete with eye masks, face masks, and the like. Or a favorite things party for a cute, budget-friendly gift exchange.
Plan activities—but not too many
One of my friends brought a few games to get the conversation going, which was a fun change of pace. Seriously, when is the last time you played a game with someone other than your (cheating) kids?
Once the night got going (and a few of us had a few glasses of wine), we started on the craft. One of my friends is an artist, so she brought resin, dried flowers, and some other accouterments to make our own soap dishes, bowls, and bookmarks. Full disclosure: they didn’t quite turn out, but the beauty is in the process, right?
While we had a few planned ideas for our girls’ night sleepover, one of the highlights of the night was when we all piled onto the couch and turned on Mean Girls. It was a cult classic movie when we were in high school—not to mention the fact that more than one of us could recite the dialogue word-for-word. It was a peak girlhood moment at our moms’ slumber party.
Prep food ahead of time
I’m 40, and so are most of my friends. And we all have varied food and beverage needs. Someone is a vegetarian. Someone else doesn’t drink. Another can’t do cheese.
That’s why I made sure to order a vegetarian-friendly charcuterie board, plus both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for our adult slumber party. We also ordered pizza and had a few pastries to share. It was the perfect mix of low-energy and girl dinner.
Have separate sleeping spaces
While I loved having my friends over for an adult slumber party, I certainly wasn’t willing to share my bed or sleep on the floor. That era of girlhood is over for me.
So I made sure everyone had their own private sleeping space. I set up one friend in the guest room, and the other two in my son’s rooms. Another friend lives two doors down, so she decided to head home when it was time for bed.
Before everyone came over, I made sure all the sheets were clean, turned down the beds, and had cozy lighting in each room. Having our own sleeping spaces ensured that we all got a full night’s rest.
Have a breakfast plan
You may feel done with hosting in the morning. So prep the night before with pastries or other easy breakfast nibbles, make coffee (or have someone do a pajama-clad coffee run), and chat before everyone has to get back to whatever kid activities await for the day.
I had so much fun at our moms’ night sleepover party, I sent my friends off with a full cup. And we’re already planning our next one.
Rachel Morgan Cautero, Contributing Writer
Rachel is a full-time freelance writer based in Ponte Vedra, Florida. When she’s not busy wrangling a toddler, preschooler, and one very stubborn French bulldog, she’s writing on all things personal finance and parenting. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Forbes, Parents, The Balance, Yahoo Finance, Truly Mama, SmartAsset, HerMoney, and DailyWorth.
Patty Schepel, Editorial Assistant
As the editorial assistant, Patty works with The Everymom’s team on pitches, creating original articles, updating existing content, photo sourcing, writing shopping product descriptions, inputting freelance articles, and more. With Patty’s passion for writing, experience as a mother of two, and expertise as a pediatric nurse, she brings a thoughtful and informative perspective to The Everymom.