A TROPICAL SLEEPOVER

 ..because apparently that's a thing! Vivienne asked months ago if she could have a 'Tropical Sleepover' for her 8th birthday party and I was very 'Yeah! Why not?!' Organised parties at other places she would have liked to go now seem to cost a fortune (looking at you Jump 360 and Clip'n'Climb..) and I thought a party at home would be nice and memorable, and easier now we have Sylvie along for the ride too. We didn't realise that the unofficial theme for this party would be 'sleep is for the weak'.

We invited 7 of Vivienne's friends (in hindsight 7 was quite a lot..) and we organised some little games, pizza making, a film and popcorn, and made the living room into one huge sleeping area with daybed mattresses and air beds. A Mum dropped their daughter off and said "you do know you're mad?" and I laughed it off saying "it'll be fun!" and then the next Mum said it, and the next one.. (the word 'brave' was used a few times too) and soon it sunk in that we'd voluntarily agreed to babysit 7 lovely but lively girls overnight instead of watching our usual Monday-night Game of Thrones.

They are a lovely group but I do admit (sorry other Mums..) that it did take a while for them to actually sleep.. we had invisible-to-the-naked-eye scratches to examine, a few girls being scared of ghosts (we live in a new build..) and one of Vivienne's friends who wandered into the kitchen at 11pm - where I was trying to wait them out until they dropped off - and cheerily said "Hi Sally! I think there are a variety of reasons why I can't sleep, firstly.." before I politely cut her off and told her the rest of the world was firmly in bed..  

We all woke up the next day and had chocolate chip pancakes and brioche (laziness more than anything) and one by one the girls got picked up. I do admit I felt pretty tired the next day.. 

Vivienne came up to me after everyone had left and said "thanks Mum for the best birthday ever!" Which made it feel worth it for ten seconds until she then promised that for 'next year's' they would 'know better' and go to sleep sooner.. She moseyed off and I text David "OK, next year we'll just go Bowling.."