Girls' sleepover activities

I have lots of ideas but I don't know how appropriate they would be...

Mark Moore said:

One of my current WIPs deals with two American college-aged girls having a sleepover at the house of one of them. Parents are away. The girls actually get a head start on it (late morning) due to it being a dreary day, and they're bored being alone.

Right now, I'm having them watching movies, playing video games, eating pizza for lunch, snacking, and eating dinner.

What other activities can I have them do? They're kind of tomboyish (they don't wear make-up or dresses/skirts), but the host is a bit more fashion-oriented than her guest (her mom is a designer). Any ideas?

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Seriously? They're in college? Having a sleepover? Sleepover activities? Bored being alone? Why don't they... go out? Go to a club, a bar, the movies, shopping, a play, to someone's house, to school? Do something? Call someone else and go there or invite other people over? Get wasted?

cornflake said:

Seriously? They're in college? Having a sleepover? Sleepover activities? Bored being alone? Why don't they... go out? Go to a club, a bar, the movies, shopping, a play, to someone's house, to school? Do something? Call someone else and go there or invite other people over? Get wasted?

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I really missed sleepovers in college.

Now I'm in grad school and suddenly I found myself having sleepovers again.

Drinking, Facebook-stalking, declare mutual affections, bake cookies, drinking. Your characters sound really bored. Maybe The Cat In The Hat could come over.

The sun did not shine
it was too wet to play
so we sat in the house
all that cold, cold wet day.

Do you mean college high school or college university? Because the drinking/clubs would depend on personality if it's high school.... some would do it, some wouldn't.
Really though, it all depends on who they are and what they like to do. If I was having friends over for an all day kind of thing (in high school... as a university student we didn't really do sleepovers of this sort), it was usually because we were going to a concert, or working on a project or having a movie marathon or something specific.

The sleepovers I went to late in high school/early in university (haven't been to anything I'd call a "sleepover" since then) frequently involved a trip to Ikea, for whatever reason. This was very popular with my friends. Also, drinking. In which I did not always partake. Movie marathons were popular with some, but not in my group of friends.

Depends on what they like to do. College age for me was like, "Hey, you're too drunk to drive, you need to sleepover." Or, we go camping and we sleep in the same tent. Sometimes, I'd go to a friend's house after work (we both worked at the same restaurant) and we'd rent movies and eat junk food.

I was probably more "wild" in high school, sneaking out to drink, smoking pot in the backyard. Depending on the friend, we'd break out the Ouija board, try to whip up a seance. Sometimes, we'd call guys we liked and talk to them (but wouldn't tell them our names). Sometimes, we'd call random people in the phone book.

We'd sneak off to the graveyard and climb on this huge tomb type thing and drink, or just hang out and talk.

If it's a bunch of college girls having a "sleepover," it would probably last an hour before someone called the boys over, played strip poker, or beer pong. Then folks would break off into pairs and have sex, or not, or kind of walk the neighborhood.

I'm struggling with college-aged sleepovers, though. That's kind of hanging me up. You have 2-3 friends over at that age and it's a party.

I went to a lot of strip clubs when I was in college (female strippers or gay male strippers because the straight male clubs were embarrassing). We'd do clubs. If we had a sober person, we sometimes went to this really old graveyard that freaked us the EFF out.

If these are college-aged folks who aren't into sex, drinking, or pot, then, uh.... they'd probably watch movies, get pizza, etc. Maybe a television binge-a-thon? I honestly don't know who these girls are. I've never met them.

I think your thread title and the term "sleepover" is misleading. I'm thinking slumber party and we're really talking about women here, not 9 year olds at a birthday party. How old are these women? If they are freshmen, they'd still be 18 or 19. If they're juniors or higher, they are drinking age. Either way, they aren't going to be interested in sleepover activities. What could they do? Anything. Why are they at one students parents' house, and why don't they leave the house and do something? Maybe if you could be more specific, we could give you better ideas. I see them leaving the house to go to a coffee shop, maybe decide to do sushi, go to a bookstore or out to a movie, then hit a club. If they are home bound for some reason, they are most likely going to be bored. College students are used to juggling classes, job, and friends. For a quiet day at the parent's house, I guess movies, online catching up with friends, going outside to get some sun. No real activities, just hanging out.

I agree with the others -- it would strike me as odd for college girls/women to refer to staying at each others' houses as a sleepover. Even if they're at home with their parents, I think they'd be more likely to think of it as a visit / hanging out and they just happened to plan for one of the friends to stay over. I mean, think how adults do it: "Hey, we could go see the movie and then you can crash at my place after."

What they do together depends on their interests. Movies, video games, ordering food -- all believable. Codes to me that they're introverts, just so you know. The other posters' suggestions are also great, and strike me as a little more likely, unless your young women are supposed to be off the center of the bell curve. Other things college-aged friends might do together: go out and do any of the following activities, depending on their interests -- dancing, clubbing, ice skating, relaxing on the beach, bowling, hiking, yoga, sushi, other eating out, going to the movies, setting off model rockets, shopping, seeing roller derby, seeing a sports game, seeing a play, playing paintball, driving to see Christmas lights (if it's that time of year), going to see local tourist attractions, going to an amusement park, going to a bar, going to a concert or comedy show or poetry slam, going to a parade or other live event, rock climbing, walking around a touristy type of place (like a boardwalk or a particularly beautiful area of town), swimming/boating/fishing in a lake if you're in a rural setting, going to a bookstore if they're readers, going to the spa or to get manicures/pedicures . . . or staying in and do any of the following activities, depending on their interests and how mainstream they are -- movies, TV shows, video games, cooking/baking as a social activity, board games, roleplaying games, working out together, stretching/yoga, doing online quizzes, getting drunk together, deep conversation, building something together (a computer? a robot?), s'mores, lighting things on fire (depending on what kind of girls they are . . .), talking about the boys or girls they like, talking about classes, working on homework together (depending on what kind of girls they are . . .), going for a walk together, stargazing, playing cards, making out if they're queer or curious and are attracted to each other . . . honestly, the possibilities are endless, it really depends on who your young women are and what they *like* to do. I mean, what Pair of Women A do together when hanging out will be vastly different from what Pair of Women B do when hanging out, so I think you need to ask your characters what they like.

College-aged women are basically adults, so just think what people like to do together and you've got all the possibilities.

Mark Moore said:

*MC #1 and MC #2 are romantically involved, but they only recently got together.

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Why didn't you say so sooner?

In that case...

kuwisdelu said:

I have lots of ideas but I don't know how appropriate they would be...

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...all of my ideas are completely appropriate!

They'd spend the whole time not being able to keep their hands off each other, sometimes trying, consistently failing, and they probably wouldn't be able to walk in the morning.

If they're romantically involved, they're teens, and they're alone, the consequences of boredom are inevitable.

I'm sorry, but...what?

They're 18-year-old lesbian vampire killers. Who are having an, ahem, "sleepover." Is this some kind of creepy male fantasy? Or disturbing erotica?

Also, from your signature, it's a 7,000 word short story. While I agree with the suggestions that have been prompted above (Facebook stalking, watching movies, even pillow fights), you seem particularly into their tiny quirks, so it doesn't even seem to me like you need help with this. Besides, if you only have 7,000 words to play around with, what are you doing having them do presumably not plot-related things like making pizza?

I also don't understand your question. They're romantically involved. What do they plan on doing at this ~sleepover? Why is this a question?

despite being a married 30 year old mother, my best friends and I still have sleepovers. We all live in different corners of the country and so we don't get to see each other a whole lot.

Generally we'll go out, but not always. Sometimes we'll just cook up a huge amount of dinner (or we'll get a supermacs) and all tuck in together under a duvet, drink vast amounts of vodka while watching our favourite guilty pleasure movies and having deep philisophical conversations like 'how come in Grease 2 Stephanie is in Biker Heaven when she isn't dead?' and 'Since the audience can't hear Michael singing in her head - does she win the talent show because silence is better than her act?'

If they weren't involved with each other, then I would have suggest that you you insert me into the story.

... wow. College-age girls have sleepovers?
Thought that was something tweens did.
But if it's so, I think that's cool and a fun thing to do.
Maybe have them try on different outfits for the sake of being silly.
And maybe doing something crazed with their makeup.
G'luck.

Ken said:

... wow. College-age girls have sleepovers?
Thought that was something tweens did.
But if it's so, I think that's cool and a fun thing to do.
Maybe have them try on different outfits for the sake of being silly.
And maybe doing something crazed with their makeup.
G'luck.

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I never did this even when I was a teen. I don't thin I know any girls who did. Mostly it's movies and food and gossip. Certainly it was never the makeover pillow fighting in your pants kind of thing that we see so often on TV.

I doubt you'll be able to use this since your follow-up post makes it clear that these women are basically just going to have sex all night (I mean, really, let's be honest), but here it is just in case you really do need the information.

I went to one sleepover during college, in my junior year. A friend was housesitting for a professor and that weekend she invited me and two other girls over. It was a quiet, rainy weekend and while I can't remember what time of year it was, it may have been right after midterms--I remember being worn out and really appreciating a quiet weekend with friends. We must have all felt that way because we didn't do much. One of the girls made biscuits and I think we watched movies. At one point during the night someone was convinced she heard someone trying to break in, so we got flashlights and crashed around outside in the drizzle looking for burglars, but that was the most exciting thing that happened.

I had sleepovers while I was a teen, but by the time I got to be around 18, the appeal had faded and it was no longer considered "cool" to spend the night at someone's house. That was something kids did, not "adults," which we considered ourselves. We'd be more likely to hang out at the mall, or watch movies with popcorn/pizza, then go home for the night.

Of course, with them being romantically involved, that's a bit different. If one stays over at the other's house so they can have sex, I wouldn't classify that as a sleepover.

As for what they would do all day, that would vary drastically depending on their personalities and hobbies. This is something you'll have to figure out for yourself. Are they introverts or extroverts? Would they rather hang out at the mall or at the Barnes and Noble? Would they rather see the new Die Hard film, or The Hobbit? Would they sew their own clothes or go shopping? The choices are yours. Myself, I would be perfectly happy sitting down with a book for the whole afternoon, or to spend the time sewing or embroidering, but certain friends of mine would die of boredom. They would rather update their Facebook status, or catch up on their email, or go hang out at the mall, or whatever. So it really does depend on what kind of personalities you've given these characters.

Whatever you do, make sure it has some relation to the plot. You never want characters to do random things that have no bearing on anything. Use the scene to advance the plot and/or demonstrate characterization--preferably both. Make it vital. It needs to have a purpose. Many times, during revisions, I've deleted entire scenes that I liked, simply because I realized they had no purpose, they didn't advance the plot and they didn't show characterization, so they had to go. If your scene doesn't have a major purpose, try and work something important into the scene, so it can carry its own weight.

shaldna said:

I never did this even when I was a teen. I don't thin I know any girls who did. Mostly it's movies and food and gossip. Certainly it was never the makeover pillow fighting in your pants kind of thing that we see so often on TV.

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... direct experience is always a plus.
Am sure the OP appreciates your account.
Found it insightful myself.

As they're college age, not tweens, and romantically involved, this is a "date" not a "sleepover."

Also, with only two people, it doesn't really constitute as a sleepover either. A "sleepover" really indicates a party, generally a pre-organized one. Even as a kid, just one friend staying at another's place would have been more, "can I stay over Cyndi's tonight?" A sleepover constitutes at least 3 and probably more kids.

As adults, this qualifies as "hanging out" or "housesitting."

As for younger girls, our common sleepover activities included, seances, telling ghost stories, spin the bottle (with only 2 people that's just a makeout session since there's no randomness on who you kiss), yes makeup/hair sessions, making random crank calls, gossip, music & dancing, tv, raiding the parents' liquor cabinets, getting high. Since there weren't any personal computers when we were kids, any activities including those would have been out back then. Instead we made up elaborate plots for wacky homemade videos or cassette recording skits. And yes we DID have pillow fights. On occasion. Usually a couple hours before dawn we'd walk (several miles in most occasions) to McDonalds for breakfast, or across the bridge/down to the waterfront to watch the sunrise, or to a store that would be open early so we could get more cigarettes.

But most of those activities don't sound appropriate for your characters.

shaldna said:

I never did this even when I was a teen. I don't thin I know any girls who did. Mostly it's movies and food and gossip. Certainly it was never the makeover pillow fighting in your pants kind of thing that we see so often on TV.

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In my experience the makeup thing is generally limited to coed sleepovers in which the girls tie down the guys and put makeup on them and dye their hair.

...that happens to other people too, right?

shaldna said:

I never did this even when I was a teen. I don't thin I know any girls who did. Mostly it's movies and food and gossip. Certainly it was never the makeover pillow fighting in your pants kind of thing that we see so often on TV.

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Yup. The last sleepover I had was over winter break of my freshmen year of college with my two best friends. We went to separate colleges--I was out of state--so we didn't get to see each other over the semester. We ate a lot. We watched an entire season of Lost. We had sleepovers as younger teenagers that involved marathon games of Monopoly, a Ouija board, breaking into our parents' liquor stashes, walking up and down the block at dawn one morning, learning the words to the new Backstreet Boys song. Really riveting stuff.

Erm, college girl here. When I have 'down time' with my friends (I mean my platonic ones lol) we go through Youtube, 9gag, FB stalk everyone and their mother, eat enormous amounts of terrible food, watch a movie....And this is what most other college girls I know do.


Either that, or I'm shockingly dull and everyone is humoring me.