After Annie’s birthday party last year, she told me that she wanted her next party theme to be “Harry Potter.” As a huge Potter fan, I was soooo excited and I (unsurprisingly) immediately started mentally planning the party. But in recent months, Annie changed her tune. “I think for my birthday, I’d really like to go to Disneyland with a friend instead of having a party.” On the outside I was like, “Sure! It’s your birthday, if that’s what you want!” But on the inside I was like:

The day after Christmas, she said to me, “Mom, actually I think I want to have a sleepover party for my birthday.” On the outside I was like, “Sure! It’s your birthday, if that’s what you want!” But on the inside I was like:

And then she said, “I want to plan it myself.” And I was like:

My girl has learned a thing or two from me, though, and had a lot of amazing ideas that I helped her realize. The list of things she wanted were:

~Everyone wears pajamas
~Pizza for dinner and lots of candy
~Watch a movie
~Paint nails
~A craft
~Lots of purple and teal
~Ice cream cake
~Sleep masks and flashlights for everyone
~Invite Taylor Swift or Ariana Grande

So um, mostly easy.

Annie really had a hand in just about everything. She went with me to the fabric store and dollar store, and sat next to me while we ordered stuff off of Amazon. She picked out everything for the “Sleepover Survival Kits,” down to the fabric I used to make the sleep masks to the fold over elastic for the hair ties to the graphics on the name tags.

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There were a few things Mike and I surprised her with, though. We rented a big screen and projector for the girls to watch a movie on:

watching Trolls

We also rented a popcorn machine and a cotton candy machine. I swear the cotton candy machine was for the girls, not me.

Annie's Slumber Party
And of course, lots of candy.

Unsurprisingly, the girls had a total blast. They made personalized pillowcases (and they signed them for each other, which I thought was so cute), loaded up on candy, painted each other’s fingernails, told jokes, danced, and got very little sleep.

making pillow cases

Annie's Slumber Party

cake time

After getting about 15 minutes of sleep (or maybe that was just me), the kids were ready for breakfast. Mike set up a customized pancake bar, where each girl could pick out the extra ingredients they wanted. They could choose from things like apple pie filling, chocolate chips, marshmallows, fruit loops, and more. They were a huge hit (apple pie pancakes are LEGIT, FYI).

Annie's Slumber Party

And thanks to the dark, rainy weather, the girls were able to watch another movie while they ate breakfast.

watching moana

Annabel was so sad when everyone left, although I think if the girls had stayed much longer they all would have fallen asleep! Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande might not have been able to attend, but I don’t think the girls could have had any more fun.

(I slept for like 12 straight hours the next night.)