Every year, I host a Holiday Sleepover for my younger cousins. I want to share the most recent party with you. The party began at 6:00 PM on a Friday night. Since the party was so big, we kept the invitations simple by typing up the info on our computer and printing it on Christmas themed paper. As soon as they had all arrived, we began our first craft which was reindeer headbands. While the kids were tracing their hands onto brown paper, I wrapped a long 2 inch wide strip of green paper around their heads and taped it to fit. Then the kids taped 2 hands onto each headband, so it ended up looking like reindeer antlers. Then we played our first game, which was called Snowball the Grinch. I had drawn a picture of the grinch onto green felt prior to the party. I put Velcro onto white ping pong balls, and the kids tried to throw them at the Grinch. Whoever made the most shots won a pick out of the prize box, which was placed in their goody bag to be taken home. The prize box was simply a shoe box filled with holiday themed trinkets from the dollar store. We ordered pizza for dinner. After they ate, we made pillows. I gave each child 2 pieces of holiday themed fleece, and they cut slits around all 4 edges. then they put both pieces together, filled the middle with stuffing, and tied the strips around the edges. these pillows turned out adorable, and it was easy for them to do because no sewing was required. We made ShrinkyDink ornaments next. I had an old ShrinkyDink maker from my childhood, but you can also do this craft in your conventional oven, as long as you have the special paper which is available at most craft shops. The kids colored and cut out holiday designs on the paper. After shrinking, we tied green string onto the designs to make them into ornaments. Next, we made Reindeer Food. We mixed it up in a large bowl, and let each child pour in one of the ingredients, and they all had a turn to stir it. It consisted of dry oats, colored sugar, mini marshmallows, and crushed dog treats. We put some into a baggie for each child, and stuck it in their goody bags to take home. We watched a movie next and hooked the dvd player up to a projector so it could be watched on the wall, like a big screen movie. The next morning we served the kids pancakes, French Toast, and bacon. Then we made Jingle bell necklaces, I got the idea from this site. Simply put red and green beads and jingle bells onto red and green ribbon. its a simple craft but the results are cute. the kids had fun jumping around listening to their necklaces jingle. We next made Gingerbread houses. Since they are young and time was limited, we bought a pre-assembled gingerbread house for each child, and they stuck on the candy with icing. While were still right there in the kitchen we made and decorated sugar cookies. I provided several holiday themed cookie cutters. When the cookies were baked and cooled, we decorated them with red and green sprinkles. I gave each child a sheet of stickers and a plastic container. they decorated their containers with stickers after putting the cookies into it. Then we all got dressed in dressy, holiday clothes. The children had all brought their Webkinz toys, which were also in holiday attire. They took their Webkinz with them to the next activity, which was a North Pole Fashion Show. We had decorated our unfinished basement with glow in the dark stars and multicolored twinkle lights. We used a red table cloth for the runway. We gave prizes for best dressed" "silliest Webkinz" etc. We made sure each child won at least one award. The kids could pick something from the prize box for each fashion show award they got and these prizes were put into their goody bags. Then we took the children to Dollar Tree where everything is a dollar. Each kid got $5 to spend on gifts for their parents and siblings. We then had lunch at a fast food restaraunt and gave them time to play in it's indoor playplace. We then came home and went out to our backyard which has lots of trees. I explained to the children that some ainmals have trouble finding food when there is lots of snow and ice on the grass. So we helped them out a little. The kids strung popcorn and wrapped it around the trunk of the tree. They spread peanut butter on bread and hung it from the branches using fishing line. Finally they sprinkled oats nuts and bird seed on the ground around the tree. We hope we were able to help lots of hungry animals. Then we came back inside and drank hot chocolate while we had our gift exchange. A few weeks prior to the party we had drawn names for the exchange. Since Christmas is such a busy time of year we kept it at a $5 limit. I had a few extra gifts on hand in case anyone forgot to bring theirs but they werent needed. We also took this time to wrap the gifts we had bought at the Dollar Tree. The party was starting to wind down now. We did one final craft which was a foam wreath activity purchased from Oriental Trading. All of the pieces were included the kids just had to glue them together. While they were making their wreaths I added some candy to each of their goody bags and hid them. The kids followed treasure hunt like clues to find the goody bags. The party was over at 3:00PM and everyone had a great time. Cant wait for the next one!"