I told you I’d be back with updates on the “my son just turned 13 and wanted 10 of his friends over for a sleepover” party. Because—as I was so gently told—13-year old boys don’t do theme parties anymore. When I asked him, “So what kind of cake do you want—Transformers, Spy Kids?”, I was hit with, “Mom…mooooommmmm. We don’t do themes anymore. That’s for little kids.” I cried a little.
So no theme, but lots of boys. Teenage boys. Here are my recommendations for how to survive a sleepover party with 10 teenagers. Teenage boys—yes, that makes a difference.
1. Take them all to a paintball facility and peel out of the parking lot as soon as you can. Then talk with your daughter about how gross and smelly it was in there while you giggle and shop at the mall.
2. Don’t spend 30 minutes in the car with them after said paintball when it’s 90 degrees outside. Your car will smell like sweat, body odor, and butt.
3. Prepare yourself for piles–piles of boys, piles of smelly shoes, piles of sleeping bags and pillows. (Rule 3.5) Prepare yourself for a lot of things. There will be noises you didn’t know a human could make, and your house will look like a tornado blew through it. At all times.
4. (This one’s important.) Make all of them sleep in a tent. As far away from the house as possible. You’ll pat yourself on the back for that one.
5. Don’t be fooled. Even when they’re tired the next morning, they will still be loud. Convince yourself that a fancy cereal bar is a sufficient breakfast. Buy about 10 boxes of cereal and 2 gallons of milk. Announce “breakfast!” and run as fast as you can away from the table. You will be left with 1/2 box of cereal and no milk.
When it’s all said and done, the messy/smelly details are totally worth it when you know your (again, shirtless) teenager had an awesome birthday!
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LOL! That’s awesome – my son just turned 13 in June, also! No sleepovers for us…but, these are great tips should I eve decide to be crazy enough to have one!
Becky B.
http://www.organizingmadefun.com
Organizing Made Fun
Just reading what my car will smell like made me throw up in my mouth a little. Off to snuggle my NINE and SEVEN year old boys good night and pray that turning 13 will be kind to me. (Even though I know I should start bracing myself now!)
LOVE the tent sleepover – GENIUS!
Such an accurate description of this age! My oldest is about to turn 14 and loud and smelly are perfect adjectives for my house when a bunch of his friends are over! But I secretly love that they hang out here so I’m not complaining!
Looks like your son had a great birthday!
Great post! My son’s bday is in January so I’ve never forced the tent issue — but the older he gets, the more appealing it is!
What an awesome Mom you are! All of those boys will remember that awesome birthday party for years and years.
I just hope you and your daughter have recovered from the trauma… 😉
You are a brave woman (and a great mom)! Were you drunk when you agreed to having ten teens sleep over? 😉 I think the tent is a BRILLIANT idea, and laughed out loud when I saw them trekking to what appeared to be the location farthest away from the house. Looks like they had a blast.
LOL! You seriously crack me up. You are BRAVE (and awesome). I love the Cereal Bar idea, too. Totally doing that someday.
Well from the look of the pictures {especially the last one} it seems as though you made one teenage boy very happy. His party seemed fun and you are a terrific mom whose loves her son enough to have all those smelly boys over at one time, pat yourself on the back. Happy Birthday to your son.
Hahaha! I love this! So it is possible to survive a huge teenage boy get-together? This is kinda one of the big things that terrifies me about having children… Good job with the party!
I have a picture on my blog from last week with my almost 19 yr old son and his friend in their paintball gear. Ouch !!!!!
I love it!!! I have two boys of my own and I can totally see this post coming in handy in a few years!
I love it!! I have a thirteen year old and we are totally doing the tent idea next year! The cereal bar is the best!
So I don’t have boys or teenagers– just little girls at my house. I didn’t intend to read this post but I about peed my pants laughing. Heelarious!
You just confirmed why I am so terrified to have a boy. Thank God I have 2 girls because I seriously don’t know what I would do with boy smells and farts all day long. I have my husband for that goodness–don’t need another to add to the mix!
We just had our first grandchild ,a boy. I’m sending this post on to my daughter to let her know whats in her future,lol
Bwahahahaha! I literally cracked up reading this post! I’m with ya! I’m on my second teenage boy and I so know that “smell.” I know what you mean when you said it smelled like… “butt.” So eloquent my dear! Glad to hear that you survived and the birthday boy is still smiling.
Awesome indeed! I was also this year that “not all birthdays require a theme mom!”. To which I answered, “WHAT?!” My boy is only 9 & he is done. 🙁 Colored iced cupcakes, pizza & an indoor trampoline park.
at first I was like, wow, that is one large, very well developed 13 year old in the blue shirt and very nicely fitting jeans…. and then i realized it was probably your husband. haha. you lucky girl…
I cannot believe you actually said some of the things I was thinking. Some of them really do smell like butt. I also think that some boys smell like butt until they are in their twenties. I think for some it never goes away. I love flushable wipes. I am glad that my house doesn’t smell like butt. Boy, is this a random comment. I will be thinking about stinky butt all day today. Thanks.
I’m cracking up! Thank you for the laugh, Jackie!