Slumber Party Coming Up! HELP!!!

A number of times during the last ten years I have worked with young people at a children's home in Bali, I had the teen girls over to my house for an over-nighter. My daughter, who is now seven years old, has by default been a part of these. 

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Last week, Rachel asked me when we could have a slumber party for the younger girls...the girl her age. There really isn't any good reason that we COULDN'T do one. As it turns out, there is a school holiday this coming Thursday, so we are planning to have a slumber party for the younger girls from the children's home on Wednesday night.

Now, the million dollar question...What do I do with about 8-10 little girls between the ages of 5-9 years old? I have a few ideas after surfing the internet a bit. I wonder if any of my readers might have some ideas of their own.


You see, I am somewhat "slumber party challenged" as I can't recall ever attending one when I was a kid. (Either I had a deprived childhood or my memory is failing me.) In any case, I would really be interested in suggestions from moms (or dads) who have some recent experience with this, or who remember something fun from their own childhood.

Here are a few things that I know so far:

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• Most likely the littlest girls won't stay the whole night. There are three who will likely get picked up about bedtime.
• I expect that they will arrive about 4:30 in the afternoon and go home mid-morning. As all but one girl will come from the children's home, they will all arrive at once, so I don't need to worry about having something to keep the ones who arrive early occupied while we wait for the others. They can jump right i  to a full activity.
• We will do a variation of "Pin the Tail in the Donkey". We'll call it, "Pin the Tail on the Gecko". Very relevant for this country..
• Of course, there are any number of relay games, but what ones work best with this age group and which of them tend to flop. I'm really not sure.

 Do you have any suggestions? I'd love to hear them.

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Suggestions for:

• Activities - remember...8-10 girls, aged 5-9
• Movie - I'd need a movie that has been around for 10 years or so. My video collection is fairly out-dated, and I don't have easy access to new ones...at least not before Wednesday. It also needs to be funny enough that the girls can enjoy it even if they don't understand most of the language. (example: Home Alone movies have enough physical humor to carry the story) Cartoons usually don't work well with these kids. In the absence of a better suggestion, we will probably use "It Takes Two" starring Mary Kate and Ashley Olson when they were about nine years old. Like I said, my collection is quite dated.
• General suggestions to help the event go smoothly and with as little headache as possible.

If you have an idea that you have seen work well , why not share it in a comment below? I know I'd really appreciate it ... and maybe other moms out there will find your idea to be just what they need when their own home is invaded by a gaggle of giggling girls.