As your little girl grows up, you might want to throw a slumber party for her upcoming celebration. A sleepover will allow your daughter and her friends to cross over into "grown up" territory by staying up past their regular bedtimes to eat cake, watch movies and trade stories well into the night. If this is your first time planning such an event, the right birthday gifts for kids and personalized gifts for girls will help the party go off without a hitch.

Invitations
As with all kids birthday parties, fun and festive invitations are a great way to get your daughter's friends excited for the big day. However, a first slumber party requires some special considerations. To start, a sleepover will be far more manageable if you keep the number of guests on the smaller side - around five or six of your daughter's closest friends. This will keep the festivities from getting too out of hand so the girls can actually get some sleep before the night ends.

You should also check with the invitees' parents to make sure they're on board with a sleepover party. In the invitations, let them know that you will be supervising the event throughout the night and will gladly discuss any concerns they may have. Finally, include a list of items the girls should bring to your home - sleeping bag, pillows, pajamas and toiletries.

Party Activities
While the main feature of your daughter's sleepover birthday will be the girls getting into their PJs and staying up late, you'll want to plan some activities earlier in the evening to keep the party lively. Along with kids' birthday staples like pizza, ice cream and cake, consider arranging a scavenger hunt, arts and crafts or makeovers for the girls. You may also want to arrange a couple of films for the girls to have a movie marathon - just make sure you check with other parents first if a movie is rated PG-13 or R.

Winding Down
You should allow your daughter and her friends to stay up relatively late for the slumber party, but make sure some sleeping actually gets done. As the night winds down, encourage more mellow activities and provide any toiletries that some of the guests may have forgotten at home. Set a bedtime for the girls and make sure lights are out on schedule - you don't want to return a group of exhausted girls to their parents the next morning.