Birthday sleepover

Louka has wanted a sleepover for a long time, but she still sleeps in our bedroom and we were concerned that she wouldn't be able to sleep without us. Still, she's been sleeping pretty well and has decided that when she turns ten she will sleep in her own room, so we let her have her sleepover.

She wanted to invite four friends, which was one more than I thought could fit in her room, but again we let her have her way, and the four friends were all able to come. I spread out a single bed mattress, a queen bed mattress and a pile of yoga mats on the floor. It was nearly covered.

We found instructions on how to make cupcakes with wolf claw scratches on them, so I made some cupcakes from a Woolworths magazine and iced them with fondant icing and red-dyed glucose syrup. They looked pretty cool, but they were a bit dry and not very tasty.

I also made a mountain birthday cake using a dolly varden cake tin, my regular chocolate cake recipe, whipped cream and cream cheese icing, sparkly blue sprinkles and tiny pine trees. It looked cool and also tasted good.

Louka remembered the paddling pool and water slide from her sixth birthday party and requested to have them again. That turned out to be the best idea of all, as they kept the girls entertained for a long time.

I dragged them away from water play for a treasure hunt and a pinata (a moon one I'd made myself, like last year's), then Graham got back from the fish-and-chip shop with dinner. They dug in, then announced themselves full, so we had pass the parcel before dessert.

The cakes got oohs and aahs, we sang Happy Birthday, Louka blew out the candles and cut the cake and we all had a slice. Then it was time for a movie – of course about a wolf – Balto: Wolf Quest. By the time the movie ended it was quite dark and Louka made everyone run through the trees to the brick retaining wall in the park. One girl was quite reluctant to go out in the dark, but when the others set off she didn't want to stay behind, so they all went together. 

I hoped they would be ready for bed then (though I didn't expect it) but they weren't, so they played with the Littlest Pet Shop aeroplane that was one of Louka's presents. At 10 o'clock I told them it was time to brush their teeth, after which they retired to the bedroom. Not that this meant they were going to sleep, and they shouted about polka-dot hamburgers for quite a while. I think they finally got to sleep a bit after midnight. 

At 7 o'clock in the morning they were all awake again. I made them search for the pancakes and maple syrup I'd hidden in the living room, then they returned to the water slide and paddling pool, which kept them busy till their mums arrived to take them home at 9 o'clock.