The Stereotype of Sleepovers 通宵派对的传统习俗

The sleepover is an American cliché . Usually, the word “sleepover” conjures up images of girls in fuzzy pajamas having pillow fights, doing each other’s make up, and gossiping. I’ll say this now, many sleepovers are like this (I’ve been to plenty that are), but mine usually aren’t. I’ve never been that girly as a child, so I never really found doing makeup and hair to be interesting, but there are some aspects of sleepovers that stay the same. Let’s take a closer look.

Usually, the festivities start in the late afternoon. Girls show up carrying overnight bags, complete with a sleeping bag and a pillow. I always found that tradition to be interesting. Sleeping on a mattress would be much more comfortable, but many girls choose to use a sleeping bag anyway.

After all the guests arrive, it’s usually time to have dinner. Even though it varies, the most common food for sleepovers is pizza. For a large group, pizza is a very convenient meal. Often even the pickiest eater will enjoy pizza. Other times, the group might go out to eat, or order other forms of take-out food. Surprisingly, teenage girls eat a lot more than people think they can. A few months ago, when I had 2 of my friends over, we managed to polish off two large pizzas from Dominoes and an order of cinnamon sticks.

After eating, my friends and I usually go back to my room and we get up to our crazy antics . Sometimes we have a dance party, sometimes we play games on the internet, and other times we play role-playing games, which is one of my favorite things to do as a child. My friends and I are all avid readers and movie enthusiasts, so often times we will pretend to be characters from a favorite book or movie. It’s definitely pretty nerdy , but it was a very fun part of my childhood.

When it gets to around 10 o’clock, things will start to calm down a bit. After getting changed into our pajamas, we might sit down and watch a movie. One of my favorite memories was when I had my friends over and we watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail while flipped on our backs, so we saw the movie upside-down. Other times we will each use the computer to play games or get on Facebook. Most of the time, each of us has our own laptop, so we will do something by ourselves while talking to everyone else.

Another phase is when it gets to be past 1 o’clock in the morning. By this time, most of the girls are sleepy already. However, in most cases, one simply does not sleep at a sleepover. Even though it is called a “sleepover” my friends and I agree that it defeats the purpose to actually sleep. We usually keep doing whatever we are doing. However, after 1 o’clock, we are slightly crazier and we will often say weird things (possibly due to the sleepiness). Most of us end up falling asleep at around 5 or 6 a.m. in the morning. We sleep until noon most of the time.

After waking up, most of us are still feeling half asleep. However, we drag ourselves up to go eat lunch. Often, lunch consists of the leftover pizza from the night before. After lunch, the guests will go pack up their things and then we will lounge around until their parents come to pick them up.

Sleepovers are a great bonding experience for girls. While the activities are different all around, the feelings are still the same. We all experience joy, happiness, and excitement. Sleepovers are fun because we get to be with our friends, which are the most important thing.