The Ghosts of Sleepovers Past

Since today is my 38th birthday I thought it would be fitting to post some pictures of sleepovers through the years. Starting when I turned 11 I had one every year, although I may not have had one my Senior year, considering I found no photographic evidence of one. Regardless, here are a few year's worth of birthday slumber party goodness.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

This was my 11th birthday. In case you hadn't figured it out, I was wearing a flannel nightgown.


A. Flannel. Night. Gown. That was buttoned all the way up to my chin. And I had a mullet.

Good grief.

Also note the taper candle shoved into my cake. This totally looks like something I would do now that I am a mom. I guarantee you Mom had spent so much time cleaning house and running the PTO and being a Girl Scout leader she totally forgot to buy birthday candles. We also ate off Smurf plates left over from my sister's party the previous summer.

My mom was and still is the coolest.

This is DeLisa. She was 10 1/2. Yes, she is wearing a baby bonnet and has a bottle in her mouth. Apparently, we all were given the "special" birthday cake and got some wacky idea to drink soda pop "suicides" out of baby bottles, wear bonnets and carry around blankets and dolls. To this day I have no idea what prompted it, but it became a hard and fast tradition until we were probably Sophomores. I guess we abandoned it when we had all finally been kissed by boys. Thank God.

---

This is Stacie and Necia at my 12th birthday party in 1985. Drinking out of baby bottles again. I'm also pretty sure that's the year we decided we needed more bottles and begged my Mom to take us to Walmart so we could buy more. This was also the fated trip that is still brought up by my mother when she decides to lay on the maternal guilt -- I asked her to sit in the car while we went in. I have tried to explain to her that it wasn't an embarrassment issue, it was simply that we were twelve years old and apparently thought going into Walmart alone was some huge rite of passage.

(Hey Mom. I'm still sorry.)

---



Ahh...1986. As you can see 1986 was obviously The Year of the Mullet, seeing as how three out of four of us in this picture had them. Chloe's (the blonde closest to the camera) was by far the most rockin' of all. However, I had some amazing "feathers" in mine. Perfect, feathery layers. Feathers that went down nearly to my chin on the sides. And when the wind blew they would blow up in layers that stood straight up. It was kickin'.

 (l to r: me, Stace, DeLisa, Chloe)

There's nothing like sitting around the kitchen bar doing bottle shots with your homies.

And note the 10lb bag of sugar in the middle of the bar. Apparently we were going to snort some later.

 

 This was 1986, but this was not my birthday sleepover. Since we were 8th graders we handed out programs and were errand monkeys for the 9th grade graduation. Afterward everyone came back to the house to .... drink out of baby bottles yet again.

I am wearing a negligee.

Good grief.

---

This is DeLisa and me at a sleepover at Stace's. This was an epic sleepover because her parents had a travel trailer that we hung out in until the lack of air conditioning ran us to the house. Then, because Stace's mom is a hair stylist, she had wigs and all sorts of fabulous makeup. And mega cool hats and furs. Soooo....De and I dressed up as hookers.

Classic.

---

 Who knows why we posed for this picture my keyboard? Who really knows. DeLisa's angsty rocker look and clenched fist, though, is utterly priceless. This wasn't my birthday, but apparently a spontaneous rock band practice. Or something.

This wasn't my birthday party in 1989, but one for the foreign exchange student (far left) we were hosting that year. Notice the lack of baby bottles. Duh. There were upper classmen there. Gah.

---

This is 1990, my 17th birthday. My mom entered a contest in order to win a "Maalox Moment" t-shirt for me. I used to say "I'm having a Maalox moment!" all the time, so again, coolness points for my mom.

 We just happened to be in the cake decorating chapter in Home Ec, so that year I made my own birthday cake. Note the wideness of my hair: it is almost as wide as my shoulders. Thank Heaven for Aqua Net.

This is the party we broke out the video camera and did an episode of "Wilma's World", our version of Wayne's World. Stace (far left) was a "slutty cheerleader" and her answers to Wilma's questions were HILARIOUS. I was sitting next to her with the hat on my head. I was Mrs. Tukwilla, a hairpiece sculptor. My character was taken off of SNL and a skit where John Malkovich was on a talk show as Len Tukwilla, driftwood sculptor. Sitting next to me was our foreign exchange student who was Miss America. She wore a bathrobe and the Belgium and US flag stuck in her headband. On the far right was Cyndi who played Wilma. She strummed the guitar and interviewed us all, randomly shouting "EXTREME CLOSEUP" and other random phrases through the show.

Later that night Stacie taught us a cheerleading routine then we all stuffed blankets and pillows in our shirts and acted out a workout video. She was the peppy instructor cheering us on to victory, but as soon as she turned her back to us fat girls doing the workout, we grabbed cake and chips and stuffed our faces while she danced and sweated.

Best. Sleepover. Ever.

I'm not celebrating this year's birthday with a sleepover, but instead Paul and I are going to see The Green Hornet and hopefully True Grit. Sans kids. Hopefully there will also be a steak dinner involved.

Happy birthday to me. :)