“What Time Is It Now?” Twelve Memories Of A Childhood Sleepover

Ghost stories, stuffing your face with rubbish for the night and, short of putting cocktail sticks in place, forcing your eyelids to stay open. Ahh yes, sleepovers were a part of every childhood.

Hands up if you were the kid who couldn't make it past eleven o'clock...

Here are the twelve memories we have of sleepovers:

1. No Rules

You were in a friend's house. How was your own mother to find out you spent the night watching angst-filled teenage flicks like Now And Then (where they had boys, NAKED) and wet-your-pants, scary films like Quarantine and The Exorcist? Only your mother would notice your recurring nightmares for the next fortnight.

2. New Pyjamas

Of course you got new pyjamas for the sleepover... or you at least spent hours choosing which pyjamas to wear.

3. Stuffing Your Face

Jellies? Yes. Chocolate? More please... Crisps? YUM. And then you'd forget to brush your teeth, because nobody does that at sleepovers anyway.

4. Supernatural Games

There was always one who'd suggest the Ouija Board. Everybody would agree and act excited even though they'd secretly be terrified.

5. Truth/Dare

It might have been a same sex sleepover, drastically cutting any potential dares, but that didn't matter either. The truths got dangerous and you had to be careful of who was listening, it could come back to haunt you in weeks to come... (a lifetime in primary school).

6. Staying Up

The unspoken challenge was who could stay awake the longest. And when you were asked your own normal bedtime you nonchantly added on three hours to your regular time, hoping your best friend wouldn't expose your white lie.

Let's stay up really late and scare ourselves senseless... 

7. Ghost Stories

We don't know what it is with the supernatural and sleepovers but ghost stories was activity number one. Ready to let your imagination go wild...? The shadows and folds of the curtains would forever haunt you... 

8. Popcorn

Popcorn was a must-have. With plenty of butter. Or salt. Mouth-watering. Mmmm.

9. Being "Shattered"

Wrecked, knackered, shattered... whatever your own mother called it, she was never too impressed. Trying to survive off three hours sleep the next day is impossible.

10. Fake Wine

We think it must have been Schloer? But it was "fake wine" and we felt really grown-up drinking it.

11. The One Who Couldn't Make It

There was always the one kid who didn't make it past eleven o'clock without missing their mammy. You had to be a tough cookie for a sleepover.

12. Breakfast

You just finished off the sweets from the night before. Simples. (But now your teeth really felt disgusting).