Create the perfect birthday with this DIY Tent Sleepover Girls Party idea. This tutorial shares how we created the best sleepover party for our daughter’s birthday.
My daughter wanted to have a girl sleepover for her upcoming birthday. She does have a twin brother and usually, their birthday is spent shared in some capacity. We’ve usually done family experiences with cousins. We have done home parties in the past with friends, but these were also shared. You can check those out here.
This party was to be her own and she was so excited to help with all the details.
Creating a DIY Tent Sleepover
Of course, we went to Pinterest looking for ideas and color schemes. I think this is also the first time she discovered Pinterest, and as a crafty mom, I gotta say this was a fun moment in itself. I may or may not have had a small thought thinking, oh no, what have I done.
I reached out to a friend who had recently done a tent sleepover party for her daughter and asked her specifically about the wooden tent frames. She advised that she used the great rental company to create the space and makeover her living room. So, doing my research and due diligence, I looked into renting the frames and mattresses, just the basics because I knew I could do the rest.
The prices for renting the tents were extremely high! I couldn’t believe it. Well, I could, but it just was not happening with this mom. I think that one character trait of being a crafty girl is that even if you have the funds, you just can fathom paying for something you know you could DIY yourself cheaper and probably better. Maybe this is just being frugal, I am not really sure but in this case, I just couldn’t.
And being thankful for a crafty husband I knew we could do this!
Making Tent Sleepover Spaces
I purchased these twin air mattresses from Walmart and I got the most basic ones you could get. I am going to share a disclaimer here that the thought of owning seven air mattresses seemed odd, however, in the end, everything in this party was purchased from someone locally who reached out to me to either rent or buy everything from this party. In the end, I did sell it. However, I repurchased three air mattresses to keep for my kiddos, or hubs, and our boys who often go camping within their Boy Scout groups.
Secondly, I also purchased these sheet sets to cover the mattresses. They only came in blue and cream. The cream works because it can go with any party theme if you decide to do this.
I did splurge on the blankets to match the colors of the party my daughter wanted. I’m sure you could shop this around some depending on the time you have leading up to your party. I couldn’t decide or find anything I really liked and bought these ones about a week out from the party.
For the DIY Tent Sleepover wood frames I had to enlist hubs to show me which drill bit I needed but after that, I did everything myself. Therefore, it is really easy. I purchased 1X2 8-foot wood boards and cut them in half at 4-foot long pieces.
Two 4-foot pieces were at the front, and 2 were at the back for each mattress. I crossed them at the top at about 1-2 inches down from the top and drilled a 1/2 inch size hole. Then I placed a 1/2 inch 4-foot long dowel (lowes already sold them in this size at 4 foot) and placed it through the top of the two boards at the front, and the back. We used a nail gun with 1 nail in each through the dowel to secure it.
I also added a dowel at the bottom on the right and left. Then I placed the frame over the mattress and using yarn I had I tied on the frame, ran it under the mattress to the other side. I did this so that the tent would stay taught in its place.
After the party, we simply closed these together leaving the nails in at the top and the string tied in place. But if you want to completely break them down, I suggest not using the nails.
DIY Tent Sleepover Details
I say this all the time, but it really is true. At this point, it looking pretty good. I purchased the cheapest tulle from Joann’s fabric. Each tent required 2 yards to drape from one side over the top to the other side. At first, I had planned to sew these like curtains and slide them on the dowels, but that seemed to be too much, so I just used my staple gun, and sort of wrapped and rolled the fabric over on itself of each bottom dowel and stapled it in place.
This method worked perfectly and was quicker than sewing. Again, this makes the fabric more permanent to the tents. So changing it out would require cutting off.
I spurlged a little more on the fabric for my daughter’s tent and got her the glittery pink and purple dot tulle. She absolutely loved it.
We added two sets of those outdoor bulb string lights across the back of the three tents on the right and on the left. I just used my living room outlets to plug them in and drape them over the tent wood frames. We used pipe cleaners to kind of attach them and hold them in place.
Then at the front of the frames, we hung paper pennant banners I made using my Cricut machine and scrapbook paper. Between each paper piece, I put a felt flower piece I found from Dollar Tree. I hot glued it to Dollar Tree ribbon and love how it turned out.
Then for each tent, we used Dollar Tree vinyl and leftover Sparkleberry Vinyl I had and put names and decals on the Dollar Tree mini whiteboard signs to put each guest’s name designated their sleeping spot.
These turned out amazing!
The girls really loved this, and the sign could be taken home to hang in their room.
Tent Sleepover Favors
This was probably my daughter’s favorite part of the party.
I used these mint kids’ student lap desk trays to give the girls a surface to put things on. They worked out great for controlling their snacks and juice during the movies later into the night and were great for putting their mini beauty cases on and matching pajamas.
We filled each mini beauty tray with girly dollar store items essential for a sleepover and we also provided each girl a set of matching pajamas. I also DIYed these making them with my Cricut and this SVG cut file. I found the shorts at Walmart on clearance for $2 and ordered the shirts online.
My daughter greeted each guest and took a picture with them. This was intentional because later only we had a craft set up for them to decorate their own frames. I created the perfect picture spot in front of our fireplace mantle using this DIY balloon arch kit. It was very inexpensive and fairly easy to do. The number of balloons I got within the kit would’ve allowed me to create this arch twice.
I purcahsed the large 8 and 5 balloons from a local party store and believe or not, it was three times the cost of the arch kit I did myself.
While the girls arrived we asked them to fill out a birthday girl best game card I found to allow everyone time to arrive get settled and get a picture.
During the DIY Tent Sleepover Party
While the girls were crafting I sent the photos to our local 1-hour photo and had hubs pick the prints up while he was also picking up the party food. I slipped the photos into their completed picture frames just before falling asleep so that they could take them home in the morning.
Each girl made them at the craft station I had set up with also a mirror with their initial on it to bedazzle as well. They loved it.
During the party girls swam in our pool, ate dinner, opened presents, crafted, and ate cake for dessert. Then it was time for a few more games and movies with snacks before winding down to sleep.
The girls played games like Sleepover Bingo and Charades. I purchased these cute print and cut printables from Etsy. It was perfect and quick.
We did our best to stick to this schedule I made for them on a dollar store foam board. They loved knowing what was coming next and it kept them from asking me all night, which allowed me to prep for the next thing. Shout out to my mother who stayed over and helped me. And my husband also helped out by running all the errands to make this night go off without a hitch.
The girl absolutely loved this DIY Tent Sleepover party. And I rather enjoyed putting it all together from girl. It really felt like a luxe posh party even though everything we did was very budget-friendly. With all the decor and DIYs, goodies, food, party favors, and crafts I spent just about the same as what it would have rent to the tents and mattresses only. And for that, I am very happy.
I truly love doing and creating more for less. What do you think? Would you do something like this?
Here’s a little video recap I created to share on my YouTube channel. Check it out below. And if you are not a subscriber over there, please subscribe. I share crafting and DIY projects, plus planning and organization along with seasonal living and home decor DIYs. I’d love to have you become part of the community.
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Comments & Reviews
Amanda Lynch says
This is my main inspiration for planning my daughter’s 9th birthday party! Thank you for sharing all of this. Just one question for you….. where did you find the little caboodle cases?
Layne says
Hi Amanda, those were from the Dollar Tree. I think you can still find them – just may have to check a few different stores.
Allison says
I followed the directions and love the tents! But how did you get two yards of fabric to cover the entire frame?
Layne says
I staple gun the fabric to the frames just at the bottom pieces of the wood and a few staples in the top board to secure so I could easily remove the fabric if I anted to.
Timra D Walker says
just beautiful! I loved reading about you sleepover tent party journey. I am on mine as I type. My daughter turns 13 this month of April and I am do a spa sleepover tent party. I am being courageous ; her party is for 10 girls in total! If you have any advice, send it my way.
Layne says
Fun! Hope you have a great time creating and planning it!
Heather says
This is awesome. I’m planning my daughters 13th birthday and this is the idea she wants! I’m going to try to make the tents myself with your directions and I hope it works out as well as it did for you! Thanks for sharing!
What was your total budget?
Layne says
Oh awesome! Let me know how it goes.
Dawn says
What was your budget for this party or how much was each bed set up? I think everything was adorable and you really put a lot of thought into this.
Layne says
Thanks! It really was a fun project to bring together. We probably spent around $5-$600 for EVERYTHING including details and favors! The wood tent frames and fabric were very expensive, but we did also buy single air mattresses and those were around $15 each. Making it was still way cheaper than renting them out.