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.
去朋友家过夜的通宵派对在美国已经不是什么新鲜事了，“通宵派对”这个词往往会让人联想起这样的场景：一群穿着毛绒睡衣的女孩子正在“枕头大战”，给彼此化妆，七嘴八舌地八卦。我敢说许多通宵派对都是这个路子（我参加过不少这样的通宵派对），但我的通宵派对往往不是这样的。从小，我就没有太多的“女孩子气”，对我来说化妆和做头发并不是那么有趣。不过通宵派对总归是有一些共同之处，待我细细说来。
通常，派对狂欢会在傍晚时分开始。女孩们背着外宿一夜用的旅行包三三两两地出现，还要再带上一只睡袋和一个枕头。我总觉得这个习惯挺有趣的。在床垫上睡要舒服得多，但许多女孩还是选择要睡在睡袋里。
所有的客人都到了之后，通常要先开始晚餐。尽管不同派对晚餐的食物各异，但最常见的食物是比萨饼。用比萨饼招待一大群客人非常方便，往往最挑剔的客人也会享受比萨饼的美味。或者是大家一起出去吃，或是点一些其他种类的外卖。令人吃惊的是，青春期的女孩子吃得要比人们想象中的多得多。几个月以前，我邀请两个朋友来通宵派对，我们很快就消灭了两大份“达美乐”比萨饼和一份肉桂牛排。
吃完饭后，我和朋友们回到我的房间，开始滑稽疯狂的派对：有时会是热舞派对，有时会上网玩游戏，还有时玩角色扮演游戏，这也是我儿时最爱的派对内容之一。我和朋友们都是阅读爱好者和电影迷，所以我们经常会各自扮成自己最喜爱的书籍或电影中的人物。这听上去肯定傻乎乎的，但它却是我童年时代特别快乐开心的经历。
晚上10点左右，派对气氛会稍微缓和一些。换完睡衣后，我们可能会坐下来看一部电影。我回忆中最美好的场景之一就是把朋友们邀请过来一起看电影《巨蟒与圣杯》，我们翻过来仰躺着，所以看到的画面也都是倒着的。有时我们还会用自己的电脑玩游戏或浏览“脸谱网”。大多数时候，我们还是会一边聊天，一边各自对着笔记本做自己的事。
通宵派对的下一个阶段是过了凌晨一点的时候。到那个时间，大部分女孩都已经很困了。但是，大多数情况下，我们在派对上就是不去睡觉。尽管通宵派对的字面意思包含了“睡觉”的含义，我和朋友们都认为派对的真正意义并不在于睡觉。这时，我们往往还是会继续进行正在做的事。然而，1点钟以后，我们会变得有点小疯狂，常常会讲一些奇奇怪怪的事（也许是趁着睡意吧）。我们中大多数人最后会在凌晨5点到6点左右睡着，通常我们睡到中午才起床。
醒了以后，我们中大多数人依然是睡眼惺忪的。尽管如此，我们还是会挣扎着起来一起去吃午饭。通常午饭会吃前一晚剩下的比萨饼。午饭后，客人们各自收拾好自己的行李，然后我们百无聊赖地打发时间，等待各自的父母把她们接回家。
通宵派对对女孩们来说是拉近彼此关系的绝好机会。尽管派对的形式各异，但参与者心中的感觉总是大致类似的。我们都会体验到喜悦、快乐和激动。通宵派对的开心之处在于我们和自己的好朋友相处，这才是生活中最重要的事情。