Girls Slumber Party Weekend

Slumber parties are always fun, but when you add in a little awareness it can become down right dynamic! We held our first girls slumber party weekend, March 7-8, 2014. Where girls were pampered and encouraged with all sorts of goodies.

Slumber Party Weekend:  Filled with fun and awareness for middle school girls(grades 6th—8th )

On Friday immediately after school, the girls were taken to Blair Road UMC educational wing. Girls were invited in with their bags and served dinner hosted by Chick Fil A Albemarle Road.

After dinner, the girls were split into two groups, one group went to a self esteem session and the other group had facials. Once the session was complete the girls swapped places.

After the facials and self esteem sessions, the girls received a presentation from the Connections program group which discussed the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman's participation. The Connections group recited a poem about Harriet Tubman's life and shared their experiences of visiting the sites on the Underground Railroad.

Following the Connections presentation the girls enjoyed the movie Soul Surfer. Many of the girls had viewed the movie before, but it was a first for me. I cried like a baby. Beautiful movie.

1:00 am lights were out, but no one was asleep. So much for thinking that girls would actually go to sleep at a slumber party.

The next morning, Saturday, March 8, the girls enjoyed breakfast hosted by Chick Fil A Albemarle Road. Over breakfast the girls listened to a wonderful presentation by Dr. Janaka Lewis, Assistant Professor at UNCC. The girls learned the importance of women in American History.

After breakfast the group took a walk from Blair Road UMC to Mint Hill Town Hall, where Commissioner Richard Newton provided a tour of the town hall and his daughter a freshman at UNCW gave us a overview of International Women's Day. We also played trivia. Can you guess who was the first woman doctor in the USA?

Following our tour at Mint Hall town hall, we walked to Big Guys pizza where we were greeted with lunch, including pizza, cupcakes and drinks.

After lunch we walked back to Blair Road UMC where we finished up our slumber party event with awareness:  drug and alcohol abuse and human trafficking.

Monica Johnson with Prevention Services asked the girls to role play and come up with a response when approached with drug and alcohol opportunities.

Youth 4 Abolition discussed the dangers of human trafficking and the warning signs. All were encouraged to be careful about posting pictures and having conversations with strangers while using social media.

The slumber party wrapped up with parents picking up their girls and many tired and sleep deprived volunteers.

This event was truly a collaboration with several community partners including the following:  Chick Fil A Albemarle Road, Henderson Grove Presbyterian Church, Arlington Baptist Church, Blair Road United Methodist Church, Big Guys Pizza, Daphne's Bakery, Chosen Girlfriends, Mary Kay consultant Holli Hampton and many more friends who donated supplies, time and energy to make this event a HUGE success.

Can't wait to do it all again next year!!!