Oh man, this brings back some memories. Our DD had a sleep over party and my wife (and maybe I) went a little over-board. Here are some of the things we did:
Painted a sheet with a brick pattern, slit it up the middle, hung it on a trellis outside, and had a 4 wheeled cart ready. As each of the guests arrived, I loaded their sleeping bag and back pack on top of some old luggage already on the cart and they got to push it through the wall.
We then led them through the kitchen where the Honey Dukes cart was set-up full of different treats.
The dining room was all done up with fancy gold (all Good Will purchased - who cares if it is slightly mis-matched) dinner wear, and goblets to drink out of.
Another sheet was hung between the dining room and the living room. My wife is artistic, so she bought the biggest canvas she could find at Good Will, and painted over it with the fat lady. This was hung right in front of the sheet so the kids had to say the password before passing. We had a fireplace DVD going on the TV, so our living room became the Gryffindor Common room.
Dinner was full of themed dishes. I know we had plenty of Potter type decor (stuffed owls, odd paintings, etc.). And HP movies going all night (though we had to "extinguish" the fire for the movies). We already had a fluffy orange cat, so that worked out well...
The girls seemed to really love the interactive aspect.
Best of luck,
--S.F.
