Why You Should Bring Back the Sleepover This Summer

 This week on Mildly Thriving, Kimberly presents Meredith with some extremely compelling reasons why Summer 2026 needs to become the Summer of the Sleepover. After attending a sleepover the weekend before, the ladies realized something important: why did we let slumber parties die after high school when they are clearly the superior form of socializing?

From deeper friendships and late-night chaos to affordable girls’ nights and nostalgic fun, the girls also share their favorite sleepover activities, tips for hosting the ultimate grown-up slumber party, and exactly how to turn a regular Friday night into a core memory.

So grab your emotional support pajamas, your favorite snacks, and prepare to text the group chat immediately. And if you finish this episode without planning a sleepover? Honestly, we’re concerned for you.

Insta: @MildlyThrivingPod

Original audio by Patrck Joseph (Thanks Patrick)

Insert legal disclaimer and jargon here... but like... don't steal our shit?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Mildly Thriving. I'm Kimberly and I'm Merry.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

We're two average millennials who aren't failing but aren't always thriving either. And we're out to prove that Mildly Thriving is thriving enough.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Please make sure you're subscribed and following us on the social medias.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

And if you're feeling really nice, you could give us a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Now let's dive into this week's episode. Hi, Meredith. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 0:27

I'm good. How are you? Kimberly.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

I'm doing well. My ass is killing me. I went to Pilates today and it's like super sore. Hey, I'm proud of you for going to Pilates.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Please tell me more about that B. I really thought that story was going in a different direction, but I can't wait to hear about Pilates.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Uh yeah, no, it was fine.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

It's just reformer and it's just reformer?

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Yeah. Reformer Pilates.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Yeah, it is hard. And I'm every time I'm like, it's like I have this concept of reformer Pilates as being a like it's working out, but you're like laying down.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

See, that's how I convinced myself to do Pilates in the morning. I was like, it's beginner Pilates. I can do this for 30 minutes every morning. And then I started doing it, and I was like, this is who does this? This is hard shit. It's really hard. And then I started getting videos on my Instagram of very fit men going to like these intense reformer Pilates classes and getting their asses kicked. And I was like, this is my favorite thing ever. And now I feel better about myself.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah. She just opened up a second studio and expanded her um offerings. So I'm gonna take Josh to some of them and see how he feels about it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

I love this very much.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Okay. Okay. What are we talking about today, Kimberly? We are just gonna dive right in because you and I did something this lot. Well, I did it. You like sort of did it this last weekend.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Oh, I damn it, I knew it. As soon as you gave me your little Easter egg, I was like, never mind, I'll let you say it.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

So I'm gonna give our listeners five reasons why they should have sleepovers with their girlfriends this summer. Yes, that's such a great idea. Summer, summer 2026 is the summer of sleepovers for adults. Kimberly, this is great. This is great.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

I hope you're ready. I am. I'm coming over. I've please come stay in my 80-degree uh hot studio apartment. Come to me. Okay, deal. You don't want to stay in my studio apartment, but I'd love to come stay in your 2,000 square foot house.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

I would come stay in your studio apartment, but you had me at like hot. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

You're right.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

It's it was the hot, not the uh size.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

This is such a cute idea, and I love it.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Please continue. So on Friday night, a friend of ours invited, there was a group of five of us over to, she was house sitting, but she invited us over and we had a sleepover. Two people ended up backing out, Meredith and another friend, but they did show up and they stayed until midnight.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Okay. Which I feel like counts. Yes, I feel like that counts. Both of us have geriatric dogs, and the effort of taking my dog to my cousin's house was an hour drive round trip when coming home at midnight was a 10-minute drive round trip. But you didn't want to cuddle with me at night. Want and need are two different things. Wanted to cuddle with you, yes. I needed to make sure my dog didn't shit on the floor while I was gone.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Yeah. Yeah, I get it.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

But we're getting hung up here on the details. Next time I will make sure Wayne has a babysitter and I will stay the night. I did miss out. I missed out on whatever antics happened when we left, and I missed out on breakfast the next day, which I am kind of sad about.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Which was you did not miss out on much because I went to bed. I literally was like going up the stairs, I think, as you were leaving. Yeah. And I didn't even hug you. I was like, okay, bye. Yeah. I was like, whatever, bitch. I was tired. And our other friends um stayed up and they like went in the hot tub and stuff. And I was like, I'm freezing. I like I know that sounds counterintuitive, but like getting in the hot tub and then you're wet. But then the work of getting out of the hot tub, I got it. It's too much. It's too much. I'm too tired, you know, I can't. But I had so much fun, and I think that it should be a thing. The friend that hosted was like, we should do this all summer. She's like, we should rotate and do sleepovers and you know, yada yada, which is easier for some for some of us than it is for others, which doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

But I'd be happy to host as long as everybody's fine with sleeping on the floor.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Or the couch or with me in my tiny bed. Yeah, there like whatever. I would do it. It's fine.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Um I think this is a great idea. I had the best fucking time. There is something to be said. I just live in a constant state of anxiety, and I'm always worried about what people think of me, and I get I get hung up in my head, and I end up not going out, and I'll stay in because I worry about stupid things. And there is something to be said for finding a group of friends where I do not worry. I don't I don't worry that I've said something wrong. I don't worry that like you guys are gonna shun me for some reason. Like, I can just be me and embarrass myself if I want to, and you guys are still gonna be my friends the next day.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

And then like when you get sick in the car, they're like trying to help you find a bathroom.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

It is a consequence-free zone, and it's probably some of the least stressful times in my life, and I'm very grateful for that. I had so much fun, so continue. I'm sorry. Think I've this is I love this so much.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

So I have five reasons why summer 2026 should be about the girls' sleepover, and then I have some tips, and then I have some ideas. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

I can't wait.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Are you so excited? I'm so excited. I can't do that with my hair, but I'm excited. Okay, so reason number one is you get more bonding time. Yeah. So it's more time together than going out to dinner. It's like less loud than going out dancing and drinking. You are having a sleepover. And I'm defining a sleepover as you go to someone's house, you eat dinner, then you watch a movie, watch a show, you, you know, you do activities together. Yes. And you just laugh. It felt like it was just so much more relaxed. And you're not racing against the clock. Like you, you're not trying to get home. This is what you're doing for the evening. Like you, you're wearing your comfy clothes, you are just chill. The other reason is it's not a ton of effort or travel. It's it's low cost. I mean, the biggest expense was uh the food.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yeah. And we just did a taco bar, like we didn't even go out to eat. So and people brought food and drinks, and I drove five minutes. I mean, like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Yeah. We did go for a walk, like we walked around the neighborhood a little bit, and that was a nice little bit of exercise, yeah. But it just it was low effort. Like, I didn't have to like get ready. I didn't have to buy a special outfit. I just showed up and I was gonna hang out with my friends.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Um, the other thing is it's like the nostalgia of it. Of like, I'm going to my friends, and like you're like packing a bag and you're like doing a sleepover. Like, we don't do stuff like that anymore. And I get it. Like, I want to sleep in my own bed and I gotta have my eye mask and my skincare routine and blah blah blah blah blah. But there was a a level of nostalgia there.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

But like I was like, oh okay, but like you do that, like you bring your skincare routine when you fucking travel, grab your travel bag, exactly, bring it to your friend's house, and that's exactly what I did. And I honestly, the argument for like going to your friend's house instead is like on a trip, I can't bring my ergonomic pillow, but I can to my friend's house. Cause I am at the age where I need some special fucking pillow to be able to sleep. So exactly.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Exactly. I was a little nervous. Like, is the pillow gonna be, you know, is it gonna be enough support or is it gonna be too stiff, or you know, like those are things that we stress about now? Or is it gonna be just right? Goldilocks. Like, I can't sleep on the floor.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

But okay, so we are ruling out my apartment for well, we can bring air mattresses.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

We can. We can just make your whole floor into a bed. That's what we did. That's what we did in in in elementary and middle and high school. You're right, we can make it work.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Will everyone sleep well? I don't know. No, we're all gonna have back problems. But people go camping. So if they can go camping, they can sleep in an air mattress at my house. Preach.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Preach. Oh, look at me make a point. Okay. Bring your earplugs because inevitably there is someone that probably snores in the group.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

And you know, not inevitably, we know who it is in the group.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

We know. And um we love you, anyways. But yeah. The other thing is novel experiences are good for you. And this is like such an easy and cheap way to have a novel experience. Uh because obviously you're probably not gonna do sleepovers uh all the time. But like you'll probably laugh and you'll probably come up with some inside joke. And it We did. We did.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

See, okay. Now I get to tell my story. You get to tell your story, okay. My favorite moment of the night, and I were all under the influence of something, so that definitely helped with the laughing. Uh, but we were re-watching Heated Rivalry for the 90th time, and your 90th time. For at least the second oh, actually, I guess it was one person's first time seeing this episode, which we didn't realize. Whatever. It was episode five, end of episode five, very uh sweet, very climactic scene. We're all like ready for this sweet emotional moment to happen. And we're all enjoying it and soaking it in. And yeah, and we're like feeling good, ready for it. And then one of our friends like reaches over to Kimberly and shows like a friend's baby picture and starts talking about something completely unrelated. And Kimberly just goes, You're ruining the moment. And I was like, we all laughed so fucking hard. It was the equivalent of like when you're growing up and you're with your sibling or a friend in a moment where you definitely have to be serious and something makes you laugh and you're in trouble, and now it's 10 times harder to not laugh. I could not control how much I was laughing. It was so fucking funny. I realize nobody else is gonna get it or care, but the point I'm trying to make is like we're gonna remember that. And it was like we're just having fun doing nothing, re-watching the same show we've seen and just drinking white class and saying stupid shit. God, how many like how many times?

SPEAKER_00 12:09

All huddled under a heated blanket because it was fucking freezing.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

And I kept like, oh my god. So one friend was sitting at my feet, and then I was like laying on another friend, and it's like that, you know, like when you're sitting next to your significant other and you don't realize you're doing it, but you like slowly inch your feet where it's warmer. Like our poor friend, I just probably had my toes up her ass, and I was just like, I'm like, just tell me if it's too much because just relax. Let it happen. I it's good for me. I was like, I'm sorry, I'm not gonna notice I'm doing it. Please tell me if I'm making you uncomfortable. But you know, it's just stupid little shit, and we were having the best time, and I'm laughing so hard just thinking about it. We all we took a group photo and uh Kimberly tried to Yes, and you like uh one of our friends wanted us to hold cupcakes in the photo, and I was like, I'm not doing that, but two of us held cupcakes, one person held a white claw, and I was just like in the middle holding my arms around people, and then uh we went to take the photo, and Kimberly just puts her cupcake in my face so we can see everyone's face but mine. And I was like, this, yep, parfum.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Well, we just got one with your face, didn't we? We did. Oh, okay. Okay, good. I would have felt bad if we hadn't if it had just been a cupcake. No, you I would have felt bad. A little, a little bit, maybe later. Okay, maybe yeah, maybe. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm I what what's your next reason? Uh my next reason is that there is an intimacy in like getting up in the morning, and they're like the first people that you see. You're just kind of like sitting there in the morning and you're just kind of like chit-chatting and nobody's really in a rush, but you're like drinking coffee and you're kind of like on your phones and you're like, you know, you're kind of re-re-talking about what happened last night and the fact that, you know, someone put their toes up someone else's butt. Exactly. Exactly. Obviously, you weren't there the next morning, but the next morning we got up and we had coffee and then we went, we walked to a coffee shop and got coffee and just like enjoyed the weather and having a nice, you know, kind of chill morning. And then by noon, we all were off on our way to like go do something else. But I love this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

It's just it's like when you it's like when you travel with someone but not um but it's I I don't know, this is arguably better because you're just like like when you're traveling, like because I was as you were explaining, I was like, well, what makes this different than like the girls' trips we've gone on, like staying in an Airbnb? But there's so much more planning that goes into that. And that like you're thinking about the planning, you're all focused on the multiple extravagant meals that you brought, and somebody has to make those things, usually, Kimberly. Um, or at least the last time we did an extravagant girls' trip. Fucking um pizza dough, yeah, and like these amazing breakfast Danishes, but you know, somebody's always doing something. And if we're not, then we're planning what new place we've never seen to like go get a drink and spend money, or go get food and spend money. But this is like our neighborhood, and it's like, oh cool, I get to go to the coffee shop that I like, or oh cool, we get to go to that cool dive bar that we all like. Like, that's it makes it so much easier, and you kind of just get to explore your own neighborhood.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Yeah. When we walked by the dive bar that our friend really likes, she was like, We're just she's like, we're just gonna look. And I'm like, I see, I see where this is going. Yeah, like, yeah. I am not going in there.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Yeah, she wanted to stay so bad, and I was just like, I was like, no, uh, I brought nothing, no wallet. I barely brought shoes. I'm carrying a white claw. Like they're probably smoking a joint. Yeah, we were we were the degenerates of the neighborhood, like your typical uh no kids millennials just walking around causing a ruckus, buying ice cream and drinking white claws on our evening walk.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

But you know what? We were quiet by 8:30. True.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Yeah, that was like the best time ever.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Okay, so the other reason, and this is like the sixth reason I didn't realize that I had done six, but it's only one night. It doesn't have to be a whole weekend, and you get to have this fun little night with your with your friend and friends, and then a friend, which one of us is the friend? Who which ones do you hate? Just one friend. Um, but you don't have to like it doesn't take up your whole weekend. Yeah. It doesn't it's not that it's just like not that big of a deal. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Yeah, arguably, if you were gonna go out late with your friends anyways, like is it that much of a difference in staying the night with them than it is like going home at two o'clock in the morning and waking up feeling like poop?

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Stay with your friends. So those are my reasons. Do you have any reasons that you would add to that list? Since you were there and you're going to part be partaking in uh sleepover summer, summer summer sleepovers 2026.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

I think there's a different level of comfort. Like I've had so much fun on our girls' trips, but for some reason there feels like a different level of comfort of just like being at one of y'all's houses. Like I don't have to look for something, I know where things are. It's just lower consequence overall. And like the prep for it too. Like, I did my whole day like normal. I wasn't worried about packing, I wasn't worried about like planning for a whole bunch of stuff. And like I got ready 30 minutes before I had to leave. And that was like super easy. It was the equivalent of preparing for uh not even prepare for for a night out because we didn't go out, like I didn't get all dressed up, I was just like in my comfy clothes and was just like I still get to spend the night with my friends, and there's almost zero prep and uh the same amount, if not more, of a reward. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Also, I feel like when you're on an overnight trip somewhere, there is a pressure to experience more, just like being on any vacation. It's like, well, I paid to be here, I've never been here. We might as well do our activity fill. Yes, like I have to do something, and there's no pressure. It like if we sat there and did nothing but eat edibles and eat the eat tacos and cupcakes and watch Love on the Spectrum, that's fine. And it's great, which by the way, that's pretty much what we did.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

But yeah. But what's interesting is like the sleepover felt different than the trips that we've taken for like the weekend that were like Thanksgiving. And I think part of it is just the lack of preparation and and planning. It's like every obviously whoever hosts, there's you know, a little more that goes into it.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

But you're not prepping for a trip.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Yeah. And I like it, I think it made the whole thing feel a lot more comfortable.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yeah, that's all that comes to mind at the moment. But I love it.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

So those are those are our reasons why you should do this. Um, and I have some tips, and I'm sure that you will have some some things that you would add to this, but my tips for getting like the most out of it. So, number one, it should be on a Friday night. Early weekend, you still have the rest of your weekend. Exactly. Because when you leave the next morning at like 11 or 12, you have the whole rest of the weekend. You still have like Saturday night. If you didn't sleep well, you can catch up on your sleep, like you can do your other stuff. And the other thing is that like then you have something to look forward to on Friday, like after work. You're like, oh my god, you know, this day, like I'm so excited. And you know, 7 p.m. You're going to your friend's house. Yeah. Okay, so the next tip I have is plan to get takeout, and then everyone brings like a favorite snack. Yes. Just like that takes the pressure off the host of like, okay, we're ordering, we're ordering takeout. Our friend said, I'm just gonna get a taco plate and she ended up making some of it. But I would say order Thai food, order Indian food, order fucking pizza.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Yeah. And just make it shareable shit.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Yeah, make it super easy. Um, and then if everyone brings a snack, then when you guys are chilling, you can all have that.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Yeah, like we had cupcakes and sour pouch kids and I actually didn't contribute anything but my presence, so I'm not really that was good.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

We needed that.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Thank thank you. Yes. Uh anyways. Um I don't remember what I was gonna say on that.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

So my next tip is you don't have to make it cute and you don't have to make it aesthetic. It doesn't have to look like something out of fucking Pinterest. Just do it. Like you don't need decorations, you don't need Cute, fancy, whatever. Just have your friends over.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

I'm so glad you said that. The whole time we're talking, I'm sitting here thinking about like the previous trips we've taken and the previous like gatherings we've had like this. And to be fair, I know I wasn't the one planning them. And you and our other friend were the one that were like doing all the work for it. So you dealt with the stress, not me. But like when I met everyone for the first time at Valentine's Day, um are people sensing a theme here? Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day. Uh Kimberly and our other friend like were really good at coming up with uh stoner themed holidays, and I like Chef's Kiss, the best idea ever, and it was so fun. In fact, I'm like the most anxious person ever, and my introduction to everyone, seriously, was Valen High's Day. It was like February 13th, and we uh she threw a party, and there was like fucking decorations everywhere. Um, everything was like Valentine's Day themed, and there were like adorable Pinterest level like champagne drinks and like themed snacks. And then we all got insanely stoned and played charades.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Yeah, and we had like cupcakes for everyone to decorate.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

We played salad bowl, but we had like printed off the rules and made sure every like had cut the the thing so that everyone could like write their yeah, this yeah, they went all out, and I remember thinking like this was so fun at the time, and it was like it was my first introduction to everyone, it was so well planned, it was so adorable, it was so Instagram worthy. Um, and like it was a really good way to get to know everyone, but if I think back and compare that event to this past weekend, I had 10 times more fun this past weekend. There was no shut up, listen to me. There was no in a different way, yeah. Those are like really cute things to do. Charades was fun, but that was the freest part of that. Like zero, that costs zero dollars. Um there's no like compare it to a baby shower. There's no pressure to do this planned activity that someone planned. Like you're all just hanging out and doing whatever the fuck you want. Like, and I'm not saying it wasn't cool, like it was. I walked in thinking, oh my god, who are these fucking people? Like, I have never planned a party like this. It's so amazing. And this had to have taken so much work. And was it a blast? Yes, but I like I was not stressed, I did not feel obligated to play any sort of anything with anyone, like there was no obligation activity at the sleepover.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Yes, at the sleepover versus Valen High's Day, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Yeah, so like even if some like we talked about getting in the hot tub, and half of us kind of wanted to, and half of us didn't, and it would have been totally fine if half of us went and got into the hot tub and the other half of us continued watching heated rivalry. Like who it doesn't matter. There's no pressure. Yep. I'm very invested in this topic now. If you can't tell, I'm getting worked up.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Yeah, you are, you're getting all worked up. Well, you just told me that you didn't like my party and Kimberly.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

I still have pictures of that party because I thought it was the most aesthetically beautiful party for it was the most aesthetically beautiful stoner party I've ever seen in my life. The b I can picture exactly what they look like. The balloons that you had behind the couch that's spelled out high. Like that was so that was such a good idea. It was so elaborate and it was so fun, but like this was fun with zero stress.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Right. This was a different, like and and there was fun in planning and like what are we gonna do, and like putting it all together, that party, but this was just as much fun and way less effort.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Yeah, yeah. So and there is a time and a place for those things, and like what that happens for us once a year. Like, yeah, it's it's totally worth putting in the effort for those types of events because they're fun for a different reason. But like if you're thinking about like I feel like at that time and this group's friendship, that was the level at which we all hung out. It had to be some sort of yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

And so and I did structure that because I was concerned that I would get really stoned and then I'd just be like, uh so I did. I had everything like planned out and what we were gonna do so that we had stuff to do. I didn't want people to be like to be bored, and I didn't want to spend the day or I didn't want to spend the evening just like watching TV. That would have been fine, but I wanted it to be a different experience.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

I also think I feel like I it sounded like I was shitting on the idea. Uh, I also think it was different because you were introducing a bunch of people at once. Half of us had not met each other. Yeah, that's this was this was like a a full-blown party and not just a get together of friends. So you knew half the people, our other friend knew half the people, and this was my first introduction to everyone but you and our other friend. And it was, I mean, a little nerve-wracking for me, but like I imagine. I guess I guess if I'm comparing it to how we all hang out now, there is a time and a place for that, but at that time in our friendship, it did feel like all of the events that we were doing together were planned parties like that. And I think those are fun. Not every weekend, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:03

But I also think that that the ability to have a sleepover comes with that level of intimacy or friendship. Now everyone knows each other. We've all either hung out individually or um, you know, we've gone on trips together. So it's a different level, I think, of friendship.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

So and you're more comfortable and you can just like say the stupid thing.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Yes. And if I hadn't like, I don't know, if it was like people I had just met, I wouldn't have been cuddling with them on the couch. Like, I know you guys, and I don't I know our friend isn't gonna care that I'm sticking my feet under her butt. Like if there's zero concept.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

I think she did.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

I think she did when she loves me anyways. Uh that there's pretty much zero consequence, and uh it's fine. But uh, but I do think, let's just pretend that Valenheis was a sleepover instead. I think it still could have been successful, even with everyone meeting for the first time. Maybe in a different way, it wouldn't have had like the same level of comfort, but I think it still could have been successful, and I think I'm thinking from the point of view of like have you ever been on a a bachelorette party trip where you don't know half the people? Yeah, like I usually come away from those trips with new friends, yeah. And like I end up having a great time, even though you go into it nervous because you don't know everyone. Like I don't know, I still think it could have been the same. I agree. But I'm not shitting on your party planning skills, they were actually amazing, but I know.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

I don't know that I'll do stuff like that anymore. It's just too it's so much work.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

I think I was trying to support you out of the idea of thinking that you have to do that every time, but I also think m a lot of that like expectation came from our other friend as well.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

The Instagram aesthetic, everything has to be picture-wommy picture-worthy and doing it for the gram, not because like we're trying to build relationships. Okay, so my other tip is maybe everyone puts their phone away. I had somebody ruin the climax of heated rivalry because they put their phone in my face. And I will I will never recover from that, even though I'd already seen it.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

I will never financially recover from this.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Well, and my thought is is like there probably won't be an emergency.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Well, and like all the people that I need to talk to, like, well, A, we all have our watches on us. Like, if it is an emergency, we can see where Oh, that's true. But like everyone that I talked to regularly was either there or knew I was going to be there. Like my significant other knew I was at a girl's night.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

So if I didn't answer the phone, he would have been like, oh yeah, she's at a girl's night.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

Yeah. It's like, just put it away.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Put it in a little lockbox or you know, put it in, leave it in the other room or something. This was some a suggestion that another one of our friends had was that um, why don't we just rent a hotel in the summer and like find a hotel for one night and it has a pool and like a rooftop deck or something that you want to be in. So obviously that's like taking the sleepover kind of to the next level.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

But it also great. And I've talked about it with my friends that live down south. Um, we've talked about doing that in Seattle multiple times, and a few of us have like credit cards with like hotel rewards points. And I was like, I have like I have a $50 like credit every quarter. Like, let's just go rent a hotel in Seattle, and that that way, like, there's no stress of driving back home. Nobody has to be the designated driver, nobody has to worry about like what like we can just walk around and do whatever we want for the evening. That's what we're gonna do for my cousin's birthday. Is I got us a hotel and I was like, cool. Now we can go to the Mariners game and just not have to worry, just go do whatever we want.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

So I was in Bellevue a couple weeks ago with my husband, he was there for for work, and I went with him. And so our friend that lives nearby came and I was like, come over and we'll just play mermaids. And we went, we spent the entire evening at the pool. We ordered room service to the pool. We we did laps and we did, we sat in the hot tub and like I love this so much. It was it was so much fun. Obviously, that's not quite the same thing as a sleepover, but like it's still kind of this novel experience, and you can just rent a hotel room for the night.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

And I think we forget that these things are possible. Like, I that might seem weird, but it's just like I think we get caught up in this idea of like, if you're gonna do something like that, let well not all of us are in relationships, so maybe not, but like if you're in a relationship, I think we get caught up sometimes as like this is the type of activity we want to do with our significant other. It's not exclusive to that. It's it's not like you can do this with your friends too. Yep. I I just think we forget that it's on the table or we just go don't think about it. Kind of like the the same along the same vein as like solo activities. Like there are activities that are not exclusive to vacation or your romantic partner.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Well, I mean, that's literally what's happened here is we used to have sleepovers all the time in middle school, high school, and then you kind of age out of it a little bit. You know, in college, like you might stay the night at a friend's house because like you went to go visit them, or you know, it kind of becomes like I couldn't drive, so I stayed the night. And then once you get really settled, you don't you don't do those sleepovers.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

Yes. And I do recognize that some people have children and that like this is not an activity that is as easily accessible for everyone. I like all of the people in our friend group do not have children, and so I I do recognize that that makes this a little bit easier to do more often. Um but I was just visiting my friends back home and I stayed, I stayed with them for like five days, and I realized that's not like sleepover, but like I got to like hang out with her and her husband and their little two and a half year old, and uh like the best time, the best time. I do feel like we're at the age where the expectation is like I'm coming to visit, so I'm gonna get a hotel so I can have my strict sleep routine and my skincare routine. And like there was something to be said for like getting to wake up and hang out with everyone in the morning and just have coffee and like sit and play with their kid, and just like before she went to daycare, I was like, this is so fun. Yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

There's like a level of intimacy that you don't get when you just like have dinner or yes.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Shout out to that friend, she knows who she is. Um you have a care package coming your way to tell you thank you for letting me take over your life for five days.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

Okay, so do you have any other tips that you would add to getting the most out of your sleepover? Not at the moment. Okay, great. I came up with a list of things that you could do at a sleepover. Not that everything has to be an activity, but you might just like not want to just watch TV.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

There, I didn't think about that. You brought your tarot cards. I did. Somebody brought it on.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

Nobody wanted to play tarot cards with me, which I was a little offended by.

SPEAKER_01 35:57

I would have done the tarot cards. I didn't want to do the game. I I felt I felt like the the I didn't want to think that much. I just wanted to release it.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

That's totally valid. Nobody wanted to play the game. So I went to my game and I went home.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

But I would have let you read me tarot cards.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

Yeah. Okay, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

Please give me your suggestions.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

So tarot cards is one of them. Um the other was like an easy arts and craft where you can like sit and talk. And I was thinking, um, have you seen those like wobble things? I think they're called. It's like a crocheting, and you can like learn how to crochet. But like if everyone got one of those the little Yeah, they're like 30 bucks and they like have everything that you need in the pack, and you can like learn how to crochet, but it might be a fun thing to do, or maybe everyone ends up in tears. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

That you know, there's levels of activity. There was one that I got that wasn't a crochet, but it was a little like unicorn, and it was like uh layering different like size like pieces of like cardboard together, and it was a very easy activity, but it I love gluing cardboard together. Dude, I still have this unicorn sitting on my work desk. You can judge me all you want. I love him. Um cute. The other thing why I just got all like yeah, I'm so uncomfortable and sweaty right now. Oh no. Okay, just like I'm gonna I'm gonna speed this up here. That's not what I meant. I'm just like getting comfortable. Continue.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

Um, so another thing that you could do is a game, again, Salad Bowl. Google the game. It's super fun. It was so fun. But you I mean, I tried that was the game that I was suggesting, but it's like in a card format.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

I didn't know that was the same game. I just thought we were playing charades the first time.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

No, it's like charade, it's called Salad Bowl.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Sorry, if you had pointed that out, I might have considered it.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

Yeah, but like nobody nobody wanted to, which is totally fine. Um, we just we're gonna chill. You can go for a walk in a beautiful neighborhood and just critique the houses and drink your uh white claw and smoke joint. And I would have walked so much longer. I was having the best time. Same.

SPEAKER_01 38:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

Um, you could do a book exchange or clothing swap where like you bring if you have like a few books and you're just like, Here, I've got these books, I liked them, whatever. That was clothing.

SPEAKER_01 38:33

Such a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

Um, face masks.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

Oh, I love that. Yeah, self-care. Self-care.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

So this is another fun one is bringing different hair tools and like beauty products to swap and try.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

So, like, I never would have thought of that.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Bringing, I have like the Dyson knockoff air wrap. So, like, if somebody was like, Oh, I've always wanted to try that, I could bring that. Um, or like a hair crimper or the, you know, whatever. Like, bring something that's like maybe you have that your friends don't, and you guys can all like try it.

SPEAKER_02 39:11

I loved that.

SPEAKER_00 39:13

Um making prank calls. We just don't do shit like that anymore.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

I no, I love that. I've I was never good at the prank calls because I'm really bad at I'm really bad at acting. Uh uh Yeah, you guys, you and your pranks, you're so good at keeping a straight base. I'm not good at acting, I'm not good at doing that. Um and I have this like fear of being embarrassed, but I have TP'd someone's house before.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

So that was not on my list of 10 things to do, but you could.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

There's levels of.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

Although it feels after COVID, it feels wrong.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

Touche. Um, also I think the level of damage caused by doing a prank phone call over uh teepeeing someone's house, like I'm probably more in the wrong here. Like it's a waste, and someone has to clean it up. I for the record, I was like 12, but like, you know, we've all had our moments. Like, yeah, that's the shittiest thing I've done, then I think I'm doing okay. But yeah, I'm really bad at prank phone calls, or like I just get like secondhand embarrassment. But it's a fun thing to do with like a group of people and true, or just like pranking each other in general, like when we went to where do we go, Leavenworth, and uh uh two uh the other two friends that were on the trip with us brought all of the like teeny tiny ducks and just like hid them all over the house. And it's just like where the fuck did these things come from? Just like fucking around. What is it with all of these harmless in this house? I now have like a contain. No. I have I have a bunch of different like like little frog figurines from work because somebody did the same thing to someone's desk. But I took all of those ducks and I decided to like pass it on and I mailed them to a friend. That's funny. I sent her a care package and just like covered everything in ducks. That's funny. She knows who she is. I love you and I miss you. Okay. Um, stop trading this like your own fucking podcast.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Do you just want to talk to your friends? Yeah, so maybe you could get out of here. You could leave now.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

You're a dick.

SPEAKER_00 41:38

Um, okay, another suggestion is make vision boards. You need some glue sticks and magazines and you know.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

I have all these things. I have like a fucking craft bin.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

Yeah. So you can see bitch. Yeah, yeah, you are. Some of our other friends don't love all of the arts and crafts. And she's like, what the fuck? Why is every event that you throw?

SPEAKER_01 42:00

I love how you said some of our other friends, and I immediately thought of the one person, and then you were like, she hates all of it. It's like, yeah, we know that it's the one friend in the group that hates the choice of crafts.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

Why do I hang out with these white people that are always making me do crafts? And it's like, you know, uh, I don't know. You are SVP.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

Yeah, because we're basic bitches, okay? I'm sorry. You're supposed to like, you know, just to do other better things, but here we are painting. Show us your ways.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

Yeah. You host a party. Yeah. Um, okay, and then my last suggestion is do a TikTok dance or trend. It's super fun. And nobody has to see it.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

Like, you don't actually have to post it. And to be fair, like, I'm the biggest shit talker of this, and every time Kimberly has convinced me to do it, I've had so much fun, and they turn out so good. Even like the worst ones are so funny. And I yeah, I I'm proud of us.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

When Josh and I did our um our TikTok video that we did, the pillow like the hotel pillow.

SPEAKER_01 43:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

Yeah. I was we had so much fun doing that, and we were entertained for like three hours.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

It was just take after takeo.

SPEAKER_00 43:20

Yeah. I think we were we had a few drinks, but it was like it was still super fun. And it was so fun then to like show all of our friends our really horrible um the like ta the scenes that the deleted scenes, yeah, the outtakes. Yeah. Well, and it was fun because like people we ended up posting our I posted it on my social media, but nobody like people don't expect that. And so they were like, What? Like who who are like what are you know? So it was just it was funny. We had some laughs, and occasionally now I will. like be in my camera role and I'll see the videos and I'm like, oh my god, that was so fun. So nobody has to see it.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

You don't have to post it, but it can be fun to like the the last one we made, like we were like, this will take two takes. It'll be fine. We end up doing like 40 takes and we laughed our asses off every single time. Exactly we did something stupid every time. And yeah, it's so fun. So fun. Yep. And the best time. Ugh this was such a good episode. So this was such a good idea. Now I'm just like really vote motivated for another girl's sleepover.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

So um when you get back to town in a month and so I would love to hear from our listeners what their what their ideas would be to add to a sleepover and ways to make it easier for everyone to attend and or host. So any ideas that they have. And if they're gonna make summer 2026 that's the summer of the sleepover.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

I I love this so much. I if I had a dollar for every time I said I love this so much then I could maybe retire off this episode. But this is such a great great thing. Yes. Uh remember having a having a good community and social life is an indicator of longevity. Get out there and hang out with your fucking friends. It is good for your health hang out with your friends. Alright well that's all I've that's all I've got for you Meredith. Well I I loved that that was the greatest topic every for the win.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

Um Meredith it has been great chit chatting with you about our sleepover yes yes it has and I am looking forward to doing it again hopefully with similar results. Let's keep on testing this hypothesis. Let's keep testing it. And for our friends that um are listening you can like and comment and subscribe and give us a review or you know I'm all of those things and follow us on Instagram and TikTok and Facebook actually yeah or just one yeah probably just Instagram no pressure don't hate us um but yeah that's yeah that's all I've got and we'll be back next week with another episode of Mildly thriving driving because this is a great reminder this is a great reminder that mildly thriving is thriving enough. Great nailed it high five wait one two okay well you're really about at that I did a great job you did two you went on three I was the asshole it's fine all from my shoe. Okay all right so see you later you ever drunk Bailey's from a shoe no I haven't that's a good question oh my god end the thing