The Secret Room & other Pajama Parties I've Hosted

In the invitation to my Pajama Party, I mentioned a "secret room."  Several years ago, after our first empty nest remodel, we turned one of the attic bedrooms into a study for me.  In that study, I keep clothing that I consider to be costumes, all of my scrapbooking supplies, projects I'm saving for retirement, and my collection of elephants.  Just off of my study, in a little room, we initially thought of as a room to entertain the grandchildren.  When they outgrew it, the room became my "harem" room.  This little 4 x 10 space features a stained glass window, the most expensive carpet in our entire home and 31 pillows.  To enter it, one must turn the brass gong sideways, set the magic lantern to one side and crawl in.

This is certainly better accommodations than I've had for previous pajama parties I've hostessed over the years I was raising my brood of daughters and step-children.  In recent weeks, I've asked my daughters what they recall of the some of the parties we threw during my single parent days.  Predictably, their memories are very different than mine.

• At one, I thought it would be a good idea to make banana splits.  I bought all the supplies and then allowed the girls to make them.  This was great fun until it came time to eat the results...and I had 10-12 bowls of melting ice cream.
• At another, the girls did facials with laughable results.
• One years, I raced out to the grocery store for supplies an hour ahead of the party's start, only to realize that the drive through had loaded another customer's groceries into my car!  A quick call to the store, they duplicated my purchase from the receipt in their database and DELIVERED the party supplies to my door!
• At one, a 12 year old girl announced that she had a yeast infection at midnight and that I needed to make a trip out to get her the necessary medicine!?
• I witnessed disturbing rape fantasies...
• I delivered the entire group of girls to Sunday School in my father's mini-van the following morning.

The parties for the boy children were somehow more rowdy, but more manageable.

• We took a group to see Pokemon one year, suffering through an hour or more, only to have the film burn in the final moments.  One guest insisted that his tub of popcorn be drenched in nacho cheese?
• A sledge hammer was put to use cracking nuts on a butcher block in our dining room and nut shells were everywhere.
• A feather pillow was destroyed and in the boys' efforts to hide the evidence, the vacuum was clogged with a million little pin-feathers.
• DH ended up sleeping outside the door of the tent pitched in our living room, when the boys were still going strong at 4:30 a.m.

I don't know what kind of shenanigans attendees at Friday's Pajama Party might cook up, but the harem room is ready and waiting.

The pajama party post will go up shortly after midnight my time, Central Standard Time, Friday morning. My apologies to my international readers who may have to wait for it a bit.

 Does anyone have a hookah? Or horror stories about pajama parties that went awry?