31 Days|Day 30

|30 May 2017| Day Thirty: Girls Lock-in

 

Me and my beautiful friend, and coworker Molly, made a successful trip to Walmart today. We headed out in search of items for the girls lock-in for friday evening. Here’s the thing. This will be my third lock-in to participate in. Even though the children I work with drive me literally to the point of exhaustion, I absolutely adore spending time with them. Every year, around this time, like Christmas, we do lock-ins. the boys have theirs, and then the girls have a separate one. The boys had theirs a couple weeks ago, and now the time has come for the ladies. In the past we have done your typical lock-in activities. hair, makeup, a few games here and there, hide and seek, etc. I decided that this year needed to be different. This year was going to be one the girls would remember forever. I love the lock-ins because it’s like having the ultimate slumber party and getting paid to do it! Just kidding..But really, I do love them. Each year we have someone or a few newbies. Each year we also get some of the same girls that come every day. I have compiled of survivor tips if you ever need to or want to throw the best lock-in for girls ages 12-17. These are in no particular order:

1. Make sure you have plenty of snacks.

Now, in the past year’s that I have done, We usually have enough snacks… Except last year. When we went out shopping, we wanted to stay at a certain budget so we didn’t overspend. We ended up running out of snacks like an hour into the evening. (NO BUENO.) The year before that we had enough snacks but ended up getting too much “food.” We assumed that the girls would want to make and eat breakfast in the morning before they left… WRONG. they wouldn’t even get up when they were supposed to leave! So we had tons of food leftover. This year, we were ready. We also had a plan. We would not only get MORE snacks, but we would also only have a couple times during the evening to put the snacks out. What failed so badly last year was that we put everything out and they slaughtered it all within minutes. We swore to be better. We are better.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Have a Designated Survivor.

What I mean by this is, have someone who will stay up the entire night to make sure everything goes smoothly. Each year, I have been nominated/volunteered to be the designated survivor. I have to protect my own. The staff, not the children. Yeah they’re important, but Imagine if all adults fell asleep. Can you even fathom the craziness of that? A ton of middle schoolers just wreaking havoc while you take the longest snooze of your life. One adult must always stay up. After all, it’s a lock-in. Not a slumber party. You do however pray and hope they fall asleep at some point. But just know these kids will be up to no good about 85% of the evening. The girls will tell you EVERY TIME, that they won’t be sleeping. They’ll say, “I ain’t fall’n asleep! I don’t want no one to mess with me!” What they must understand is, the designated survivor really does not want to stay up all night and watch everyone sleep. If you’re like me, I don’t even sleep the day of. I do my normal duties during the day, and then I just go to work, and stay up all evening. I’m kind of a night owl, but sometimes I just can’t help it. That’s another thing. Make sure that if you are not the survivor, that you get plenty of sleep before the party. You want to last as long as you can. If you don’t, you are almost promised a prank at some point in the night. Be ready. Keep your eyes opened and your mind on alert. There is just no telling what these middle schoolers are capable of!

 

3. Scare em.

Like don’t make them cry or anything like that. Just scare em enough to get them thinking. We played this game last year that required all of the lights to be off. (you will learn of this game in number 4.) Before the girls even got there and got started, me and another staff planted a white doll in the back office where the girls were not allowed to be. we hung it in front of the cameras in the office right under the vents so it would sway back and forth on occasion. I knew that the girls wouldn’t be able to see it in person since it was in the office, but I know them so well, that i knew at some point in the night they would look at the security cameras we had in the room, and see for themselves. It didn’t take long and one of them was looking at that camera trying to figure out what it was and where it was hanging. All of them were too scared to try and find it. In fact, they were convinced they knew where it was, but every time they would go look, It wasn’t there anymore. We had em spooked. I for one am not for scary stories, movies, or games… UNLESS I am the one telling them, showing them, or making them up. They get pretty spooked when things happen that they can’t explain. The only downfall of doing this, is they sometimes get sooo spooked, they won’t want to play any games that require them leaving the room. If you decide to scare em, make sure it’s not TOO terrible. We don’t want any crying…

 

4. Keep it eventful.

One thing that gets middle schoolers way too often is boredom. They get bored fast if things are not paced right. So set a schedule. Make sure the schedule is eventful and fun. Ask them what they would like to do before making it. As adults, our ideas of fun are a bit different than theirs. Making sure that they have a schedule to go by and stick to, they will be set for the evening. The girls know that we will have a schedule of events, however I decided this year not to tell them what we were doing. I wanted to keep the surprise alive, as well as keep them excited and wondering what was going on for the evening. I decided to post the schedule the day of so they would be able to see what was going on. This year, a few of the girls were not able to come until after 9:00 pm since their 8th grade dance is the same evening. I wanted to keep it pretty low key for the first half just so they didn’t feel like they were missing out on anything fun. The girls have some fun things scheduled like, a fashion show with donated clothes from us that they get to keep and take home with them. They will get a makeover, as well as get split up into teams to have a fashion show-showdown with the clothes and the makeup that is provided for them. After that there will be the infamous game of Sardines. The best part of the night. Reverse hide and seek. With ALL lights out. At some point in the night, we will have everyone together to play a game of spoons, and maybe a round of BS with the cards. Volleyball is in the schedule as a possibility but unlikely with their rowdiness. Pizza will start around midnight to tame those late night cravings, and then a few other activities. We will slow the night down with some root beer floats and a movie around 4 a.m. to settle things down. This is tentative but sticking to some sort of schedule is sooo important. it will not only keep you awake, but it will keep the night moving quickly for yah!