Chapter 3: The Sugar Rush Sleepover
One warm last Saturday of September 2020, I met up with my childhood friends Sarah, James, and Henri at Pittsburgh's Perfect Parties client Heather Chessin's house in Cheswick. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Sarah greeted back. "I just found out about another sleepover in Fox Chapel where Madison, Emma, and Sarah Sobert are visiting Hannah and Samantha Mifflin from Rochester, New York," I explained. "That's cool," Heather remarked. "What all did they do?" "Well, they started off making various types of crafts, such as sand art with salt and colored chalk, decorating and planting flowers in flower pots, decoupage boxes, nail polish washer necklaces, and even going to Hartwood Acres Park to attend a painting class," I explained. "They also had a scavenger hunt in the backyard, did makeovers while creating a spa, and even went swimming in the backyard, and are about to have a bonfire, just like we are!" "That sounds like fun," James remarked. "What did they have to eat? Anything?" Henri asked. "Well, there was a choice of either chicken nuggets and tater tots or Chinese food," I explained. "For snacks, they ate chips and cheese, crackers and cheese, and trifle in individual cups." The room was decorated with giant cotton candy clouds, a gumball garland, a giant candy cane, and hard candy balloons. "This reminds me of 2 sleepovers from last year," I told my friends. "Hannah's Sweet Swap in February involving similar decorations and Abigail's Bookworm Blast a year ago because it kicked off their college career, similar to these girls." "I understand now," Sarah stated. We began with the Biggest Bubble Contest, which James helped supervise, and then M&M Mouth, which Sarah helped supervise. Heather ended up blowing the biggest bubble with her bubble gum. Then, it was snack time. James helped roast marshmallows over the campfire to make s'mores, Henri helped out with an ice cream sundae bar featuring a choice of different candy toppings, and Sarah helped out with a cupcake station, in which the girls had a choice of different frosting and candies. "Want to share secrets, Heather?" James asked. "Of course, James," Heather replied. "Well, I am the youngest in my family, as I have 2 older sisters, Holly who graduated high school in 2011 and Heidi who graduated high school in 2016. They attended the Allegheny Valley School District. I was the first in my family to attend Shady Side Academy." "I celebrated my 16th birthday with Sarah and Angel here when we bought a car at the local car dealer down the street and then went to the now-extinct Pizza Hut for dinner," James explained. "Do you think that you would like to decorate your own cupcake for your next birthday, James?" Sarah asked. "Nah," James replied. "I would like to try s'more birthday cake. Just imagine a chocolate cake topped with chocolate frosting, marshmallows on the edge, and graham cracker crumbs for sprinkles." "That would taste yummy," I agreed. "How old will you be on your next birthday, James?" Heather asked. "I will be 33 years old, Heather," James replied. "Hey, are sprinkles candy?" Henri asked. "I believe so," I replied. "Fudge is candy, and sprinkles would be candy, as well." Then, we played some more games, including the Candy Scavenger Hunt Relay Race and the Jellybean Mountain game both supervised by Henri and the Candybar Race supervised by James. The American team won the relay race and Soriya dove face first into the flour to eat her jelly bean, as she caused it to drop. To close out the night, Sarah helped supervise making Candy Jewelry, which is jewelry that girls could wear and eat at the same time. "The nice thing about jewelry is that you can wear it with just about anything, even an all-black outfit," Sarah explained. "You were wearing those to blend into an all-black environment, so you would have to use black candies, like Life Savers, M&Ms, black gummy worms, and black gummy bears," I explained. "Still, it would be interesting to wear and eat at the same time," Sarah agreed. Around midnight, ACCESS took us back to our hotel in Harmarville. "Thanks for a great evening, guys!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel," Sarah replied. "Bye, guys!" "Bye!"