On Saturday 4th November, Little Manor celebrated Bonfire Night with a fun sleepover at the Froud Centre. Now, while “sleepover” might imply that the children went to the centre to sleep – this was certainly not the case on this occasion! The children had an amazing night complete with fireworks, treats, a movie, and games. Arriving at 4pm we started the night off with a tasty meal of chicken curry, rice, and vegetables. The gourmet meal was provided to us through City Harvest as a donation from the restaurant at the LaLIT London hotel, and it was delicious, the children were delighted to have such a tasty dinner to kick of the evening.

After supper we travelled all the way to Blackheath to take in the fireworks. Somehow, we managed to weave through the crowds and find a prime spot just in time for the start of the show. Once we returned to the Froud Centre, every child was given a sparkler to cut some shapes with. Then it was time for the children to set up their beds, put on their pyjamas, and … eat cake and ice-cream!! (AKA: Sugar boost! Just because beds were made this didn’t mean that they were going to be occupied any time soon!). The Sleepover rule is once you fall asleep you go to bed, and once you go to bed you don’t get up again, and so with most children focussing on staying up as late as possible the sugar boost was most welcome. Once the sugar began to set in (at approximately midnight!) the children were ready for more fun. A boys versus girls game of hide-and-seek … in the dark was the first order of the evening. Each team was timed to see who could find the other team fastest. In the first round, the girls dominated and found the boys quicker. But in round two, the boys regrouped and found the girls in just over 4 minutes, beating all of the other times! After hide-and-seek was free play with football, air hockey, cards, pool, Lego, and more. Then, movie time. Some of the group slowly began drifting to bed, but many had all the energy to keep going until 7am when they were finally sent to bed after a hot drink and a movie. By this time, the sun was coming up and breakfast was only a couple of hours away! The parents picked up their children at 10am and it would seem that most of them had a very quiet Sunday, the children’s team on the other hand were all looking forward to bed! A sleepless sleepover that was a lot of fun.   Many thanks to The LaLIT Hotel London and City Harvest for their generous contribution in helping to make this a magical and memorable night for Little Manor.