Teens Kapua De Ramos, left, Leilani Madrid and Vicky Johnson sit in a canopied bed, above, and share makeup tricks at a slumber party in Ewa. Below, a poster for "Sleepover," the movie that inspired the theme party.
A magazine editor hosts
a sleepover to promote
pure, innocent teen fun
They watch movies, indulge themselves with pizza and popcorn and stay up until the sun rises. It's the typical teen sleepover -- formerly known as the slumber party -- which actually result in few zzz's.
There's something about being in your jammies, in the company of friends, that allows all inhibitions to slip away, in a nonstop session of gossip and giggling. After all, girls just wanna have fun ...
"It's all about hanging out. ... You get to be yourself," said Vicky Johnson, who took over an Ewa Beach house for a pajama party last weekend with her fellow Leilehua High School senior Leilani Madrid, and Kapua De Ramos, a junior at Castle High School.
They did not sneak out for a scavenger hunt like Julie Corky (played by Alexa Vega) and her friends in the recently released film "Sleepover," but the get-together involved its fair share of fun and games, including a pillow fight that broke out in the middle of makeup experimentation."I ended up losing an earring, but Jody (Shiroma Perreira) found it later," Johnson said. Once things settled down, it was back to cat-eye makeup stencils and glittery cosmetics. And, then there was the bonding ritual of painting each other's toenails.
Bonding seems to be the most attractive element of the sleepover, with conversations about fashion, hobbies, and, of course, who's hot and who's not.
Shiroma Perreira, co-publisher and editor in chief of Sassy and G magazine, was the girls' host for the evening. She's working on establishing larger-scale slumber parties for teen girls, and now that it's summer, an old-fashioned sleepover offers restless teens and preteens a fun, free and safe way to hang out.
She reminisced about the days when she and a cousin pitched a tent in their back yards for numerous slumber parties. "The whole premise (of sleepovers) is still the same. The girls are having a chance to be girls.
"We dug it," she said. "It's pure, innocent fun."
While girls may have replaced hair crimping and parlor games with computer searches and cell phone calls, the days of calling secret crushes and hanging up are over in the day of Caller ID.Shiroma Perreira's goal is to empower teens and help them through the developmental stages. The large sleepover she is planning for Spring 2005 will include 50 to 100 girls in a hotel ballroom. "We want it to be intimate enough for the girls to get to know each other," she said. "It's all about getting back to basics. Teens tend to close themselves off. ... It's good for them to talk and act goofy."
Johnson agreed that hanging out at Zippys or even at the beach doesn't provide the coziness of a friend's home. "If you are out in public, it's harder to talk about things. If you are with a couple girls at home, you can say anything you want," she said, adding there's no feeling of being rushed or pressured to be home at a certain time.
"We mostly talk about guys , life issues and what is going on in our lives," said Madrid, a movie buff who shared details about all the latest flicks she's seen. "We talk any kine and get opinions and advice on guys we're interested in."
When they're all talked out, today's teens don't have to rely merely on CDs or TV offerings for entertainment. In the DVD era, they chose to watch the Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore comedy "50 First Dates."
Afterward, De Ramos paraded around imitating Rob Schneider's portrayal of mokey character Ula. They also got the giggles trying to answer the film's biggest question, of whether Alexa, played by Lusia Strus, was a dude or a chick.
Some things never change.
Teens Vicky Johnson, left, Leilani Madrid and Kapua De Ramos grind on pizza, talk story and take in "50 First Dates" on the small screen.
For more information about the large sleepover event planned for Spring 2005, call 681-6301 or email sassyspeak@aol.com.
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