Mather Slumber Party a Snooze

Early on Friday night, expectations for the first ever Mather House “throwback to middle school” slumber party were running high.

“I imagine later on there will be a pillow fight,” said Jessica L. Jones ’06, a co-president of the Mather House Council and organizer of the party.

But while the alcohol-free event attracted about 25 students at its peak, during a screening of “Sex and the City,” it soon fizzled. Ten students remained for the House-subsidized midnight trip to the International House of Pancakes in Allston.

Jeff H. Yip, ’06-’07, who attended the sleepover briefly to watch “Sex and the City,” said the party was well-intentioned but needed “a stripper, or catered food, or even sushi served on naked models” to increase turnout.

Jones said feedback from the participants had been positive, and that next year’s goal would be to increase attendance.

“With midterms and everything, you just want to hang out, and you don’t have to go to a big crazy party,” said Oulu Wang ’06, a Mather resident.

The idea for the party, Jones said, came from a brainstorming session for new social events in Mather.

“Somebody said they’d always wanted to sleep in the dining hall,” she said. “We joked about passing out in the dining hall, and thought it would be fun to have a slumber party.”

Jones said that many of the events that Mather House sponsors involve drinking, such as their bi-monthly happy hours, and that this event was intended for students who wanted an alternative to going out to parties.

“There are some people who prefer to stay in and watch a movie,” co-president Ryan J. “Trini” Abraham ’06 said. “We’re going to have clean fun: no alcohol and no seven minutes in the closet.”

The night started out casually—the Mather House Council provided popcorn, candy and hot chocolate. A group of students played Trivial Pursuit in the back of the dining hall. And at midnight, the council paid for taxis to shuttle students to IHOP.

Alas, no students actually slept over in the dining hall, but Jones said that hadn’t been the intention.

“After people went to IHOP, they went back to their rooms,” she said. “It was more like the feel of a sleepover.”

Lisa M. Shichijo ’06 was also at the sleepover early on, but planned to go out to a party later that night.

“It’s a good concept and a fun idea, and they organized it really well,” she said. “I definitely think that if this were a night where I didn’t feel like going out, I would have definitely stayed here.”

Jones, however, is hopeful that it will become a bigger, more well-attended Mather event, and says that everybody who attended was satisfied.

“I think that once it becomes a tradition the turnout will be bigger,” Jones said.