通宵派對的傳統(tǒng)習(xí)俗

The sleepover is an American cliché . Usually, the word “sleepover” conjures up images of girls in fuzzy pajamas having pillow fights, doing each other’s make up, and gossiping. I’ll say this now, many sleepovers are like this (I’ve been to plenty that are), but mine usually aren’t. I’ve never been that girly as a child, so I never really found doing makeup and hair to be interesting, but there are some aspects of sleepovers that stay the same. Let’s take a closer look.

Usually, the festivities start in the late afternoon. Girls show up carrying overnight bags, complete with a sleeping bag and a pillow. I always found that tradition to be interesting. Sleeping on a mattress would be much more comfortable, but many girls choose to use a sleeping bag anyway.

After all the guests arrive, it’s usually time to have dinner. Even though it varies, the most common food for sleepovers is pizza. For a large group, pizza is a very convenient meal. Often even the pickiest eater will enjoy pizza. Other times, the group might go out to eat, or order other forms of take-out food. Surprisingly, teenage girls eat a lot more than people think they can. A few months ago, when I had 2 of my friends over, we managed to polish off two large pizzas from Dominoes and an order of cinnamon sticks.

After eating, my friends and I usually go back to my room and we get up to our crazy antics . Sometimes we have a dance party, sometimes we play games on the internet, and other times we play role-playing games, which is one of my favorite things to do as a child. My friends and I are all avid readers and movie enthusiasts, so often times we will pretend to be characters from a favorite book or movie. It’s definitely pretty nerdy , but it was a very fun part of my childhood.

When it gets to around 10 o’clock, things will start to calm down a bit. After getting changed into our pajamas, we might sit down and watch a movie. One of my favorite memories was when I had my friends over and we watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail while flipped on our backs, so we saw the movie upside-down. Other times we will each use the computer to play games or get on Facebook. Most of the time, each of us has our own laptop, so we will do something by ourselves while talking to everyone else.

Another phase is when it gets to be past 1 o’clock in the morning. By this time, most of the girls are sleepy already. However, in most cases, one simply does not sleep at a sleepover. Even though it is called a “sleepover” my friends and I agree that it defeats the purpose to actually sleep. We usually keep doing whatever we are doing. However, after 1 o’clock, we are slightly crazier and we will often say weird things (possibly due to the sleepiness). Most of us end up falling asleep at around 5 or 6 a.m. in the morning. We sleep until noon most of the time.

After waking up, most of us are still feeling half asleep. However, we drag ourselves up to go eat lunch. Often, lunch consists of the leftover pizza from the night before. After lunch, the guests will go pack up their things and then we will lounge around until their parents come to pick them up.

Sleepovers are a great bonding experience for girls. While the activities are different all around, the feelings are still the same. We all experience joy, happiness, and excitement. Sleepovers are fun because we get to be with our friends, which are the most important thing.

去朋友家過夜的通宵派對在美國已經(jīng)不是什么新鮮事了，“通宵派對”這個詞往往會讓人聯(lián)想起這樣的場景：一群穿著毛絨睡衣的女孩子正在“枕頭大戰(zhàn)”，給彼此化妝，七嘴八舌地八卦。我敢說許多通宵派對都是這個路子(我參加過不少這樣的通宵派對)，但我的通宵派對往往不是這樣的。從小，我就沒有太多的“女孩子氣”，對我來說化妝和做頭發(fā)并不是那么有趣。不過通宵派對總歸是有一些共同之處，待我細細說來。

通常，派對狂歡會在傍晚時分開始。女孩們背著外宿一夜用的旅行包三三兩兩地出現(xiàn)，還要再帶上一只睡袋和一個枕頭。我總覺得這個習(xí)慣挺有趣的。在床墊上睡要舒服得多，但許多女孩還是選擇要睡在睡袋里。

所有的客人都到了之后，通常要先開始晚餐。盡管不同派對晚餐的食物各異，但最常見的食物是比薩餅。用比薩餅招待一大群客人非常方便，往往最挑剔的客人也會享受比薩餅的美味。或者是大家一起出去吃，或是點一些其他種類的外賣。令人吃驚的是，青春期的女孩子吃得要比人們想象中的多得多。幾個月以前，我邀請兩個朋友來通宵派對，我們很快就消滅了兩大份“達美樂”比薩餅和一份肉桂牛排。

吃完飯后，我和朋友們回到我的房間，開始滑稽瘋狂的派對：有時會是熱舞派對，有時會上網(wǎng)玩游戲，還有時玩角色扮演游戲，這也是我兒時最愛的派對內(nèi)容之一。我和朋友們都是閱讀愛好者和電影迷，所以我們經(jīng)常會各自扮成自己最喜愛的書籍或電影中的人物。這聽上去肯定傻乎乎的，但它卻是我童年時代特別快樂開心的經(jīng)歷。

晚上10點左右，派對氣氛會稍微緩和一些。換完睡衣后，我們可能會坐下來看一部電影。我回憶中最美好的場景之一就是把朋友們邀請過來一起看電影《巨蟒與圣杯》，我們翻過來仰躺著，所以看到的畫面也都是倒著的。有時我們還會用自己的電腦玩游戲或瀏覽“臉譜網(wǎng)”。大多數(shù)時候，我們還是會一邊聊天，一邊各自對著筆記本做自己的事。

通宵派對的下一個階段是過了凌晨一點的時候。到那個時間，大部分女孩都已經(jīng)很困了。但是，大多數(shù)情況下，我們在派對上就是不去睡覺。盡管通宵派對的字面意思包含了“睡覺”的含義，我和朋友們都認為派對的真正意義并不在于睡覺。這時，我們往往還是會繼續(xù)進行正在做的事。然而，1點鐘以后，我們會變得有點小瘋狂，常常會講一些奇奇怪怪的事(也許是趁著睡意吧)。我們中大多數(shù)人最后會在凌晨5點到6點左右睡著，通常我們睡到中午才起床。

醒了以后，我們中大多數(shù)人依然是睡眼惺忪的。盡管如此，我們還是會掙扎著起來一起去吃午飯。通常午飯會吃前一晚剩下的比薩餅。午飯后，客人們各自收拾好自己的行李，然后我們百無聊賴地打發(fā)時間，等待各自的父母把她們接回家。

通宵派對對女孩們來說是拉近彼此關(guān)系的絕好機會。盡管派對的形式各異，但參與者心中的感覺總是大致類似的。我們都會體驗到喜悅、快樂和激動。通宵派對的開心之處在于我們和自己的好朋友相處，這才是生活中最重要的事情。