The Slumber Party Crew: How The Next Brilliant Business Idea Could Be Yours

Every girl I knew as a kid read The Babysitters Club book series. And every girl I knew had the thought of, “I could start a babysitting club in my own neighborhood!” This never actually panned out for every girl. I mean – Claudia Kishi had the luxury of her own phone line, which seemed to be the magical key for their entire organization.

A group of three sisters in the New Jersey/New York City area had the (brilliant) idea of starting up something kind of similar that they called “Slumber Party Crew”. And while there’s not a ton of information about them on the internet yet, besides this ad regarding their service – why didn’t anyone think of this concept before? Getting paid to help someone have an amazing birthday?

The girls offer to make sundaes, bake cupcakes, or do a craft with the girls, as well as hair, makeup, nails, or facials (a choice of two!) and provide songs, games, and clean up. Let me tell you this: The most memorable friend birthday parties were the ones where someone else came in to help me tame my nightmare mane, and make me feel super pretty. (There was nothing better than the french braid that went across the top of your head, am I right?)

The amount of pillow fights that the crew allows remains unconfirmed, but then again, those things happen pretty spontaneously.

Even better, the crew cleans up when the party wraps up. So, parents? Minimal headaches for you. All you need to do is hit up a Redbox prior to, and find something that doesn’t necessarily have a PG rating attached to it. Or, you can even join the party.

It’s never too late to take your own ideas and run with it – and while you might have aged out of babysitting (or at least, in club form) there are other ways to make some extra cash while doing something you absolutely love. Especially in the summer time!

When I was a kid, a friend and I had a pet-sitting “company”. And while we only had one client (the neighbors across the street from me), it was a lot of fun because we both loved animals. It wasn’t necessarily work – it was just an extension of summer for us. Today, I don’t have the neighborhood connection that I used to, and would love it if a truly animal-compatible friend had a service where he or she took time to feed, walk, and socialize with my dog on his own home turf. Starting up a dog-sitting service is a great mini-business you can maintain if you’ve got a knack for taking care of pets.

If you’re talented with photography, you can always offer your services up for friends weddings and events. Professional photographs can be truly expensive, but who can pass up on hiring someone to document their big event? If you’re already going to be a guest at the wedding, you can make the event even more memorable for your friend (and yourself!) by catching a lot of the behind-the-scenes moments that typical guests don’t get to witness. And wouldn’t it be great to know that your creative skills will help them remember the day for a lifetime?

Remember back in the day, when stores cropped up all over the place that helped you sell your items on eBay? If you’re skilled with the internet, and are familiar with the best ways to pitch a product, you can help friends sell their unwanted things online. The best eBay ads show clear pictures, accurate item descriptions, and can make the viewer feel as if they need that pair of (slightly used) Jimmy Choo’s now. By offering to give your friend’s stuff a temporary home, and creating a killer ad for it, it makes sense to split the profits.

Or, feel free to think bigger! While the ideas above aren’t something you should necessarily quit your day job over, they’ll at least make you feel good about helping your friends and neighborhood. But if there’s something you really want to do (start up your own website, or even a small business!), what’s stopping you from doing the research and seeing if you can obtain your goals? After all, the Slumber Party Crew – and fictionally, the Babysitters Club – both started as just an idea. Whose to say the next big, great idea can’t be yours?

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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