August 8, 2006 Any parent who has presided over a girl’s sleepover will well know the problems – no sleep, lots of noise and mess, and a totally disrupted home. Indeed, it’s one aspect of a child’s growing up that is tailor-made for outsourcing and sure enough, it’s now on offer.

Based on research that shows British parents annually spend over a GBP1 billion on kids' parties, speciality hotel Alton Towers has created a purpose built sleepover suite where up to six friends can hold the ultimate girls' sleepover party.

Some absolute "must-haves" for the design included the ability to have very loud pop music, make up and styling products galore, movie marathons plus party food on tap. As a result the soundproofed room features the latest home entertainment systems, karaoke and dance area, theatrical style dressing tables and cleverly designed Chill-out beds which can clip together to make one big bed for gossip sessions! The Sleepover suite pilot scheme opened on July 14 and is priced from GBP300 – not surprisingly, demand is very strong.