Preparing For Sleepovers With A DIY Personalized Pillowcase

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Read on to learn why we love GoodNites products and how they will help my bed wetter feel confident enough to go to sleepovers this school year! (If only his mom was as ready as he is….)

The school year brings more time with friends and with that comes invitations to birthday parties and requests for play dates and sleepovers. My kids haven’t had sleepovers with their friends yet but I know that is coming soon now that they are in 2nd and 3rd grade. Lucas would be so excited to go to a friend’s house for a sleepover but a few questions arise when thinking about this typical childhood “rite of passage”.

First of all, he’s my baby and he’s never slept over anywhere since he was a toddler so that would be hard for me. My main concern though is mostly related to his Autism and how the parents would handle that. I think I’d have to know them very well and them know him extremely well and us both know that they’d be able (and willing!) to handle his meltdowns. He’s high functioning, so many times he is just like any other 2nd grader, but sometimes he gets overwhelmed. Taking care of a child on the Autism Spectrum is a lot to ask of someone!

Another issue of concern is that he still wets the bed at night sometimes. Though 1 in 6 kids age 4-12 wet the bed once or more per week after potty training ends, I know that he is embarrassed by it. Being seven and not wanting anyone to think he’s a “baby”, I know he’d be devastated if he had a nighttime accident while at a friend’s house and woke up in wet pajamas.

While I can’t overcome the fear of the unknown “what if’s” that accompany raising a child with special needs, I figured out a solution to the whole bed wetting issue! No, I didn’t magically stop him from wetting the bed, but I did come up with a way of hiding it if he does have an accident at night while he’s at a sleepover.

We bought him more GoodNites TruFit Underwear. They look and feel like real underwear but they hold absorbent, disposable inserts that provide outstanding nighttime protection that keep sheets and pajamas dry all night long. (We’ve used these before when we go on vacation and sleep in hotel beds and we love them!)

In addition, we personalized a pillowcase he could carry to sleepovers and inside the pillowcase we created a space for him to hide his GoodNites TruFit Underwear and inserts. It was easy to do by using a zippered protective sleeve inside the pillowcase. When it’s time for bed he can just unzip the pillow protector, pull them out and put them on under his pajamas. He then is ready for bed and can go to sleep confident that he won’t wake up in wet pajamas!

Personalizing the pillowcase was easy and a fun craft for him to do with mommy!

Here is what you need:

• Fabric markers
• Stencils
• White pillowcase
• Zippered pillow protector
• Pillow
• Piece of cardboard (optional but recommended)

Directions to make a personalized pillowcase:

1) Decide what stencils you want to use and where you want them on the pillowcase. Lucas chose to do the letters of his name and some favorite animals.

2) Put the piece of cardboard inside the pillowcase so that the marker does not bleed through to the other side of the pillowcase

3) Set your stencil where you want it and color inside of the stencil. Repeat for as many stencils as you have.

4) Put the zippered pillow protector on your pillow and then put the decorated pillowcase over that one

Once that is done, put your GoodNites TruFit Underwear and an insert in the zippered pillow protector, zip it up and your child is ready to go to their friend’s house or Grandma’s!

There are a couple other products in the GoodNites line that are great for children who wet their bed. GoodNites Bedtime Pants are more absorbent vs the leading training pant and have 25% stretchier sides to fit and move more like underwear. GoodNites Bed Mats are also available. These disposable mats that have a waterproof backing and can be placed directly on the bed to help cut down on sheet changes. They are designed with micro-pocket technology to lock in odor.

GoodNites are the #1 night time protection brand and all of their products can be found at Walmart. While supplies last, you can save $2 on them! The coupon will be live during certain periods so keep checking back for more chances to get the coupon.

How do you prepare for sleepovers? I’d love to hear some of your tips since this is a new chapter in my parenting journey!