The majority of the time the fact that the girls are only 13 months apart in age has worked as an unplanned godsend for our family. Their childhood has become a perpetual playdate and taking them places is usually relatively easy because developmentally they're always at similar stages. But then comes birthday party season. Ugh. Within, literally, minutes of F's birthday party ending, P already started asking "can we talk about my party now?" (I make it a rule that we have to finish one party before we can plan the next).
For P's 6th birthday she really wanted a huge sleepover. Luckily, most other children and their parents said no before I even had a chance to quash the idea. So instead Dan invented the "stayover" (which all my kids now think is a real word). For a stayover, the kids arrive at night wearing pajamas and they stay until bedtime, when their parent arrive to cart them home (exhausted and high on cake). This sounded easy enough, except that when you plan a party that starts on Saturday night, you're never sure to what extent the tired kids will rally - anything is possible.
We started the night out with Nutcracker sticker scenes from Oriental Trading Company (until all the kids arrived), then the girls decorated pillowcases (I bought these
in bulk) with paints, markers, and various felt stickers (that stay on in the laundry). 
It's always important to bring your sword to a pajama party. Of course.
After the pillowcases became masterpieces, we cranked up the tunes for a glowstick dance party. In case you're wondering, the kindergarten crowd can DANCE. Seriously, these kids have MOVES. I bought each girl one of these - LED Foam Light Stick Baton Supreme - Multicolor Color Changing
- and they were quite a hit (I've had multiple parents ask me where they can buy more - obviously Amazon, as I don't shop in stores anymore). 
The girls could have danced all night, but I was exhausted - so time for a movie and popcorn. P wanted to watch McKenna (the American Girl movie), which seemed innocuous enough for a large group. Some girls became bored during the movie, so I kept art supplies on all the tables.
Finally, the girls ate My Little Pony birthday cake from the Safeway bakery, which P asks for whenever we grocery shop. Then P blew out all her candles and the fun started to end (thank god). A group of girls went home to sleep, as did I - grateful for the finish of 2012's birthday party season.
A stayover sounds like a really neat idea. Like a sleepover with 1/4 of the stress! Looks like everyone had a lot of fun. :) Happy birthday, P!
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