Cramped Cots Mar Natural History Museum’s Adult Sleepover

Sleepover at the Museum of Natural History. Photo: courtesy the American Museum of Natural History, New York.

Last weekend, the American Museum of Natural History hosted its first-ever sleepover for grown-ups, reports Reuters. The 21-and-over evening boasted live jazz and a champagne toast, as well as a three-course dinner and a late-night snack.

Don’t beat yourself up for not snagging a ticket though: the event sold out within three hours of tickets going on sale, and even artnet News was denied an elusive press pass to the event. Plus, at $375 a pop ($325 for members), it’s hard to imagine a more expensive museum visit.

According to Gothamist, there were themed tours highlighting museum collection sectors like fossils, sharks, and outer space, as well as a class on the power of poison. Until lights out at 1:30 a.m., it was basically a champagne-fueled free-for-all, with many attendees choosing to venture out on their own. Despite the best efforts of mischievous visitors, some of whom came prepared with flasks—as overheard by the New York Times, “It really shouldn’t end until something’s been tipped over.”—the evening was ultimately a fairly low-key affair, which bodes well for the likelihood of future adult sleepovers.

Guests slept on cots under the recently cleaned 94-foot-long fiberglass blue whale—in considerable discomfort, according to the Times, and sans pajamas, which were ruled too potentially provocative. By morning, and the 7 a.m. wake-up call, everyone seemed ready to leave, childhood fantasies hopefully fulfilled.

Meanwhile, the Night at the Museum movie franchise, credited with causing an upsurge in museum attendance (family sleepovers, which have hosted 62,000 guests, were introduced in 2006, when the first film made its debut), keeps chugging along. A third film Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, is coming to theaters on December 19. As reported by the Huffington Post, Ben Stiller will lead a cast that includes Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais, Rebel Wilson, and, yes, Crystal the Monkey across the Atlantic to London’s British Museum.


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