Banbury area school girl launches 'sleepover pack' business to help people connect with friends during lockdown

Layla Williams, a 12-year-old Bloxham School pupil, set up the online business through the following website: digisleeplastnight.com as a way to help youngsters and their friends connect with each other.

Amy Walker, Layla's mother, said: "Lots of her friends were missing having sleepovers and struggling with not seeing their friends and she thought this might be a way to help people.

"It has been a great learning experience for her as she has set the website up, designed the logo and written all the copy herself."

Layla came up with the idea when she was thinking of ways for her to keep in touch with her friends during lockdown.

Her father, who runs a design agency in Chipping Norton, thought one of the web designers might be able to help her out getting a website up and running pretty quickly - maybe within about three weeks.

But Layla responded by saying that wasn’t really going to work for her and set out to design the website herself. She created her own website in less than 48 hours using Wix.com, a free website development platform.

The website, digisleeplastnight.com, details how the sleepover packs include sweet and savory treats and recommendations on how to enjoy the 'best' part of the sleepover - the movie.

Layla's website suggests three different ways to watch a movie with a friend, virtually, through a 'How To' section of the website.

Her top recommendation for watching movies together online remotely is through the website twoseven using Google Chrome or Firefox

The sleepover packs available through the website offer the customer several choices from an item called a 'Fidget Pack for Two,' which includes a bag of sweets, some gourmet popcorn, an eyemask, a bar of milk chocolate and lipbalm.

The prices of the sleepover packs through DigiSleepLastNight also include a 'goodie pack' shipped free to two separate addresses for both the customer and a friend.

Layla is also donating 10 per cent of the money made from the sleepover pack business to the NHS.

Her mother, Amy Walker, added: "It doesn’t surprise me that she wanted to donate some of what she earns to the NHS.

"I work as a doctor at Birmingham Children’s Hospital so she is very aware of how important the NHS is to all of us at the moment. We are really proud of her - she comes up with great ideas and she throws herself into making them a reality.

"This is actually Layla's second start up business. The first, Paracord Warehouse, started as an idea with with some holiday friends when she was about 10.

"When we got home she roped her brother into helping to make paracord bracelets and bead necklaces, which she sold to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetic Research Fund because her cousin Oli had recently been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes."