New York Buzz: American Museum of Natural History to Host Adults-Only Sleepover

This looks like a fantastic way to see an iconic New York City institution: On Friday, August 1, the American Museum of Natural History will host its first-ever adults-only sleepover, building on the A Night at the Museum sleepover program that has brought thousands of kids and their families to explore the Museum after hours for eight years. 

A limited number of 21-and-up guests will be able to take part in the event at A Night at the Museum for Grown-Ups, which will include special guided tours, food, music, drinks, and behind-the-scenes access. The event will last from 6:30 pm until 9 am the next morning.

The evening will begin with a champagne reception and music provided by the 12th Night Jazz trio in the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall. An estimated 150 will be able to roam through the nearly empty halls of the Museum and get up-close-and-personal with the elephants in the Akeley Hall of African Mammals the museum's dinosaur skeletons, including a 65-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex, during a flashlight tour through the darkened fossil halls. 

Participants can also attend a special presentation in The Power of Poison exhibition with Curator Mark Siddall; visit Spiders Alive! and see more than 20 species of live arachnids (including tarantulas, scorpions, and African whip spiders); attend a midnight viewing of the Dark Universe Space Show, narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson; or look at wild creatures during a live animal demonstration in the Kaufmann Theater. 

A three-course dinner will be served. As the evening winds down, the participants will be able to unroll their sleeping bags and sleep under the 94-foot-long blue whale in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. A “Lunar Lounge” in the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, which will be open from 1:30 to 7 am and equipped with charging stations and tea service, will offer an oasis for night owls. Wake-up is scheduled for 7 am with a breakfast snack.

For more information call 212-769-5200 or visit www.amnh.org/sleepovers.