bunking party

[Note: This entry was previously bunking vbl n.]

bunking party n chiefly AR, MO

A slumber party.

1898 Daily Reflector (Norwalk OH) 8 Sept [3]/5 (newspaperarchive.com), A bunking party is something absolutely “new under the sun,” and a certain young lady of Summit street is to give one tomorrow night. 1903 Chillicothe Constitution (MO) 20 June [4]/5 (newspaperarchive.com), A Chillicothe girl entertained her friends at a “bunking party” a few days ago. Our society editor is away on a vacation, and we would like very much for some one to tell us what kind of a performance a “bunking party” is. 1928 Blytheville Courier News (AR) 20 July 2/1, Miss Tisha Smith invited her friends to a bunking party at her home. . . Stories were told and pranks played until the wee hours of the morning. 1939 Hearst’s International 107.56 neMO, A bunking party (only we called it bunkinparty, all one word) was a stay-all-night affair for eight or nine of your best girl friends. If you had an accommodating family, they went off to grandma’s, and you popped corn, pelted one another with pillows and giggled the hours through. 1950 Daily Sikeston Std. (MO) [26 Jan 6]/2 (newspaperarchive.com), Bunkin’ Party. This one also took place after the game Friday night, but its host was Bob Keasler. . . Since I’ve never been to a boys’ bunking party, I’m afraid you’ll have to go else-where on the matter of what they spent the night doing. 1968 Union City Daily Messenger (TN) 26 Apr 6/6, Miss Vivian Whitworth recently attended a bunking party. 1980 NW AR Times (Fayetteville) 11 Dec 27/7, Before Angela Brown, a sophomore from Harrisburg, left her dormitory for a bunking party at a friend’s apartment she called ahead. [1983 DARE File nwTN, Bunking, as used in this area, refers to a group of people, generally junior high or younger girls, getting together to spend the night.] 1992 Gazette (Cedar Rapids IA) 13 Nov sec A 8/1 AR, The ultra-hip host asked the Arkansas governor to list his shortcomings. Clinton said they’d have to hold a “bunking party” to allow him time to detail them all. That’s what they call a slumber party or sleepover down in Arkansas. 2006 in 2016 DARE File—Internet nwMO, I just wanted to ask if anyone here knows what the term “bunking party” means. I’ve used this term all my life, but lately when I say it, people look at me like I’m nuts & ask what it means. 2015 Ibid AR, The whole family traveled . . to watch my husband’s cousin get married. The trip consisted of plenty of giggles among the little cousins, a one-room bunking party packed to the corners with air mattresses, and a front-row seat to one of the best-manned dance floors I’ve seen.