It had been a long week, and Tonna Obaze really wanted to hang out with her friend Bria. But she also didn’t want to get off the couch. A logical solution emerged: a sleepover.

They both worked late that Friday night — Obaze, 28, is the founder of a consulting firm — and Bria arrived in sweats once she finished up. They raided Obaze’s fridge, ordered takeout, and queued up a movie, but they barely made it past the opening credits before launching into a freewheeling conversation covering everything from family to therapy to dating. Eventually, they fell asleep on the couch, side by side. Though the friends both live in New York City, they yearned for more distraction-free time together than a 90-minute dinner reservation afforded.

“There were even a couple tears shed where we, as people in our late 20s, our early 30s, have just been yearning to get back to this friendship where you can sit on the couch and eat whatever’s in the fridge, watch a movie, and just catch up with each other with no ending or timing in sight,” Obaze says.

The humble sleepover is a youthful rite of passage that gradually becomes less thrilling as you age. Once a place for snacks, movies, and staying up way past bedtime, the allure begins to fade as teens gain more independence. Who needs to hole up in a friend’s basement when more exciting activities await? For many who partake in the traditional American college experience, those four years can be seen as one giant sleepover, consisting of romantic and platonic sojourns alike. Then, where, and with whom, you sleep becomes more about function than fun: Shacking up with roommates, romantic partners, and family is a matter of convenience and obligation.

But as the constraints and responsibilities of adulthood mount, and spending time with friends falls lower on the priority list, there’s a case to be made for the sleepover — a purely platonic hangout among friends who simply want to see more of each other. Not to be confused with those of the........

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