Creative Mamas- help me plan a "princess" party!

[LarsMal]

I went into the pottery shop over the weekend to schedule M's birthday party, only to find out the woman is closing the store in the next month. Boo!

The only way I could get M to stop crying about it (heartbreaking) was to suggest we have a princess party. I told her we could have a party with just the girls, tell everyone they can dress up in their favorite princess outfit (or party dress if they don't have one) and have a party at our house. She is very excited, but now I need to figure out how to make it a GOOD princess party!

I was thinking of making some sort of pin the crown on the princess game and making lunch look a little fancy (like a tea party).

What else? I am looking for a good craft idea, party favors, maybe another game.

Any suggestions?? TIA!

Also, is 1.5 hours okay for a home party? I was thinking 11-12:30.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I am so uncreative but I know how to research Family Fun's website and the below always help! http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/the_princess_party.html

The Birthday Party Ideas one will take you to the big section all about princess parties. I am always in awe of the creativity of folks out there...and I always look pretty good when I host b/c I steal all of those ideas. :)

Beth

[JTsMom]

Oooooh, I want to play! I can get my girly fix vicariously through you. :ROTFLMAO:

How about ribbon wands for a craft and/or favor? You could have dowels pre-painted pink or purple, and let the girls choose which ribbons and do-dads to put on them. You could have tulle, little stick on gems, maybe some sparkly stars, glitter, etc. depending on how much you think you/they could handle.

You can make a fancy throne for M.

I would definitely incorporate some tulle and twinkly lights into the decorations.

How about some type of pink, sparkling punch? (Sprite plus fruit punch, etc.)

What was the name of that blog with the elaborate fairy party in the woods that stirred up all of the controversy? I'll bet you could borrow some good ideas from that.

[Twoboos]

I was also going to say a wand as a party gift!

I think in Family Fun, there is directions for cupcakes that all have "crowns" on top. It was so cute I ripped it out to keep. I will look...

ETA, they are even cuter than I remembered!!

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/queen-for-a-day-cupcakes-877102/

One more, this one is cute too!
http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/birthday-cake-photo-gallery-842668/#Cookie%20Crown%20Cake;7

[JTsMom]

Found it!
http://www.kellehampton.com/2010/05/my-girl-her-really-fabulous-party.html

[happymom]

You could also decorate tiaras as a craft. You could either cut them out of carboard yourself and have the kids color them and glue on gems and glitter, or just order a craft kit like this one from orientaltrading-
http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?demandPrefix=12&sku=48/1328&prodCatId=1307&mode=Browsing&erec=14&Ntx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&sp=true&categoryFromSearch=true&Ntk=all&requestURI=processProductsCatalog&Ipp=16&N=1307&No=64&rd=princess&sd=Create-A-Tiara+Craft+Kit

[JTsMom]

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/queen-for-a-day-cupcakes-877102/

So cute! They'd also be easy.

[Melaine]

My girls LOOOOVE the pink tiara haircombs we found recently in the Dollar spot. They stay in perfectly and are super cute.

[Twoboos]

Ohhh I forgot, there's also the cake with the Barbie in it!! I had one of these once and I was SO excited!

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/princess-cake-686330/

[sunriseiz]

We had the Barbie-doll cake and made wands for DD's 5 yo party and it seemed to be a big hit. All the girls wore their favorite costume and mostly ran around and had fun. Oh, and we had a 'pull the string' princess castle pinata. Just have fun! :)

ETA: We had a few boys come also, so they were knights and decorated crowns and shields (from gold poster board). They didn't mind all of the girly girls!

[MommyAllison]

We did a tea party last year, and DD is asking for the same this year. :) I got pink & white wands in the $1 section at Joanns (they also have cute silver sequin crowns on headbands right now). Perfect favor. We also made crowns - DH drew them on white posterboard, we cut out one for each girl and set them out with our huge craft jar (full of everything - sequins, glitter glue, feathers, beads, stickers, etc etc) and markers. That was the activity we did as everyone arrived, then they danced for awhile w/crowns and wands. Most of the girls came dressed up as princesses, and then added on to their outfits from DD's dress up chest.

Then we had the tea party - finger sandwiches, muffins, "tea" (apple cider), fruit. They played for awhile after that (if we do it again this year they'll probably watch the princess Veggie Tale Sweetpea Beauty), then did more tea, fruit and dessert (cheesecake balls dipped in chocolate & toppings). Our party was 2.5 hours. It was really super fun :) DS went to grandma's house, so it was just the girls, and they all loved it!

ETA: Just read other replies and saw my comments are duplicates of previous comments :) have fun!

[elephantmeg]

a friend of mine had one for her DD. Here is some of the words from her blog. I don't want to share her blog here online..

"I had, in a moment of temporary insanity, invited 10 little girls over to our house for a Princess Tea Party. In the end we had 6 girls who came in their fancy dresses to partake of tea and tea sandwiches.
I made sugar cookies and decorated two for each girl-one with her initial and a heart or butterfly that they could choose. (DD) and I had decided ahead of time not to have a cake because cake didn't "fit" into the tea party

We had a "Pin the Crown on the Princess" game to play. It also made a great backdrop for the girls to get their pictures taken with.

(DD) wanted "pickle flowers" which are the little green and white sandwiches you see. They are so easy to make and so good! I also made raspberry tea sandwiches, which were delectable. A simple veggie tray rounded out the menu...except for the tea...and the sugar cubes, but sugar cubes aren't really a food item, are they?? Well they were at this party! I wish you could have seen the amount of sugary syrup left in the bottom of those tea cups! The girls went through a whole sugar bowl of cubes!! Also, on a funny note-I had forgotten to make some ice before the party (We generally don't have ice on hand.) and so when they tea was too hot to drink, we had to resort to using frozen strawberries in our Wild Berry Zinger tea. Of course the girls loved it!"

[Melanie]

Face-painting, definitely!

Make-your-own wand or tiara crafts.

Decorate your own cookie.

Cute little sandwiches and drinks served in tea cups.

[LarsMal]

Just a quick reply to say thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!

I have so many ideas swirling in my head now, and I haven't had a chance to check out the links yet! I'll report back after I look at everything and think about what I can actually DO!

Love the idea of apple cider (I'll probably do juice) as "tea". The girls will all be young 4's, with a couple younger sisters, so I was worried about doing hot tea. I think I'll have some available (for moms or for girls who want to try it). Apple juice will be a good alternative.

Couple questions: What cups should I use for tea? Actual china?

Meg- How did you do the Pin the Crown on the Princess? Did you print something off or make your own?

So many great ideas. Must focus now or I will try to do them all!!

[jent]

I saw once (I think from someone here) something about a tea party where the girls wore fancy dresses and the Dad dressed up in a tux and served them. IIRC, the mom got a few cups and saucers from Goodwill or similar to serve the tea in.

[LarsMal]

How about ribbon wands for a craft and/or favor? You could have dowels pre-painted pink or purple, and let the girls choose which ribbons and do-dads to put on them. You could have tulle, little stick on gems, maybe some sparkly stars, glitter, etc. depending on how much you think you/they could handle.


What was the name of that blog with the elaborate fairy party in the woods that stirred up all of the controversy? I'll bet you could borrow some good ideas from that.

I remember when the link for the party was first posted here! I think I could borrow a couple ideas from there- toned down just a few notches!

I like the idea of the ribbon wands (I'm thinking they could decorate a pre-cut cardboard crown and make a ribbon wand). What do you think would be the best way to attach the ribbons to the dowels?

[elephantmeg]

from her pics it appears to be a red haired princess but similar to this one

http://cgi.ebay.com/NIB-BIRTHDAY-PARTY-PIN-CROWN-PRINCESS-GAME-/120654993174?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c17991716

[MommyAllison]

I bought a bunch of teacups and saucers at a thrift store for our party - super, super cheap (less than $3 total), but they were still "fancy" and it didn't matter if they broke (none did!).

Here is an alternative to wands that someone here posted a few weeks ago: http://www.instructables.com/id/Dancing-Ribbon-Rings/

[KrisM]

We did the M&D Deocrate your own Mirror kit: http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Wooden-Princess-Mirror/dp/B000GL1DD6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1291721274&sr=8-1. The 2-pack was super cheap on Amazon last December, so it worked, price-wise.

There are lots of ideas of rprincess castle cakes out there. I used ice cream cones and mini marshmallows to decorate mine.

It's a cute party idea and I"m sure your's will be great!

[JTsMom]

I remember when the link for the party was first posted here! I think I could borrow a couple ideas from there- toned down just a few notches!

I like the idea of the ribbon wands (I'm thinking they could decorate a pre-cut cardboard crown and make a ribbon wand). What do you think would be the best way to attach the ribbons to the dowels?


You could use hot glue, which would be fast, and dry quickly. Obviously, you'd have to have an adult do that part, but if you set it up kind of assembly line style, you could the girls could have everything picked out, then at the end, just attach the ribbons. You could also use something like a fabric glue.

I wonder if you could drill a really small hole- just big enough to lace the ribbons through, knot them, then squirt a dab of glue into the hole to seal everything in place?

[LarsMal]

You could use hot glue, which would be fast, and dry quickly. Obviously, you'd have to have an adult do that part, but if you set it up kind of assembly line style, you could the girls could have everything picked out, then at the end, just attach the ribbons. You could also use something like a fabric glue.

I wonder if you could drill a really small hole- just big enough to lace the ribbons through, knot them, then squirt a dab of glue into the hole to seal everything in place?

Do you think floral wire would work? I was thinking of wrapping the floral wire tightly around the ribbons to hold them in place and then putting a more decorative pipe cleaner on top of that?

I'll have to play around with it. Glue gun would definitely work, and then I could wrap a small ribbon around the glued on ribbons to finish it off.

[LarsMal]

We did the M&D Deocrate your own Mirror kit: http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Wooden-Princess-Mirror/dp/B000GL1DD6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1291721274&sr=8-1. The 2-pack was super cheap on Amazon last December, so it worked, price-wise.


Those are really cute!

[brittone2]

I wonder if you could drill a small eye screw into the end?

[LarsMal]

I bought a bunch of teacups and saucers at a thrift store for our party - super, super cheap (less than $3 total), but they were still "fancy" and it didn't matter if they broke (none did!).

Here is an alternative to wands that someone here posted a few weeks ago: http://www.instructables.com/id/Dancing-Ribbon-Rings/

Oooh...love this idea!

[JTsMom]

I think any of the above would probably work. I thought about something like a screw eye, but then you'd have to either tie the ends, finish them in some way, or make sure it was a really tight squeeze, which might make it hard to thread.