PRINCESS Party!!!

We adopted one of our daughter's from Ethiopia when she was almost 5 years old. Up to that point, she had never had one of her birthdays celebrated. So, when she turned 6, we made sure her first-ever birthday party would be one to remember! After coming to America, she very quickly became enchanted by Disney Princesses. So for her birthday, she asked for a Princess Party! It was a very fun party to plan!!!

Invitations:
-I made scrolls by first painting 2 thin dowels with knobs on each end sparkly purple (2 dowels and 4 knobs for each invitation). Then I printed the invitations on legal size paper so they were long like a scroll. Then I rolled each scroll and tied it with a ribbon that had a small tag with the name of the priness being invited.

Here is the wording:

Hear ye! Hear ye!

By royal decree you are cordially invited to attend a

Grand Ball

Celebrating the 6^th Birthday of the Beautiful

Princess _________

of the Land of _________!

Please wear your most royal gown and have your carriage arrive on

Saturday, April 23^rd

to the Ba****d Castle (address)

The magical ball will begin when the clock strikes 12 and

your driver may arrive to return you home at 3:00.

A grand feast is being prepared, along with many other enchanting festivities. 

The castle must prepare for your arrival so the King and Queen request your RSVP no late than, April 16^th, at ____email/phone_______.

Decor:
-Red carpet (orientaltrading.com) up the driveway to the porch
-we covered our sofa, and coffee table with white sheets
-hung tulle from the ceiling of our living room and the ceiling of our dining area
-we sprinkled silk rose petals in the tulle (that was hanging) and all over the floor
-our big splurge was a "Scene Setter" we purchased at Party City. These are great if you need to cover a large wall and create an atmosphere. We got the Princess Ball Room version and it covered our 8 foot tall, 12 foot long wall in our living room....it really transformed our home into a "castle". It cost $20, but after the party, we hung it on one of the walls in our girls' bedroom.....it is still there 2.5 years later (I call that money well spent).

This is the best picture I have of the "Scene Setter" in the background

Arrival:
-It helps to have great brothers who are awesome about playing along....because as the guests arrived, they were greeted by 2 handsome princes dressed in suit pants, dress shirts, vests, ties, and crowns (the youngest brother even wore a pink shirt for his sister...that is love my friends). As the arriving princesses walked up the red carpet to our "castle", the oldest brother would open our front door and loudly announce, "Now announcing the arrival of Lady_______ (fill in the blank) from the Land of ________ (local city)". As they entered our living room, the youngest brother would approach each princess with a small pillow that we tied fancy princess rings to and would say, "Welcome to the ball, please pick a ring!"

-Then the guests went to a small table to decorate their goblet (found 2 packs of pink plastic goblets at the 99cent Store) with sticker jewels. Then, they placed their goblet on the table all set for the Grand Feast.

The guests could also get their nails painted and decorated at another table....a lady has to look perfect for a ball!

Food:

We had Grand Feast! PB&J sandwiches cut with a princess crown-shaped cookie cutter, fruit salad, cheese platter, veggie trays....all set on my best platters and tiered serving trays. 

-I made a special punch to drink from Sprite and sherbet. 

-At each place setting was a heart shaped plate (purchased for 20 cents when Target had Valentine's Day merchandise 90% off)....I gave my boys' my "formal" china (biggest wedding registry mistake)...I did not have the "heart" to make them eat on heart-shaped plates, a silk rose, and the goblet each princess made upon arrival.

Activities/Games:
We played games that focused on each Disney Princess. After each game, the guests received a special gem (a sparkly bead). After all of the games were played, the guests took all of their gems and made a bracelet.

The Games:

-Green Gem (Princess Tiana): Pin the Kiss on the Frog---I printed a clip art image from the movie on large paper, and lips to "kiss" the frog. 

-Blue Gem (Cinderella): Find the Glass Slipper---I found small plastic slippers (I think they were intended to be used for party favors for weddings) on orientaltrading.com and hid them in the backyard. There were enough for every princess to find one.

-Red Gem (Snow White): Pass the Poison Apple----Just like Hot Potato, but with a perfect red apple. We had a CD of Disney Princess music so we used that for the songs.

-Purple Gem (Repunzel)-Where is Repunzel's Hair?---The girls stood in a circle, one girl was “it” in the middle. The guests cupped their hands behind their backs, the girl who was "it" closed and covered her eyes, and I walked around the circle and secretly put a lock of Repunzels hair (yes...I chopped a chunk of hair off of one of my girls' dolls......shhhh, they never noticed) into the hands of one of the girls. The girl in the middle had to try to guess who had Repunzel's hair.

-Yellow Gem (Belle)-Find The Rose---I printed clip art images of roses and tucked them into various pages of books (since Belle loved to read) and had the guests flip through the books to find them

Princess making her Royal Bracelet (from all of the gems she collected during the games)

Cake: Store-bought "Disney Princess" cake from Sam's Club....cheap and easy. Real SUPER MOMS never feel guilty about store-bought items!

Party Favors:
-The bracelets the girls made with their special gems from the games
-Their goblet
-The silk rose from their place-setting
-The glass slipper from the Cinderella game
-We also had a candy bar and when each guest was ready to leave the ball, they were allowed to fill a small treat bag with the candies of their choice. All of the candies were purchased when the Valentine's Day candy was 90% off at Target....I did this candy bar for less than $10.

Candy Bar....I created large stickers on Microsoft Word using sticker paper (from Office Depot)
for the  "Mirror, Mirror on the wall..."

And they lived happily ever after......