A few days ago, someone asked me how old is our first daughter. Hearing myself answer “five” sounded kind of weird. How in the world is she already five? Those little kids do grow up fast for sure!
We celebrated her birthday back in November, a week before her actual birthday which is on the 29. With Thanksgiving just before her birthday, it sometimes makes it difficult to have her party on the actual day. Especially when friends are gone out of town for the holiday. Since she was turning 5, and actually understood what it was to have a birthday, I thought it would be nice to have a few of her friends come out to help her celebrate. This year, one friend was going to be out of town the day of her birthday. Hosting the party before not only got her friends to come out but it was a huge help to me, too, not having to do it right after Thanksgiving. It really was a breeze.
And of course, here we are with another princess themed party. My original intent was to do something with gold and black but little missy wanted pink and princess. We ended up going with a Princess Aurora theme. I think it turned out well.ย Everything ran so smoothly as was commented by the moms who brought their girls. We sure had a fabulous time!
Rather than doing lots of decorations with Snow White photos on them, I opted for a few statement pieces and included shades of pink in the various shades of Princess Aurora’s gown. I decided to make most of the decorative pieces to cut down on cost. Plus, I thought it would be fun to just make them. I actually enjoyed making them and was happy to finishย them almost a week before the party. I started early doing a little each day. I knew I needed to start early because with a baby on hand it would not have been possible if I did not start early. ย By the way, Pinterest was a big help in helping me choose some of the decorative pieces. You can find my Kids Birthday board here.
And did I mention we had our very first snow of the season on that same day, too? And not just a little light flurry; I am talking snow storm and all. But nothing like this stops Chicago people – they certainly are used to it!
The birthday girl and her sisterย even had time to play out in the snow in the morning of the party. Then they came in and drank hot tea and got ready for the party:)
Here is a virtual tour of the party. I hope you enjoy the rest of the photos. One of the things I am most bummed out about is that the photos did not turn out so well. But at least I have something to show for it. Ps..Look out for the cake – I made it:)
I used a curtain from their room to decorate the window in the family room, and did a few decorative pieces for the area (AKA Princess Aurora’s crown and necklace). The curtain worked well as it has that two toned color similar to Princess Aurora’s costume.
I bought the scrapbookย paper from Jo-Ann Fabric, print out some stuff on the computer, traced them to paper, and used glitter and glueย to finish the pieces.
Tulle seems to be used regularly when it comes to decorating a Sleeping Beauty birthday so you will see many items decorated with tulle. For instance, these pom-poms were made from tulle. Again, thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find some links and follow some simple instructions to make them. I think they turned out well for my first time plus I did not spend much time cutting them properly, either.
I decorated the mantle with tin cans the kids already had, a few boxes I bought from Walmart, a photo I already had and a happy birthday banner. I bought the circles on sale from Target and wrote the letters on them. The circles, boxes, and pink letter “S” together cost around $5.
The vase, mirror, and furry things were already at home. The rest of the decor were nick-nacks I bought for the party.
And my favorite DIY yet is this tutu dress I made for her. She absolutely loved it and still does. Although, we found it easier to just remove the shoulder straps and just were it as a skirt. You’ve got to love Pinterest. My intent was to make this dress a little longer but I cut them the tulle too short and did not feel like spending more money. The tulle itself was very inexpensive at Jo-Ann Fabric. I believe it was a few cents per yard.
OK….moving on to the order of events. I made me a little reminder of how I wanted the party to flow and stuck it on the fridge. It really helped my husband, too, who was in charge of the games.
The little inviteesย were asked to wear a princess dress for the party. Since my girls have a bunch of dress-up dresses, I put some out in a box so if a kid did not have a dress, she could put one on when she came.
The first activity on the list was to make crowns. I found these foam crowns with lots of stickers and letters at Amazon. I used this large coffee table and set up throw pillows all around it for the girls to sit.
I wrote each child’s name on a crown and set it on the table. I also set some stickers beside each crown.
The kids then finished decorating their crowns however they liked. It was great to have two moms who stayed to help out. Last year, I babysat Sophia (in the blue) for a few months. This is her mom.
After the crows were made, we did some games. They were really short games which probably took around 20-25 minutes altogether. My husband helped me decide on the type of games to play as I was stumped for ideas!!!!
The first game was a “Treasure Hunt”. I set up a treasure box with little princess items (found mainly at the dollar store and some at Walmart). I hid some of these little chocolate candies that look like coins for the kids to find them. I also wrote numbers 1, 2, & 3 on the coins and coordinated them with matching gifts (see next image).
These pink boxes have the gifts in them. If you look closely, you will see a candy coin next to each box. The numbers on them coordinate with the hidden coins. When the kids find the coins, they would chose a gift from the box that matches with the number on their coin. And of course, they can eat their chocolate candy coin, too. They were a big hit!!!
Next game was called “Crystal carry”. The idea was to place a small pinkย block of ice on a spoon and have the kids carry it and place it in a bowl without dropping it. They love it so we did a couple rounds of it.
The final game we called “Musical Shoes”. It was played like musical chairs only we had the kids sit in a circle and pass a slipper around. They had fun with this one too. It is like every next game was an even bigger hit. So much fun!
And of course, a princess has got to eat right? So let’s talk about the food! We decided to serve the girls a light snack as the party was from 2-3:30. While we would have preferred an earlier time like around 10 or so, my husband was not going to be home during this time. He coaches basketball and already had some games scheduled before we decidedย on a party date.
So what’s on the menu: Ham & Swiss cheese sandwiches (I used Hawaiian rolls), Strawberry yogurt, popcorn, watermelon, cookies & pink lemonade.
I DIY-ed the glittered little drinking glasses, the centerpieces, and the spray painted the Mason jars, too.
I loved addingย a touchย of glitter to several pieces.
Those cookies were so good! I made them using a cookie mix from Betty Crocker and use princess inspired cookie cutters to shape them. I am no cookie decorator but they tasted better than they look. Trust me!!!
I put some of them in favor bags for the girls to take home. And we had a ball eating the rest!
And don’t even ask about my not-so-well DIY decorated cupcakes. Just remember, the taste was great!!
And this 5 layer cake – oh my! My secret? Use box mixes and to bake the cakes. Check. Decorate with whipped cream. Check. Place in fridge until the day of the party. Check. Bring out an hour or so before eating. Check!
I used some strawberry cake mixes for the pink ones. Yum is the word to describe this cake!
And thanks to the lovely kiddos who brought our daughter a gift. All princess inspired. This girls was happy!!
I did her a pre-gift just for the party as I was waiting until later to get her bigger gift. I really loved this birthday gift in a jarย idea. I bought a bunch of stuff she would like such as underwear, socks, necklaces, kids nail polish, hair accessories, and even a gift card and placed it all in a large Mason jar. Yes, they all fit in there.
Here are some of the gifts she received from the jar and from her friends. She still loves every one of them!
And of course, we cannot forget party favors for the little ones who were so kind to come out and support. I tied each bag with a piece of tulle.
Here is what’s in each bag: a tutu skirt (I did not make them), necklaces, a mini wand, cookies, and a “Thank You” card.
The following day, after church, we had our family photo shoot for Christmas and then we took her to the mall to Claire’s store to pick out some things. Then we celebrated with a meal at a restaurant. Long day, but it was all good.
Sporting a glasses and a Rapunzel purse filled with some stuff she chose. I so love her choices. She also chose a few items for her sister, too, which was really nice of her (mom prompted, of course).
Proudly wearing that DIY tutu dress and having some of that delicious cake.
Whooooo, that was way too many photos. Hope you all enjoyed them!!
So tell me, do you have little girls who seems to always want a princess themed party? I would love to know in the comments!!
What a beautiful, pink princess party! I love the way you decorated and that little tutu dress is awesome! I would love a slice of the cake. I can tell all the girls had a great time playing princess. They do grow fast, don’t they?
Surely, you can have some cake! I think the tutu and the cake are my favorites, too!