Friday, May 13, 2011

We Survived!

Today I heard the phrase, "when is my Birthday party?" a few too many times.

Because I survived the Easter Party so well, I decided to have Audra's party at our house this year. I had some fun planning it, and I think it turned out great.

The theme was (surprise, surprise) Princesses. Specifically, Princess School.

The guests arrived and were given a checklist of things they needed to learn in order to be a Princess. The list included:
1. Dress like a princess
2. Wear a tiara
3. Walk/wave like a princess
4. Dance like a princess
5. Learn good from evil

For each item on the list, they had to complete a task. They had to  put on a princess dress, then they made tiaras (note: craft stores sale foam crowns kids can decorate for $2.99 each. I cut out crowns out of poster board and I got 12 crowns for $1.79. The kids were just as happy with paper crowns as they would have been with foam crowns, and my pocketbook was much happier as well). Then I took them on a "Princess Parade" where they had to wave and have their hand on their hip. I took them outside where Princess Violet was waiting for them- yes, I hired a Princess (one of the teenage girls from church) to be at the party. The girls LOVED it- even though they were shy! Princess Violet had a wand and one of the little girls said, "I know the princess is real, but not the wand." So cute!!!!

Then we did a little Princess dance with the girls.

Learning good from evil was a little more difficult. I decided to put pictures of either a mean witch or a good princess inside balloons. The girls then popped the balloons and had to find a picture of the good princess to present to Princess Violet. Of course, the girls LOVED this task, but: putting the pictures inside the balloons was incredibly difficult! Unfortunately, I had the really small balloons (I didn't realize this at the time), and my cheeks hurt really bad blowing up those stupid balloons.

From there we had dinner. I made the mistake of visiting a website about how to throw a princess party that said, "Princesses don't eat pizza." That was a bummer, because my original plan was to send Prince Ben to Little Caesar's. Instead of pizza, I made heart shaped jell-o jigglers, fruit kabobs, and PBJ's and cheese sandwiches cut into fun shapes, and kool-aid with strawberry slices in them. Note: 4-year-old princesses would have been just as happy with pizza.

Then we decorated cupcakes (some of you like to spend hours making incredibly beautiful and magnificant cakes. While impressed, I am not like that. Having them decorate their own cupcakes took time during the party- thus reducing the amount of activities I needed to plan- and was a lot easier for me- well, except the clean-up) and opened presents.

Prince Ben and I then spent the next hour cleaning up after the party and wondering if it was worth the money we saved doing the party at home, or if next time we will go somewhere instead. The jury is still out.

I'll have to say a quick word about Claire. She was the biggest obstacle to getting things ready for the party- Prince Ben finally took the girls to the park until just before the party. During the party, she was kind-of trying to figure out how she fit in with all these girls who are just older than her. She truly wants to be a part of them, but doesn't quite fit in. This will be a problem for the next 16 years I think.

Without further ado, here are some pictures (Princess Violet's mom took more way awesome pictures, so I will post more later. Prince Ben was in charge of pictures, and he took a lot more video than still photos):





 Here you can get a glimpse of Princess Violet:

6 comments:

  1. I would much rather make a cake than plan a birthday party. I love the parties you have for your girls. Someday I'll get off my lazy bum and plan an actual birthday party for my kids :)

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  2. We are currently in the "what are we going to do for our first kid party?" discussion. We are very much leaning toward a destination party. :) Good job, though, and very nice princess acquisition - is that a bridesmaid dress? I'm impressed. I agree with Lisa, though. I'd much rather decorate a cake than plan a party.

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  3. At some point I would like to learn how to decorate cakes. At least I think I would- sometimes I don't think I have the patience or the energy, so we'll see.

    The dress was her mom's old prom dress that they added the frills to. She's trying to start a business and hopes to someday work at Disneyland as a princess, so this is all to add to her resume.

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  4. It looks liked it turned out well. I agree doing cupcakes for a four year old is easier than a cake, and they love to be involved. I only wish we lived closer so my kids could have come.

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  5. Wow! Way to go Christina! I'm sure Audra loved every minute of it even though it was a ton of work. I'm impressed. There are few things that stress me out like planning and hosting parties.

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  6. What a fun party. It looks like the girls had a great time. You are such a great and creative party planner!

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