My daughter turned 5 yesterday, and we had a Disney Princess themed birthday party for her over the weekend. She picked the theme months and months ago, so I knew I would need to make it special to meet the expectations of her excitement. BUT I am a mom on a budget and I've got 2 other little girls besides her at home and a baby on the way, so I also have to be realistic. If you are looking for a party tips for a SUPER elegant princess party filled with perfection, you are at the wrong place. If you are looking for fun ideas that when put together and with a little effort and creativity make your daughter's face light up, read on. As you will see decor is not my strong point for parties-- food and games are where I tend to focus.
Let's begin with food. We had about 25 people or so (a mix of adults and kids) and I chose foods that would take some time, certainly, to prepare and put together, but none of it was difficult. My mom actually offered to do all the shopping for me, but I put together most of the food items myself, so this party would be very easy if you have another person or two helping put it all together. Notice I said VERY EASY because it did not take me too long to do it myself and much of the prep work can be done a day or two in advance so you can break up the work and it feels like you are barely doing anything.
Snow White's apples: easy and healthy
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* I made the mistake of making the cucumber/avocado ones the day before instead of the turkey/apricot. None of them were bad, but avocado stuff is always best the day of. I went for simple and used Costco rolls, but you could go the extra mile and use sandwich bread and cut them into cute shapes.
Princess Aurora's spinning wheels: (pinwheels using the filling for these sandwiches.
Simply spread it on tortillas, roll them up and slice them, creating little "spinning wheels"
Olaf's carrot noses: so easy, so heathly
Queen Elsa's frozen skating rink: blue raspberry jello
As you can see, I did not get a good picture of this. What I should have done was take a picture once it was cut, so one could see the blueberry jello instead of the camera flash reflecting against all the whiteness.
*One large blue/raspberry jello box made as directed on the box, with fresh blueberries, chopped and added before gel stage. The topping is 8 oz. sour cream mixed with 1/4 cup powdered sugar (you could also use whipped cream).
You can't really see it because of the terrible quality of the picture, but I took two mini marshmallows, stuck a toothpick through them and plopped "Olaf" in the "ice", put another toothpick through one of the marshmallows for his arms, and cut a tiny piece of carrot to make a nose. It didn't look amazing, but my daughter raved about Olaf on the jello, so my 5 seconds of extra effort (but not perfection) was noted and appreciated by her, my little birthday princess, and that's all I can ask for.
Ariel's seashell pasta salad: recipe here
As you can see if you look at the recipe, I left out the lettuce (I made it the day before and didn't want it wilting and then forgot to add it just before the party) and chicken (not needed and brings down the costs). I added olives because we like them and I had them. SUPER easy, really yummy recipe.
Cinderella's Fairy Godmother's Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo fruit wands
These were my favorite touch and were the favorite of everyone at the party. Who doesn't love some delicious fruit especially when it's summer and it's hot outside?
My mom cut up fresh pineapple and cantaloupe into bite-sized pieces so that saved me some time (can be done a day or two in advance) and I put these together the evening before. Grapes and blueberries require no work but washing them, strawberries were easy to cut up and the watermelon stars on top (I used a cookie cutter) weren't difficult and I only did them on about half so they fit better on the tray.
True Love's Kisses
The antidote for the poisoned apples and spinning wheels I served.... ;)
Moving on to the GAMES!
1) Rapunzel themed bean bag toss
Have the kids toss bean bags into a few different sized frying pans worth different amounts of points.
2) Pin the Crown on the Princesses
My daughter came up with this game idea. I'm sure others have, too, for a princess party, but I was impressed that she thought of it at age almost-5. We could have found Disney princess pictures, but we chose the cheaper route using generic princesses pictures from a large Dollar Store coloring pad. For a personal (not perfectionistic) touch, my daughter colored them herself and even gave her princesses names.
We made crowns from colored construction paper and my daughters decorated them with princess stickers. We had two princesses so that we could have two prize winners for this game.
Thank You cards from used game crowns
After the party, we took the crowns from the Pin the Crown on the Princesses game and used them to make thank you cards. Perhaps my best idea ever was to make a rule that my daughter was not allowed to open and play with the presents until she had finished the thank you for the gift. Great way to not procrastinate with the thank yous.
3) Pass the Slipper (Hot Potato)
Pictures from this game were taken on someone else's camera, so I have no pictures, but it's the game of hot potato with princess music and Cinderella's "glass" slipper in place of the hot potato.
Other party fun...
Movable Magic Mirror "Photobooth"
A great way to capture pictures of who came to the party (kids and adults too!)
Not difficult to make (my daughter painted the flowers). The hardest part was the foil (still not very difficult), but you could do it even easier with silver paint (I saw it done that way on Pinterest), but I wanted the mirror to be really silver and shiny.
Friends and family, feel free to call me up if your kiddo wants a princess themed party, and you'd like to use this!
Disney Princess visit
My younger sister had a Belle costume from a show choir-style concert in high school that I borrowed to add some fun.
I read the story of Beauty and the Beast and for a little added fun, we hid a few objects from the story around the room for them to find when we reached the part of the story where the item/character was introduced.
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| candlestick (Lumiere) |
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| Single red rose |
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| tea pot (Mrs. Potts) |
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| clock (Cogsworth) |
I went simple on the cake and just picked up a store bought one and used Princess candles. Because we were attending a surprise 50th birthday party the evening before my daughter's party, I did a couple things more simply than I normally would. Baking the cake is generally one of my favorite aspects and you can check out some of the fun ideas I was looking at for a princess party here, here, and here.
Our little princess LOVED her party and I loved that it didn't stress me out at all and I still got to see that big smile on her face as she noted all the details we'd included to make it special and fun and perfect for a princess.
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