Sometimes... just sometimes, I get carried away. It's one of the reasons that I only let my kids do friend birthday parties every other year. Once I start, I can't seem to stop. I got a little over the top with Daphne's 6th Birthday, when she wanted a
Hawaiian Luau. So, when Victoria told me she wanted a Pink Princess Party, I got a little... well... carried away. Perhaps it is that Victoria is my youngest child. Perhaps it is that I have seen how quickly Daphne grew to be "too Cool" for Princesses. Perhaps it is that when I put those two facts together, I realized that this could very well be my
last chance to throw a Princess Bash!
We wanted Princessy invitations, but couldn't find anything that we liked. So... we made our own! I think they turned out super cute and they were free! We just used the good ol' Old English Font in Word and went with the "Hear Ye, Hear Ye" format. I let the kids decorate them with Tori's Princess Stamps and rolled them up like scrolls. Tori
LOVED them, and it wasn't too much work.
And then, the day of, we decorated from Morning 'till the party started. See those cute pom pom balls hanging from the ceiling? I made those!! Little ole' Craft Impaired Laura! Sorry-- I'm just a teensy bit proud. The kids said that their Art teacher has them hanging all over her classroom, so maybe that means I can be classified as Artistic? Who cares, I think they are adorable! Here is Princess Victoria waiting for her guests to arrive!
La Mesa:
In order to facilitate Princess Play, we brought all the Princess Toys up from the downstairs Play Room! Disney Castle, Princess Figurines, Princess Polly Pockets, Princess Barbies, Doll House...
If you look at the TV screen, you can see the handiwork of my amazing hubby! I had spent all week trying to create a Pandora Station of Disney Princess Music to have playing in the background at the party. But, I fear that Pandora will never understand me. I spent all day Wednesday having the kids help me "thumbs-up and thumbs-down" certain songs, thinking by now it understood that we wanted to hear various Disney Princess Songs. And then it would start playing Adele. Yes, I like Adele. But not on
this station. Ugh. So Daphne made a list of all the Princess Songs we wanted and Matt downloaded them onto the PS3 and created a slide show of pictures of Tori to watch while we listened. It was SO perfect! I wasn't sure if we would have any Moms stay, but this was perfect for the ones who were there for a little bit!
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| Have I mentioned how much I hate that red stripe? |
And of course, in addition to all that fun, we had extra Princess Dresses from our Dress Up Trunk! (I got this idea when a Mom RSVPD and let me know that her sweet little girl had no more Princess Dresses because her brothers and some neighbor boys had gone downstairs and cut. them. all. up. last week! Can you believe that?! Isaac would still be locked in his room, I think. Anyway, we wanted to have some extras for her and thought some of them might just like to play dress up and switch around. This turned out to be a GREAT idea! The girls loved it- and some who came in their own Princess Dresses switched around a bit.
Outdoor Decor! Isaac and Daphne were SO sweet to help me with the decorating. Matt was at work, so I certainly needed it. Daphne was really enthusiastic about it and Isaac: not-so-much, but they were both great! Victoria, on the other hand, was supremely whiny from a week of late nights and not enough naps, so I was praying she would get a good nap in that day before the party began at 4. God was good to us- she took a little hour long nap and recharged her "Nice" Batteries just in time! Whew!
Our false ceiling! We did this by taking $1 table cloths, cutting them in half lengthwise and draping them. So. Cute. Really easy, dramatic effect.
And FINALLY, the Princesses arrived! From the left, we have Kara, Tayli, Elise, Daphne and Cousin Penny (out for her first party!), Victoria ( I have no idea why she is turned sideways), Sophee, Savannah and Middy! Cuteness!
Princess Penelope! Can I just say how cute and precious Tori is? When I asked who she wanted to invite to her birthday party, she said, "Well, Nanny. And Penny." So I tried to explain that she got to celebrate her birthday with Nanny and Penny on Sunday. "So which friends would you like to invite? Maybe Kara?" And Tori replied, "Well, Yes. And Nanny." After every name we came up with she said, "and Nanny." She also mentioned Penny about three more times. It was pretty dang sweet. Matt's Mom just had to stop by the party, which was so great of her. She also really wanted to invite her cousins Samantha and Jillian from Texas, but I think it was a little too far!
The food! Can you tell that those little cakes are flowers? I borrowed this special cake pan from Matt's sister, Raegan, and made these darling little cakes! The pink cakes turned out a little orange, but we were ok with it!
Our first activity was Cake Decorating! Each girl got two flower cakes and got to frost them with their choice of Pink, White or Purple Icing. We also had lots of sprinkles!
Next, we got to dip strawberries in chocolate... Yum! I haven't had a chocolate dipped strawberry in forever, I only had time to eat one, but it was heavenly!
Princess Tori on her throne~
In the middle of all the decorating, there was a spill. Like someone (not me!- are you impressed) who shall remain nameless spilled TWO QUARTS of pink lemonade on the floor. So Matt and I had to take a long break to clean that up, while Matt's Mom helped little princesses wash off their frosting covered faces and find the potty. We were so grateful that she was there!
After we got that all cleaned up, we headed outside for cake and presents!
Victoria had been scoping out the cakes at Costco for
months. Literally. Every time we would go to Costco, she would tell me that she needs to check the cakes so she can pick one for her birthday. Every time it was a different cake! When the day finally came to choose, the Princess design was the winner.
Most of the girls were so full from our activities that they didn't eat much birthday cake. Which is unfortunate since that cake is supposed to feed 40 and we only had about a dozen. ( Isaac has been eating birthday cake for the past week.)
Tori was SO excited to open presents!
I was trying really hard to make sure she told everyone thank you, but I often didn't even have to remind her. A lot of the girls got tired of watching and headed over to the trampoline. In this pic, Tori is yelling at Sophee to stop so she can tell her thank you. Kinda cute!
Everybody jumped on the tramp while we waited for Moms to return.
And then everybody got to take home a treat bag with a feather boa, a tiara, a necklace, a wand, and a bag of jelly beans and gummy bears (Tori's choices).
By the time everyone went home, My house was an explosion of pink, feathers, glitter, frosting, chocolate, dolls and dress ups! Matt's sister, Raegan and my friend Tiffany were so sweet to stay for a bit and help clean up the kitchen. It was a disaster! But Victoria had such a good time! She was smiling so much and was thrilled to have all of her friends and all of her favorite things all at the same time.
Tori, I'm so glad we got to do this together. Yesterday, on Pinterest, I saw this quote, "Pardon the mess, the children are making memories!" My hope is that this day was a day of memories for you! You are such a precious girl. I am so amazed that God gave YOU to me! And do you know what? You are a Princess. You are the Daughter of a Heavenly King. You are the most wonderful, reasonable, delightful and trusting girl. God has made such a fantastic creature in you. He wants so much for you to return to Him. I remember the day you were born and I am so very, very grateful that I get to be your Mom and walk through this journey with you. I wish I could hit the pause button and keep you 4 years old forever. You are my little shadow, my constant companion, my shopping buddy and my funny girl. I love you, Victoria Grace with the Beautiful Face! Forever and Ever.
