"Every girl everywhere is a princess! Even if they live in tiny, old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young! They're still princesses! All of us!"
This year I decided to throw myself a birthday party! I hope that doesn't come across as being so self-satisfied that I felt a need to celebrate myself!! Really, I just wanted an excuse to throw a themed party =) I instantly knew that I wanted to have Princess Party. Yes, I wanted my 26th birthday party to be a Princess party. Who made it a rule that princess themed parties have an age cut off date?! No one officially has, so why the heck not?!
I started off the planning trying to decide if I wanted to have an enchanted forest twist on the party or dive head first into cheesy pink and glitter and total little girl princess party. I really like the idea of an enchanted forest... we have a HUGE live oak in our back yard and I have dreams of hanging lights and lanterns from its branches, setting up a long, narrow table, and eating a yummy meal in flickering candle light. Think inspiration from the following:
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However, having an outdoor party in April in Savannah has too many variables. How hot will it be? It's the middle of March and we're already having temperatures in the mid 80's. Nothing is less pleasant than sticky, uncomfortable nights outdoors when you're too hot. Plus you have to have a back up plan incase it rains. That so much wouldn't be a problem per say, but I knew I would be disappointed if I planned a party for outdoors and had to move it inside. And then there are the bugs. Savannah's minor league baseball team isn't named the Sand Gnats by mistake. Arghhh, I really despise those nasty, little creatures. I found some cute ideas for keeping bugs out of your open drinks, but if you can remove that factor completely why even bother? Soooo... all that to say, I quickly decided to go for a cheesy, glittery, over-the-top pink, as girly-girl as you can get, princess party! =)
First things first, I needed to send out invitations. Eeek! How much fun for me! I love being crafty and couldn't wait to start! I was inspired by my friend, Brandie, who always sends the most adorable, handmade cards and invitations. I also spent way to much time on Pinterest (I'm sure most of you understand how that goes) and found some great sources there as well. I went to Michaels and collected the things I would need as well as gathered items from the house:
- Mix + Mingle invitations
- Silver envelopes size A6
- Pink cards size A6
- White 4 bar cards (I cut in half because they are folded)
- Pink ribbon x2 rolls
- Purple and silver ribbon (1 roll each)
- Wooden sticks and stars
- Purple glitter
- Glue gun
- Home computer/printer
I painted the little sticks silver then added a faint hint of glitter glue on top. I covered the stars with purple glitter and glued them to the sticks. After I tied some of the purple and silver ribbon to them I had some precious fairy godmother wands!
While those were drying I whipped up the actual invite on my computer and printed them out onto the white cards. It looks blurry here, but they didn't print out that way
Next I took the pink ribbon and cut them in equal lengths, hot glued them to the back of the white cards and tied them in bows. Then I glued the white card to the pink A6 card and stuck the fairy wand behind the pink bow. All that was left was to stuff them in the envelopes, address them, and put them in the mail!
As far as decorations went, I had way too much fun! I spent a long time - and probably too much money - collecting all these things and creating and putting them together! This type of stuff is so much fun for me and a big part of why I like to have parties! I'm really pleased with how everything turned out =)
I hung this tiara-shaped chalkboard on a plant hanger and stuck it, along with a fairy wand, in one of the plants by my front door.
Unfortunately, I didn't get any decent pictures of the decor inside. Time ran away from me the day of the party (haha why does this always happen?!) and I was still putting everything out when guests arrived... so I just snapped some pictures real quick before everything was disturbed.
I made a "drink station" of sorts in the kitchen. A friend of ours loaned us the drink dispenser (thanks so much, Jason!). I created and hung up tissue paper pompoms from the ceiling, had some balloons near by, and hung a princess banner on the front of the table.
The princess punch was really popular! It was just a champagne punch that my mom suggested and I think I'll definitely serve it again in the future! I made some cute labels and put them on clear party cups. The stickers each had a princess-themed word or phrase such as "Happily Ever After", "Prince Charming", "Enchanted", etc. I added a little bit of fun with a pink or purple striped, paper straw for each cup! I love these straws!
I also got some small water bottles and replaced their labels with some pink polk-dot paper and added princess themed stickers to the top of the bottles.
In the living room I had more balloons and princess banners. I also placed some framed photos of Disney Princess around the room. I purchased the frames from the dollar store and spray painted them pink and then added a layer of glitter spray. I put out some wooden castles I purchased from the craft store and then also spray painted like I did the frames.
On the coffee table I framed the quote from the Little Princess and put out tiaras and wands for all my guests. More Disney Princess and some jewels added to the theme in this room.
I placed all the snacks on our dinning room table. Here I hung up the tissue paper pom-poms, more princess banners, framed my party invitation (thanks for that idea Sarah R!), and put together a bouquet of flowers (thanks Sarah W. for helping me choose the flowers!).
As far as the food went... I love treats and sweets... so that's pretty much what I served. I made some chocolate covered cookies with tiara's and princess wands on them, served purple meringues, chocolate covered pretzels and some cupcakes topped with tiaras and diamond rings.
I love this cupcake stand. I was a Christmas present from my best friend and I love how it serves 2 dozen cupcakes. One helpful tip I learned from somewhere on the internet really saved me a lot of time with the cupcakes... I purchased a dozen chocolate and a dozen vanilla cupcakes from Publix at the beginning of the week and kept them frozen until the day of the party. All you have to do is thaw them out a couple of hours before hand and then ice them however you want! A dozen, un-iced cupcakes cost $4. I'd much rather do this than make them myself (when I have a lot of other things to prepare that is... I love baking).
I was so happy that people got into the Princess spirit with me! Jacquie came as a modern day Jasmine and I just loved it! She also was so sweet and brought the cutest drink that she named "bippidi boppidi booze"!!!
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Jacquie and me
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We played a couple of party games. First we played Apples to Apples which is a super easy, non competitive game that brings lots of laughs. Sarah S taught us that the green cards you collect are representative of your personality. Among Lauren's green cards were the adjectives "timeless" and "refined"... very appropriate words for a princess.
We also played my very favorite game, Pictionary Telephone. You start off by each writing down a phrase and then passing it to the right or left. The next person draws their interpretation of your phrase and pass that on to the person next to them who then guesses what phrase you drew (is that a run on sentence?). This goes on in a circle until you end up with your original phrase. At the end you go through the drawings/phrases sequentially and enjoy the laughs as you see how distorted the original phrase got. It's a hoot!
I had a fun night and enjoyed celebrating "being a princess" ;) I just want to say a huge thank you to my prince charming, Miguel, who helped me out a ton!!! Love you, BB!!
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