Sugar Plum Princess -5yr- Kiss The Frog Prince

For my daughter's 5th Birthday, she wanted to be a princess but not just any old Disney princess.  She opted to be the Sugar Plum Princess from the Nutcracker (Barbie's version, of course), so I fashioned her party outfit to resemble the costume worn by the doll, complete with tiara and ballet slippers. 

We decided that we would make it a costume party so all the children could pretend to be their favorite prince or princess too (ages 2-8).  I printed the invitations on scroll paper in Old English font and rolled them like scrolls tied with fancy gold ribbon.  They read:  "Hear Ye, Hear Ye, you are cordially invited to celebrate the  occasion of Princess Sarah's 5th Birthday in the Royal Gardens of the Castle Morton...Please RSVP to the Queen Mum." 

The invitation also suggested that young lads and ladies come costumed as a prince, knight or princess.  Upon arrival the boys were presented with a 4ft. inflatable sword.  These were the hit of the party.  They were nice and soft so no one got hurt and it kept them all busy in between activities.  The girls were presented with a glittery silver scepter/wand.  They took these gifts home.  Then they received optional tattoos (washable) and nail polish.

Our games included "slaying" a dragon piñata.  I purchased a plastic knight's costume and some of the kids wore it when it was their turn to wack the dragon with the "sword" stick.  The candy inside was bubble gum coins, candy necklaces and plastic jewelry. 

The next activity was when I told the children that I, the Queen needed their help.  The royal jewels had been stolen from the Castle and if they found them they would all be rewarded handsomely.  I hid a treasure box filled with chocolate coins, candy bracelets and ring lollipops.  Then I hid about 14 index cards (7pink, 7 blue) in the garden - each set of 7 cards with the same clues on them.  We split the kids up into 2 teams with an adult helper on each team and had the kids run around the yard collecting their team's colored cards. 

When all the cards were found they went to there adult leader and together they had to figure out where the treasure was according to the clues.  It only took a few minutes to figure it out and when they did they were all so proud of themselves.  Inside the treasure box, I put all the candy into gold goodie bags to make it fair for all and reduce the chaos.

The children also used the bags to collect their piñata candy.  We also had a craft time.  I bought inexpensive plastic headbands for the tiara and cut a tiara shape from silver and gold posterboard and attached it to the headband with tape. 

The girls glued fancy plastic jewels on their tiaras and for the boys I had gold foam in the shape of a crown and they too glued their own jewels on.  We also played "Plant the Kiss on the Frog Prince".  For this, I drew a large Frog Prince onto posterboard.  I purchased "lip" stickers and instructed the children that they needed to stick their lips onto the Frog's lips to turn him into a prince.  We blindfolded them and when they were through they each received Princess Fruit Chews as their prize. 

The cake was a homemade Barbie Princess cake designed by my daughter and baked by her Aunt.  For her "throne", we decorated a lawn chair with aluminum foil and gold balloons.  The Birthday girl ate her cake and opened her presents seated on her "throne".  She felt very special. The decorations and paper goods were very simple - all gold and pink. 

The party was an absolute blast for the kids and a memorable event for my entire family.