Barbie Princess & Pauper Party - 3yr - Puppet Show

Barbie Princess and the Pauper Party - 3 years old 

For my daughter's 3rd birthday and first party to invite friends, she wanted to have a Barbie Princess and the Pauper party. I wanted to do activities throughout the party, rather than leaving it to the children to entertain themselves. I also wanted the activities to be age appropriate. We accomplished this and the children had a great time. Also, I'm hoping that the party information listed below might not only help someone wanting to plan a Princess and the Pauper party, but also show how you can adapt lots of games and activities for any of the Barbie princess movies. 

INVITATIONS: I bought the Princess and the Pauper invitations available at the party store, as well as the thank you notes.

DECORATIONS: The colors used in the movie by the two girls, Anneliese and Erika, are pink, blue and lavender. So I used pink, blue and lavender streamers and balloons everywhere. I also made tissue paper butterflies in pink and blue (pink and blue butterflies are seen throughout the movie). To make the butterflies, I bought large packs of pastel tissue paper at the dollar store. I then gathered a square of tissue paper down the middle, then secured the gather by twisting a long sparkly pipe cleaner around it, shaping the ends into antennae. My older daughter drew some pictures of the main characters that we hung up. In the front yard we had a giant Mylar Barbie Princess balloon. 

ON GUESTS ARRIVAL: Each guest got to crawl thru a castle gate if they wanted to. We took a large piece of cardboard and cut out a hole (kind of like a mouse hole shape). Then I painted the board pink and made lines around it to look like bricks or stones of the castle, with the top of the board showing a bit of blue sky painted at the top over the castle wall. Then I painted simple flowers all around the door. Each guest then dressed like a princess, getting a simple net dress-up skirt (dollar store) and a sequin tiara (Oriental trading). 

CRAFT: I created noise makers for the children to decorate with stickers. I took empty cardboard spools from ribbon, placed beans inside and covered the spool holes on each side with masking tape. I painted one side pink and one side blue, and embellished around the edges with gold and silver glitter glue. Next I took some of the ribbon to tie several strands around each so there would be long streamers of ribbon hanging down. I bought a sheet of Princess and the Pauper stickers for each child, and when they arrived they received the noisemaker and the stickers to decorate it while we waited for everyone to arrive. 

PUPPET SHOW: Because I wasn't sure how many of the children had seen the Princess and the Pauper movie yet, I wanted them to be familiar with the story. So first we had a puppet show. We have a little table top puppet stage (create a base, have two dowels coming up on each side, and one across the top to hang a curtain from of course you don't have to have a stage at all) and a few hand puppets. I will give the script of the puppet show at the end of this party description in case anyone wants to use it, but also so that everyone can see how easy it is to condense the movie into a short show, and everyone will understand what happened!  

GAMES: To play the games, I gathered the children in a circle and retold the story from the puppet show, weaving the games into the story. I said Once upon a time there was a princess named Princess Anneliese. She lived in a beautiful castle. One day, when visiting the village, she met a girl who looked just like her!! The girl's name was Erika. They looked exactly alike except for their hair. Anneliese had blonde hair, and Erika had brown. At this point we stood up and sang HEAD SHOULDERS KNEES AND TOES, because the two girls look alike all over their bodies except for their hair. Next I said not only did Princess Anneliese and Erika look alike, but they both loved cats!! Princess Anneliese had a cat named Serafina, and Erika had a cat named Wolfie. I then went on to explain that since Erika sewed clothes, she probably had balls of yarn around, and I bet that her cat Wolfie liked to play with them. I brought out a basket, which I had covered the rim with tissue paper flowers in pink, blue and purples, and gave each child 3 balls of yarn to TOSS INTO THE BASKET.

I continued the story there was an evil man named Preminger who wanted to be king. He came up with a plan to take Anneliese away and hide her so she wouldn't be able to marry King Dominic, hoping that King Dominic would go away, he could marry the princess and become King!! Princess Anneliese's teacher, Julian, came to see Erika. He found her at her job, which was sewing beautiful dresses. He asked her if she would come back to the castle and pretend to be Princess Annaleise while he looked for her? She said yes and the carriage took her back to the palace. I asked the kids if they had ridden in a carriage, and what else they had ridden in (car, truck, airplane, etc.) and we sang THE WHEELS ON THE BUS with all the motions. I told them that while in the carriage Erika had to cross a bridge, and we did LONDON BRIDGE, locking up each child and then letting them go, free to run under the bridge again until everyone who wanted to be caught had a turn. I continued the story ôonce Julian and Erika got back to the castle, Julian had to teach Erika how to be a princess.

We played FOLLOW THE LEADER, still staying in our circle, with the children doing whatever I was doing. Every action I did had something to do with the movie or an act a princess would do. The actions we did were sew clothes, Drink tea, Wave, Curtsey, be a butterfly, be a cat. Continuing the story, I said mean old Preminger came back. This time he took Julian away and hid him with Princess Anneliese!! But the good news is that Julian and Princess Anneliese escaped!! Preminger was put in the dungeon and everyone celebrated!! At this point we did the HOKEY POKEY, and I suggested since we were still in a circle that we do RING A ROUND THE ROSEY (we did it normal, singing loud, singing soft on tiptoe, slow and fast.) I now told them something I had left out of the puppet, show, which was that Preminger also had a dog named Midas. Now Midas liked to chase Serafina the cat. So we played our MONSTER CHASE GAME. We play this at every party because it is such a hit every single time. All the kids are on one side of the room, yard or whatever. An adult is on the other side. In our case, he was a dog (instead of a monster) and the kids were cats. They meowed and would ask Puppy Dog, Puppy Dog, are you hungry?, to which the dog would reply No come closerö and they would have to take a few steps closer, or Yes!! And he would chase them and try to catch them. He never caught anyone, so we celebrated by everyone grabbing their noisemaker and having a little PARADE to where we had set up for cake.  

CAKE: There are lots of options here: a castle, a Barbie cake, etc. but in our case my daughter's favorite character was Serafina the cat, so she wanted a cat cake. We used a Wilton cat shaped cake pan and decorated to look like Serafina (white with pink trim). We served pink (strawberry) ice-cream and juice boxes. Instead of sitting the kids at a table, we stretched out a Princess and the Pauper disposable table cloth on the floor, and set places, using Princess and the Pauper plates and napkins, along with pink and blue forks and spoons.  

GIFTS: After cake the birthday girl sat in a chair and opened her gifts while her guests sat on the floor around her feet.   PINATA: We made a piñata to look like a castle. Very easy to do we just made a large square by masking taping together lightweight pieces of cardboard (actually Hostess muffin boxes). On each of the four corners I taped a piece of rounded card stock and then put a cone on top of each of these. We papier-mâché it, scored it, then decorated it with pink, blue and lavender crepe paper that I cut to give a fringed look. No one could believe we had made it ourselves! I filled the piñata with candy, pretend jewel rings, and sparkly gold and silver bead necklaces. I put a strip of tape on the floor and the children not taking a turn had to stand behind the strip so they wouldn't get hit. Each child got two turns at bat, with each turn getting 3 hits before Daddy took over to break it open. We passed out Princess and the Pauper loot bags for the kids to gather their loot. I also decorated our piñata stick so that it was wrapped in pink and blue crepe paper, and had pink and blue streamers hanging from the end you hit with. 

PARTY FAVORS: I happened to see a Princess and the Pauper themed item which was a tube of pink and lavender candies, with a toy on the top. It looked almost like a scepter. There are so many themed items available at the party store that you could fill a goody bag or give any of them individually.

PUPPET SHOW SCRIPT: Narrator: Once upon a time there was a princess named Princess Anneleise. She lived in a beautiful castle. One day, when visiting the village, she met a girl who looked just like her!! The girl's name was Erika. They looked exactly alike except for their hair. Anneliese had blonde hair, and Erika had brown.  Erika: I'm just like youö  Anneleise: You're just like meö Narrator: Not only did Princess Anneleise and Erica look alike, but they both loved cats!! Princess Anneleise had a cat named Serafina, and Erika had a cat named Wolfie.  Cat Puppet: Meow Narrator: There was an evil man named Preminger (we used a puppet that looked like a witch) who wanted to be king. He came up with a plan.  Preminger: If I take Anneliese away and hide her, she won't be able to marry King Dominic. King Dominic will go away, then I can marry the princess and become King!!

Narrator: Princess Anneliese's teacher, Julian, came to see Erika. He found her at her job, which was sewing beautiful dresses.  Julian: will you come back to the castle and pretend to be Princess Anneleise while I look for her?  Erika: Yes  Narrator: The carriage took her back to the palace. Once Julian and Erika got back to the castle, Julian had to teach Erica how to be a princess.  Julian: This is how you walk, this is how you bow, this is how you waveö Narrator: Mean old Preminger came back. This time he took Julian away and hid him with Princess Anneliese!! But the good news is that Julian and Princess Anneliese escaped!! Preminger was put in the dungeon and everyone celebrated!! The end of the story is that Princess Anneliese married the man she loved, Julian, and Erika married the man she loved, King Dominic. Wolfie and Serafina loved each other too and had lots and lots of kittens and everyone lived happily ever after!! Cat Pupet: Meow