Disney Princess Party 3yr - Cardboard Castle

THEME:  We did a Disney theme for 3 and 4 year olds for my daughter's 3rd birthday.  The theme was slightly slanted for Princesses.  For this party I shopped at the Disney store, a party store, craft store, and The Christmas Tree Shop to get everything for decorations and goody bags.  The entire party cost about $100.  The invitations were homemade and said, "These friends just want to say, Come join us for a special Birthday!  \*Child's name\* is turning 3, and we're celebrating with a Disney Party. \*Date\* 1:00 - 3:00 p.m., Magic Kingdom, \*address\*.  Dress in your favorite Disney outfit or T-Shirt!  RSVP by \*date\* to Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother \*phone and email\*"

DECORATIONS:  We had a castle, ballroom, Disney music playing, and two kid's tables.  The castle was made from a large TV box, duck tape, silver wrapping paper, and a black marker to draw some 'stones'.  We cut a door and window into the castle and set it up to be the entrance into our family room.  The music was playing in the room and we had helium balloons with their ribbons hanging down into the room to create a party feel.  The children loved dancing around all the ribbons in this 'ballroom' while we were waiting for everyone to arrive.  The Disney CD was one I created from a Readers Digest collection and from the Internet.  We had two kids' tables, one for crafts and one for eating snacks and cake. 

There was no decoration on the crafts table, which we put outside for easy cleanup.  The eating table was inside next to the castle and decorated simply with purple tablecloth, Disney Princess centerpieces and placemats.  To make the placemats, I got pictures of Disney characters from Internet clipart and from wrapping paper.  I taped each child's favorite characters to a mat sized piece of poster board.  I wrote "prince/princess \*child's name\* on the bottom of each placemat.  I laminated each side of the placemat with clear contact paper.  The birthday girl got to sit in a special chair/throne, decorated with pink and purple ribbon.

CRAFTS:  For crafts, we had Disney characters to color with crayons and made tiaras & crowns at a kids' table.  For coloring I downloaded and printed out 10 different character coloring pages from the internet.  To make the Tiaras or Crowns From metallic silver/gold poster board, I cut out a tiara/crown shape with a elaborate edge (in advance).  The kids adorned the crowns with sparkly star stickers, plastic gems, and glitter glue.  Once dry, just before cake time, the tiaras/crowns were fitted onto each child by simply putting a paper-clip over the ends.  Each poster board produced 4-5 tiaras or crowns.

GAMES:  First, we played a simple pin the bow on Mickey/Minnie.  I found an Internet clipart image of Mickey's face which I printed banner style across 4 pieces of paper.  I used clear contact paper over the face, leaving enough of a boarder around the paper to stick the whole thing safely to my wall.  I used red Christmas bows and double stick tape for 'pinning'.  I used a scarf to hide the kids' eyes, and then told them to put the bow low as a bowtie for Mickey.  We played again trying to put the bow high on top of the head for Minnie.  All the kids got little tins with candies from the Disney store as a prize. 

Second, we played a simple 'pretend you're a Disney character' game outside on the lawn.  I first had all the children bounce like Tigger.  Then they roared like Simba as they crawled toward me.  Then they danced & twirled like their favorite Disney Princess (yes, boys too).  They had so much fun that we repeated each game.  At the end, each child was given their prize - a Disney Mickey flyer - which they played with on the lawn for a while.  

Third, after cake, the kids went into the ballroom for the final games.  Using the same Disney CD I had made, the kids played Guess Which Character and/or Movie the song is from, and Freeze Dance.  Then they all just danced to the music until it was time to go.

CASTLE CAKE:   1 box of cake mix (my daughter chose strawberry) which made: 8 baked cupcakes (half the normal size) and 1 baked 9 x 13-inch rectangle cake (with the rest of the batter) 2 containers of white frosting 8 ice cream chocolate sugar cones (turrets) 6 ice cream wafer cones (towers) Pink & Purple colored sugar  Hershey Kisses I cut the cake in half widthwise to make two rectangles.  Place one of the cakes on a large platter.  Frost, then layer with the second cake.  Lightly frost outside of all the wafer cones roll in pink or purple sugar.

Frost the cupcakes (including their sides).  Place four wafer cones on the platter, at each of the four corners of the cake, and top with a cupcake.  Place two wafer cones side by side, in the middle of the cake.  Place four cupcakes on the cake, two on either side of the wafer cones and two on top of each wafer cone.  Top all 8 cupcakes with an inverted chocolate sugar cone. Score the frosting with a fork or tooth pick to make the textured castle siding.  To finish decorating, sprinkle purple sugar over the castle. Create more small turrets with Hershey kisses.  As a finishing touch, I placed a plastic Cinderella figure at the door.

GOODIE BAGS:  Each bag cost around $7.  In shiny metallic gift bags, every kid had the custom placemat, the Mickey flyers, Mickey and Minnie stickers, a Mickie shaped lollipop, and a sparkly silly straw.  The tags said "Princess/Prince \*child's name\*".  For the girls, inside were Disney princess "make-up" (powder puff, glitter powder, and emery board), Cinderella doll with bubbles inside, Cinderella washcloth.  For the boys, inside were a light up Mickie, Pooh educational cards, and Pooh stickers.  

Everyone had a wonderful time and commented on how well the whole things stayed in theme!