Royal Princess Carnival -3yr- Castle Front Door

My three year old daughter LOVES Cinderella and all the Disney Princesses.  I wanted to throw her a party that she could remember forever. 

I started with the invitations.  I found a bunch of pink silk roses and tied on scrolls that were the invitation.  The invitation read like this:  A Royal Decree from the Queen:  All eligible ladies are invited to attend a royal carnival in honor of Princess B.  The ball will be held October 16th from 4 to 5:30 pm.  Please come in your most beautiful attire.  There will be feasting, dancing and other royal festivities to charm the ladies.  Please send your RSVP by your quickest page, to the palace, by October 9th.  I found a small rose clip art and put it on the bottom of the invitation.  I then printed the invitations out on pink parchment paper.  Next I rolled up the invitation.  I attached the roses to the scrolls by wrapping the wire stem around the scroll.  The invitations were hand delivered to each of the ladies.

For decorations, we made a wooden castle facade that covered our front door.  It was tall enough to let the little ladies walk through the gate.  The parents had to bend down, but could walk through as well. 

When they entered, they were greeted by their Ladies in Waiting, who helped them make their royal crowns.  I had my teenage daughter and her friend dressed in long prom gowns with long gloves and fancy hairstyles.  Each of the guests was given a crown.  I found pink, sparkly foam crowns at Michael's.  I bought self-adhesive jewels that they decorated their crowns with.  The Ladies helped them put them together and on their heads. 

My daughter was dressed in Snow White's gown.  I also had a few extra gowns for the girls that hadn't worn their own gowns.  The ladies in waiting helped them get dressed in their dresses.  They were also given Disney Princess paper bags that they colored, put their names on and covered in Disney Princess stickers.  These were used later in the carnival.  I found Disney Princess plastic purses for them at Party City. Finally they were given royal wands, which were actually purple, star, lollipops on long sticks with ribbons tied underneath. 

Once they were outfitted like royalty, they were directed by our royal page.  My older son was dressed in a medieval page costume.  Mt mom helped me make it complete with the velvet jacket, hat with the ostrich feather, blue silk cummerbund and lace cuffs.  He even wore tights (with a little bit of protest!).  He greeted them at the front of the castle and after they were dressed, he showed them back to the royal courtyard (our family room).  I found a metal wedding arch and covered it with vines and pink roses.  I had a friend sew a blue banner that hung from the archway.  I found blue glitter foam letters and put them on the banner.  It read Princess B's royal carnival.  It also had gold tassels hanging from the ends as well as gold fringe hanging from the bottom of the banner.  The arch was placed between the front room and the family room. 

In our family room I set up several booths that were themed after the Disney princesses.  These were set up in a semi circle with a four and a half foot inflatable Disney Princess castle I found a Party City, at one end. I placed a red carpet runner down the middle that I found on Oriental Trading Company.  I used several small tables covered with pink, blue and yellow plastic tablecloths for the booths, with a sign printed out and attached to the front that was a picture of each of the princesses.  I found a Disney Princess soundtrack that had all the princess's songs from their movies.  I had that set low and playing in the background. 

For Cinderella's booth, I had it set up with a decorative pillow and a full size crystal glass slipper that I bought on eBay.  The page tried the slipper on each of the girl's foot.  Once they had tried it on, he gave each of the girls a small plastic glass slipper that I found at the Dollar Tree.  They put it into their sack and moved on to the next booth.

The next booth was for Pocahontas.  I made a replica of her necklace out of large, square turquoise beads and an arrowhead.  Each of the girls tried on her necklace.  I also had several autumn silk leaves, and the girls each blew a leaf into the air, like the Colors of the Wind song.  Once they did that, they were given the leaf and a feather for their bag. 

For Aurora's (Sleeping Beauty) booth, I found an antique spinning wheel.  Each of the girls had a turn pumping the spinning wheel to make it go, but they were very careful not to get pricked by the needle!  I found Aurora lip balm through Avon and gave each of the girls one of those for their sack. 

At Snow White's booth I had a dark red, artificial apple that looked just like the one in the movie.  I then gave each of the girls a bit-sized, non-poisoned, piece of apple.  After they ate the apple, they were given a small crown comb, with pink jewels in it, which I found at Party City. 

For Belle's booth, since she liked to read so much, I read them a short story about Beauty and the Beast.  They could see Belle's rose, which I found a Michael's, under the glass cover, just like in the movie.  They were given a Disney Princess pencil for their sack. 

At Ariel's (Little Mermaid) booth they each took a turn listening to the ocean in a large Conch shell that was from the Caribbean.  They were given a shell for their sack as well as a little bottle of bubbles. 

Finally at Jasmine's (Aladdin) booth, I found a brass genie lamp on eBay.  My son's friend dressed up as Aladdin.  They were each given a turn to rub the lamp and see if they could make the genie come out. 

For their sack, each girl was given a sweet tart ring.  Once they were done going through all the booths, we had them come and sit at the table in the dining room.  It was decorated like a royal banquet.  I covered the table with a pink tablecloth.  I found white, rose covered plates, Disney Princess dessert plates and pink Cinderella tableware at Party City. 

I also found small, plastic goblets on OTC for their glasses.  I also found plastic little cocktail cups that I filled with Disney Princess fruit snacks.  I set the bigger rose plates, the pink napkins and the dessert plates on top of each other at each setting. 

For the centerpiece, I made a Cinderella cake by buying a Cinderella Barbie doll.  I made a Bundt cake and inserted the doll into the hole.  Then I covered the skirt part of the cake with white frosting.  I sprinkled blue crystal candy on the white frosting.  I found a candy mold that had a princess theme, complete with Cinderella's coach.  I used blue candy melts to make the coaches and castles and placed them around the bottom of the skirt.  I then made a little princess treat for each of the girls.  I found a cake pan that had four domed cupcake holders.  I made rice crispy treats, using pink marshmallows and pushed them into the molds.  I found Disney Princess paddle ball toys at the Dollar Tree that were sparkly and had a full sized picture of Cinderella, Belle, and Ariel.  I untied the ball so just the paddle was left.  I then pushed the handle of the paddle into the rice crispy mounds that had the same coordinated color.  I set each of these at each setting as their name cards.

I set the large Cinderella cake in the middle of the table. I bought the frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that are circles and had cheese and crackers on silver serving trays.  I made a pink princess punch, which was pink lemonade.  I found a Disney Princess balloon at Party City and had that on the royal throne chair, a large handled wood chair, which was where Princess B sat.  I also bought pink, blue, yellow and white balloons.  We ended the party with a small parade around the castle. 

Finally I had each of the girls pose with Princess B in the front of the castle.  I printed these out later and sent them as the thank you card for attending the carnival.  The girls were exhausted, but had a blast.  Each girl went home happy and tired with:  a crown, a lollipop wand, a princess sack, a princess purse, a glass slipper, a feather, a leaf, a crown comb, a shell, a princess pencil, a candy ring, and their own princess paddle ball treat; pretty much they went home with the entire royal treasury!