Princess Party 3yr - Ariel's Fish Relay

It took me about 2 months to plan my 3 year old's princess party. Planning:  I have read most of the ideas submitted from your site & I thank each one of them for all the great ideas that I incorporated in my party.  Just to let you know, I had sleepless nights because I wanted this to be the best 3 year old birthday. I called around for a hall to hold our party. Luckily, I found Monte Verde Park, which is a private park--very beautiful.  They have an outside amphitheatre, too.  After booking it, we started buying the gift bags for all the princes & princesses. We went to Downtown LA for good deals.  For girls: tiaras, wands, bracelets/rings, princess wallets, princess bags, princess stickers. For boys:swords, bags of toy knights, knight vests, crowns, shields. I had 40 gift bags to be given away in my kitchen for a month & a half! The Princess Dress: given by my mom that was made in the Philippines-a long, white gown that had sequins, open back & a long tail. Bought 2 beautiful tiaras for my daughter & I & a crown for my husband to wear. Invitation: I bought pink card stocks at Tall Mouse(40 in all).  I then typed away in my laptop.."Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Her Royal Highness, Princess Noah(IN PINK LETTERS/BOLD), of the Kingdom of (your last name), requests your presence at the Royal celebration of the third year of her birth on September 25, 2004 from 6:30 in the evening till 9:30 in the evening at her far away from home castle: Monte Verde Park. She will have sugar and spice and everything nice. So please be there, we will have lots to do and plenty of birthday cheer. Please come in your royal attire, kids, witches, dragons, genies even commoners are also welcome.  This is a royal celebration not to be missed! Be prepared for a magical time! Regrets only: call King (dad) or Queen (mom) by (date), then phone#.  Monetary gifts would be much appreciated.  Thank you!"  (I wanted money as gifts for my daughter's savings & for us to buy bigger toys like a big kitchen & a Barbie Jeep that she wanted, instead of guests giving her small toys). After printing that, I then printed the back of the paper(dividing it in 3 parts): dreaming of going to a ball? Make a wish bippity boppity boo!  I then printed them again & folded them into a 3-fold paper. (hope you get the idea).  I also printed a Program so guests would know exactly what they will miss if they come in late. I put the invites/program & dried pink & purple flowers in mesh bags(bought in L.A. also). I decided to use mesh bags instead of scrolls bec. Scrolls are too common.  My daughter & I delivered the invites using a white ring bearer's pillow(from Party City).  Everyone loved it!  People asked me just by looking at the invites if it's a debutantes ball.  I told them to wait for that day bec. I will start planning it now.

Food: I ordered 100 pcs of chicken legs/thighs from Stater Bros.; Pad thai (4 trays), eggrolls, roast pig, breads, rice, flan, cake & some other foods.  I had invited 120 people so definitely, adults would want to eat good food (especially, it's an asian party).

Day of the party: I put 2 pink flags(w/c I made previously) at the entrance-one that says Noah's Castle & the other one says (your last name)Kingdom. I had my cousins roll out the carpet up to the entrance of the castle.  I also had 2 other cousins become our Jesters/emcees for the night. I then placed the throne(w/c I borrowed from our church & that I decorated the night before w/ pink beads, flowers & a crown in the middle) in the middle of the room by the fireplace(which the park staff lit for us). A church member decorated the fireplace w/ flowers/beads & a picture of my girl w/ snow white.  I had pink balloons all over the floor.  We put pink tablecloths for the food/gift tables & scattered petals & small flowers on the tables.  I went to the ladies restroom & wrote "Mirror, mirror on the wall…" (the staff had to check first if it's an eraseable pen). Outside, I gave my Jesters all the stuff that they needed to decorate the amphitheatre. I also asked a friend to become an older Princess for the night (she really looked & acted like one). As soon as the guests arrived, I instructed my older Princess to gather all the kids & let adults go to the amphitheatre.  I then had my daughter sit inside the wagon that I decorated with 2 pink flags bearing her name & a pink stick horse.  The kids lined up(in costumes) & started the parade to the amphitheatre.  The adults brought their own cameras too & started taking pictures.  My daughter was the last one  & as she was entering the amphitheatre, one Jester played the trumpet(she's a musician).  It was just beautiful. I gave our jesters a copy of my program so they knew what to do next.  They had the kids slay the dragon first(pinata-inside were small toys, chocolates/candies), next was pin the crown on the princess & pin the shield on the knight (done simultaneously). I drew both of them on big poster boards. Prizes: girl-princess bowl/glass, boy-knight hologram w/ light. 

Next was Ariel's fish relay:2 lanes of 6 kids each played. Each player grabbed a slimy toy fish from Ursula's bucket & ran towards Ariel's bucket, then tag their next member. We did this game twice bec. I had a lot of kids who wanted to play this game. Prizes: 12 hand puppets (castle characters). Then, we called the adults (moms/dads) to do Snow White's apple eating contest.  The couples had a blast doing this. Prize: Princess kitchen towels. After this, the Jesters led everyone to the castle for a feast. I had my Pastor bless the food & bless my daughter before eating.  My guests loved the food! After eating, the gift bags were handed out by our little Princess.  I had all of them open their bags to take out the crowns, swords,shields, tiaras & wands for picture taking w/ our little Princess & older Princess. All of them (incl the adults) got very excited! We had our Princesses on one side of the throne & knights on the other side of the throne. Our daughter sat on the throne with the older Princess.  The knights & the Princesses raised their swords/wands at the same time & cameras just clicked away. After the picture taking, the Jesters asked the audience to clap their hands for the best costume awards for 1 boy & 1 girl. Prizes:fairy hologram w/ light(bought in L.A.) & a dragon hologram w/ light. After that, we had a game called Beauty & the Beasts freeze dance. Prize: calculator(since I wasn't sure if a girl or a boy would win this game).

I  then called everyone to the cake table. The cake had 2 flavors, 1/2 was chocolate & other 1/2 was purple yam(trust me, it's good!) I had the baker decorate around the cake w/ pink flowers.  We provided the toppers- a glass carriage w/ a horse, a princess(one that they use for quinceneras) & 2 small pillars that the baker decorated w/ pink flowers, as well.  While cutting the cake, the jesters had the kids go to the coloring table.  I printed lots of princesses, knights, etc. that I got from coloring pages.com.  After that, the older Princess called the kids for a storytelling-Princess Kitty & the Newspaper dress (book was borrowed from the library). It was exactly 9:30 when she finished the story.  Everyone brought home food(bec. I ordered a lot) & they kept on telling me that they've never been to a party like mine before & that they told me how organized I was & that they all had a wonderful time. Whew! It's been 2 weeks & friends & family members still talk about my daughter's birthday ball like it was just yesterday.  I kinda miss planning it in a way.