Princess Dressup -5yr- Trinket Box Craft

Like most 5 year olds, my daughter wanted to have a Princess/Dress up party for her fifth birthday.  Being the money conscious person that I am, I worked on a strict budget.  First, I made my own invitations.  Originally I was going to use paper tiaras for invitations(glue a printout of date/time on back), but I was unable to locate them at any of my local party stores. 

For invitations I made magic wands.  The items needed are:  posterboard (I used pink and purple found in a craft store), wooden Barbecue skewers, and curly ribbon.  I cut stars out of the posterboard, cut off the pointed end of the skewers and wrapped the skewer in the curly ribbon.  I glued the stars to the skewers and attached several more pink and purple ribbons as streamers.  I printed up a piece of paper in pink and purple stating, "You are invited to Princess Heather's 5th Birthday at her palace" and glues it to the skewers.  My daughters loved playing with the invitations. 

I bought pink and purple netting and thin ribbon and made skirts for all of the girls.  To assemble the skirts, I just weaved the ribbon in and out of the holes in the netting and glued a small flower to the end. 

For the boys I bought cheap red material and made capes for them with a gold cord to tie around their neck.  I bought king crowns in the dollar store for the boys and purple party hats for the girls and glued leftover netting on the top for princess hats. 

For decorations I used pink and purple streamers and balloons.  I recruited my sister to dress as a princess and help host the party.  I had a formal purple dress (but second hand stores are a good place to find one) and bought her a crown.  She greeted the guests and placed the dress up clothes on the children as they entered.  She also placed glitter makeup on the girls and tattoos for the boys while we were waiting for the children to arrive. 

For an activity I bought little cardboard trinket boxes to decorate.  I sprayed heart boxes purple for the girls and octagonal boxes gold for the boys.  They were decorated with sequins, feathers and glitter glue.  They children had a great time. 

Then we had snack.  I preset the table with purple plates, pink applesauce cups, and plastic champagne glasses at each setting.  I made ham, turkey and peanut butter and jelly heart shaped (by cutting the bread with a cookie cutter)sandwiches.  I also served for the adults a veggie tray. 

On the tray I placed the dip bowl in a pumpkin (you can hollow out a real small pumpkin or use a straw one like I did and place a bowl inside)and made small mice with pink and purple bows (flower, salt and water mixed, shaped like a mouse with wire for tail and wiskers, and bake until hard at 275) to symbolize Cinderella's carriage and groomsmen. 

After snack, we played "Place the slipper on Cinderella's foot", like pin the tail on the donkey, but a slipper needed to be placed on Cinderella's foot.  Then my daughter opened her presents. 

After, we had cake and ice crème.  I made a castle cake, by placing two loaf pan cakes in a U shape (slicing one cake in half) and decorating it with gum drops, ice cream comes, and fruit roll ups.  I also had little doll cake princesses in front.  After the cake to wind down the party, the princess(my sister) read the story of Cinderella. 

For gift bags I found pink and purple fuzzy heart purses in a dollar store and added, lip gloss, nail polish and headbands for the girls.  For the boys (there were only 3)  I bought a toy from the dollar store and wrapped it with candy.  The children had a great time and the parents all complimented me on a great party as well!