Fancy Princess 6yr - Kiss the Prince Game

Princess Party - We've just had a wonderful Princess party for my 6 year old daughter.  We had a fancy dress theme and the girls dressed as either a princess from a fairy tale or in a ball gown/party dress.  We had Fairy Princesses, an Indian Princess, Barbie Princess, Snow White, Cinderella and some in long flowy skirts.    I found a "Princess in a Tower" party invitation on Home Publishing and wrote the invitations out to say "Princess Jessica of (surname) invites Princes Amy of Smith (guests first and second name) to attend her 6th birthday party to be held in the Ballroom at (your address).  I made sure to state that it was fancy dress and mentioned that I planned to put a little make up on the girls so that there were no upset mothers.  To pretty the invitations up, I printed them on different colored paper and decorated them with lots of glitter and stars. 

I tried to get my daughter involved in as much of the craft as possible.  She couldn't wait for the party and so I printed off a calendar so she could mark off the days to go.  They were so excited when they arrived all dressed up and saw the red crepe paper in the front hall to symbolize rolling out the "red carpet".  I decorated my ceiling fans with stars about the size of my hand hanging from curling ribbon, streamers and balloons all in pretty pastel colors of pink, purple, yellow etc.  I made a castle turret top to fit across our double doors and sticky taped lengths of steamers from to the floor to fill the door way to the games room (like the old fashioned fly strips on doors).  The girls loved walking through the streamers to the ballroom.  We also had a castle made from cardboard on the games room wall and I used some fairy lights from Christmas to hang around it and some towers made from pink and gold cardboard.  I used lots of gold glitter on the cardboard decorations to add some magic and it was really affective.  The house looked really pretty with pastel balloons and streamers everywhere which set the scene for a fantastic afternoon.  When they arrived they were given a clue to the location of their lolly bag.  It got the girls in the door and straight into the action and took away any nerves.  Once they found that, they sat at the table for some make up (eye shadow, blush and lipstick) and some gold glitter hair spray to get ready for the ball.  While other girls were waiting for their make up, my husband ran the Limbo in another room so everyone was kept occupied.  It created a busy and exciting atmosphere.  When they were all finished with make up and the Limbo, we gathered around the dining room table and Jessie opened her presents.  I decorated one chair with the back of a throne just with cardboard and glitter which made her feel special. 

Then we formed a Congo line and moved through the house to the games room.  The first game was "Kiss the Prince" (like Pin the Tail) which required lipstick on.  The idea was to be blindfolded, spun around and to try to kiss the picture of a prince on the mouth (Prince Eric from Little Mermaid copied from a coloring in book and drawn on cardboard).  We had lucky dip prizes for three girls for closest to the lips, ear and eyebrow but everyone else got something too - stick on earrings.  Other games were Pass the Pumpkin (AKA Pass the Parcel) with everyone winning a lolly in each layer and the birthday girl winning the final prize.  In all the other games, I didn't pick winners based on the best but more of a random pick and at the end of the day everyone won two prizes plus lollies for playing which went towards building up their lolly bag.  When games are too competitive at this age, someone always gets upset.  We played musical chairs but instead of a mad dive for a chair when the music stops, everyone had a child's chair with a number on it and elimination was by picking a number out of a pot.  When you were out you got a lolly and then helped pick out the next number to go.  The girls liked helping and calling out the next number.  At the end the last girl got a prize as did two other random girls.

Then the girls carried their chairs to the banquet table (two coffee tables end on end) and sat on their small chairs for their party food.  We also played Balloon Fly where you write the girl's name on a balloon and after they've blown it up, let it go and see where it flies.  We gave prizes for the wonkiest fly, the shortest fly and the furthest fly.  It was a really funny game and everyone was laughing.  Again, all won something - this time it was nail polish.  Musical statues was a big hit as was Duck, Duck, Goose and Coins in the Wishing Well (just a large pot with cardboard front to look like a well and toss the coins in). 

We kept afternoon tea simple with the usual party food of pizza, chips, smarties, cheezels, sausage rolls etc and we had pink lemonade (lemonade with a drip of pink food coloring) in glasses with a cocktail umbrella.  The birthday cake was a castle made with two square buttercakes.  One was the base and the other was chopped up to give four square pieces on each corner.  On top of each square I put an ice cream cone for turrets secured with a skewer and iced all over with Vienna cream and decorated with smarties.  On the top of the turrets I made little gold flags using cardboard and toothpicks.  We just had one "6" candle and a sparkler on the top.  The girls loved it!  To slow things down towards the end, I read the story of Cinderella.  The girls sat in a circle and were all holding a parcel each from the lucky dip box during the story.  Every time the word "Cinderella" was read, the girls passed their parcel around one place and when the story was finished, they got to keep the parcel they were holding.  I've never seen 12 girls sit their so quietly hanging off every word of a story.    When the Mum's arrived, it took some time to leave as the girls wanted to keep dancing and playing with the balloons.  We handed out thank you cards which I made on the computer as the girls left.  Jessie loved it and so did I.