Princess Sarah 4yr - Princess Walk Game

We just celebrated our daughter's 4th birthday with a Princess Party.  For the invitations, I purchased princess/castle themed scrapbooking paper and using my own computer & printer, printed the following:  Hear Ye!  Hear Ye! Princesses, Princes, Knights & Jesters  Her Royal Highness, Princess Sarah, is turning four years old! In celebration of this joyous occasion, The Princess requests the honour of your presence at the royal gala marking her fourth year.  Come One, Come All, in your finest royal attire to _______________ (our last name) Castle on Saturday, January twenty-second, two thousand and five from one thirty til three thirty in the afternoon. Follow the red carpet to the castle entrance  where Princess Sarah and her Royal Court  will eagerly be awaiting your arrival!  Please ring King Bret and Queen Shelly  to announce if you will be in attendance:  our phone number  \*Though not mandatory, Fellow Kings and Queens (aka parents)  may also attend, if desired!  I addresses each invitation to "Princess or Prince" and the child's name.   

Decorations:  I bought a roll of red plastic sheeting at our local party store and rolled it down our front walkway.  This served as our "red carpet".  I also purchased and hung pink, lavender & purple helium balloons strategically lining the walkway.  I outlined our double-front doors with pink tulle and flanked them with helium balloons.  In the house, I set up an 8 foot long children's table in my dining room.  This was covered with 3 layers of tablecloth; pink, lavender & pink.  The birthday princess had a special "throne" decorated with tulle and balloons.  I tied pink and lavender tulle around the backs of the children's chairs for a princess effect.  The cake table was covered with a pink tablecloth as well.  Throughout the party rooms (our living room, dining room & family room), I had tied clusters of pink, lavender & purple helium balloons. 

Activities & Games:  Prior to the children arriving, I set out a white paper handled craft bag (to serve as their goody bag), a white picture frame (I made these myself using poster board and an exacto-knife), and sheets of princess and birthday stickers.  Both the frames and the bags had each child's name on them (printed on a white label).  As the children arrived, they each found their place at the table and decorated their bag and frame with stickers. I had a card table set up near my entryway with a lavender table cloth and as the kids finished decorating their bags, we stood their goody bags up on the table and put their frames inside their bags. Next, we went down to the family room and played a game The Princess Walk.  I photocopied pictures of all of the Disney princesses and taped them onto posterboards (one princess on each board).  Since we had 16 kids, I also used pictures of other Disney characters such as Aladdin, the wicked stepsisters, Cinderella's fairy godmother, etc.  Each child started out by standing on a picture.  Using a CD boombox, we played "Bippidy Boppidy Boo" and the kids paraded around in a circle.  When the music stopped, whoever was standing on Cinderella won a prize.  Of course, by the end of the game, each child won a prize.  Then we went back into the dining room for the next activity stringing candy necklaces.  I had purchased Disney Princess candy necklace kits from Birthday Party Express.  Each child had their own kit waiting at their place at the table.  With a little help from their parents, they each made their own necklace.  We were trying to keep to a time schedule and most of the kids still had beads leftover, so we put their kits in their goody bags to finish at home.  We then went back down to the family room for another game Pin The Kiss On The Frog.  I printed up a picture of a Frog Prince off the Internet and had it enlarged at Kinko's.  I also found some free clip art on the Internet and printed up puckered up red lips for each child.  I wrote each child's name on the lips and attached double sided tape to the back of each one.  The kids took turns being blindfolded and stuck their lips on the poster, trying to come closest to the Frog Prince's lips.  Each child was given a prize at the end.  Next, we headed back up to the dining room for the next activity Building Cookie Castles!  I purchased small, square, sugar wafer cookies at an import store (Cost Plus).  Each child had a foil-covered piece of cardboard with their name on it (prepared in advance of the guests arriving) waiting at their place at the table.  They were each given a bowl of cookies with assorted candies mixed in and a bowl of white frosting.  They created castles by dipping their cookies in the frosting and building with them like blocks.  The frosting served as their "glue".  They were very creative and they loved this activity!!  We had plenty of wipes on hand to clean messy fingers and faces!  After this, we went into the family room for one more game Cinderella's Lost Slipper.  As the kids created their castles, I had some parents help me collect all of their shoes.  We hid their shoes in the family room and put one small glass Cinderella slipper (purchased from Birthday Express) in one of each child's shoes.  The object of the game was for the kids to find their own shoes and whoever found Cinderella's lost slipper would win a prize.  Of course, each child found Cinderella's lost slipper in their own shoe, so they each won a prize. 

Next, we headed back to the dining room for cake (Castle-shaped and with all of the Disney Princesses on it, of course!) and ice cream.  I had prescooped the ice cream and put each scoop into a cupcake liner.  These were waiting in the freezer and made it very easy to serve when it came time. 

As the kids were finishing their dessert, the doorbell rang.  The birthday girl answered the door and to her surprise, there stood Cinderella!!  This was actually our babysitter, who made a wonderful Cinderella.  I had purchased a Disney Deluxe Cinderella costume and she played the part for us.  Our daughter was so excited and her friends thought they were meeting the REAL Cinderella!  She greeted each child and using an instant Polaroid camera, I took each child's photo with Cinderella.  These were later taped inside of their sticker-decorated frames for a special keepsake. 

We all headed down to the family room for a story and game. We had 16 pillows on the ground.  Each child was instructed to choose a pillow and sit on it.  The kids all sat quietly on the pillows and Cinderella read the story of "The Princess And The Pea".  At its conclusion, the kids were instructed to stand with their eyes closed facing a wall and we hid a tennis ball under one of the pillows.  They all sat back down on their pillows and the child who had the "pea" under their pillow was given a special certificate from Cinderella.  I had printed these up on my computer.  They had a picture of Cinderella and text that said, "This certifies that ______________ (child's name) is a real princess or prince!  Officially signed by:  ______________________(Cinderella signed each one!).  The kids loved this!!!  Of course, each child got a turn having the "pea" under their pillow and each received a special certificate.  Lastly, we had a Princess pull-string pinata.  Each child was given a loot bag with their name on it and then I had all of the kids stand under the pinata and each was given a string to hold.  I counted to 3 and they all pulled at the same time and the candy came tumbling out.  At the end of the party, the kids took home their goody bags with all of their prizes, their pinata loot bags, their cookie castles and their frames with their photo with Cinderella.  For prizes for the girls I bought assorted Disney Princess stuff (compact mirrors, lip gloss rings, stationery kits, princess fruit snacks, princess coloring books, bubble wands, etc.)  The boys received 3 juggling balls, the book "The Frog Prince", a coloring book, bubbles, princess fruit snacks, etc.  For the Kiss The Frog game prize, all of the children were given a small celophane bag with chocolate frogs and a princess lollipop.  I found the chocolate frogs at Cost Plus and couldn't resist them!  They came in a box and were called "Kiss Me Frogs".  The box even had a picture of a frog prince!  Perfect!!  This party took a lot of preparation, but was well worth it!!  Thankfully, I had two friends that helped out during the party.  As I orchestrated each game in the family room, they prepared the table in the dining room for each activity.  This was where the 3 layers of tablecloths came in...After the candy necklace making, they stripped the first layer of tablecloth off, revealing the clean lavender tablecloth.  After we finished making messy cookie castles, they stripped off the lavender tablecloth revealing a clean pink tablecloth for the cake and ice cream portion of the party.  This system made for very easy clean-up and worked beautifully.  I had so much fun hosting this party and my 4 year old daughter was just in heaven!  Her smiles and hugs made all the work well worth it!  I've received phone calls from friends saying that their kids are still talking about the party and that it was the best party they've ever been to.  One friend said that her twin 4 year old girls tell everyone that they met the REAL Cinderella!