Princess Surprise 8yr - Jewelry Crafts

Princess in Pajamas Party  My 8 year old daughter and I planned a Princess Party for a few friends.  As my daughter and I discussed the plans for the Princess Party I got an idea of who she wanted to invite and contacted the parents of each child.  I needed to have their agreement to the idea of a morning pajama party before I could let my daughter invite them. Once I secured the O.K. from each parent (all thought it was exciting and were more than willing to participate) I made invitations on my computer.  I drew up a simple crest with a crown and the letters HRH in it (Her Royal Highness) and tendered an invitation that invited the bearer to a Royal time.. With offers of fun, team and treats and movies.  They had to come dressed up as their favorite princess.  To make the invite seem more elaborate I pasted the printed sheet on two layers of card stock, making a double mat to present the invite. 

My daughter had some princess costumes in her dress up clothes but she wanted something different.  I find second hand thrift stores a wonderful resource when it comes to costumes.  It was there we found a beautiful bright pink flower girl dress, complete with full skirt for only $7.00  We purchased a bag of plastic beads ($5.00) that best resembled diamonds and made a simple tiara, matching choker and dangle earrings to match.  It was not hard to do, all I needed was two shepherd hooks for her pierced ears and a necklace clasp and fine beading wire.  For the tiara I needed a crafting wire to form the three interconnecting arches over a beaded halo that fit her head.  We secured the tiara by placing the bun over the halo and securing with bobby pins.  It never moved off of her head all night.  With a pair of pink gloves and tights we already had her costume was complete at only minimal effort and $12.00.  costume in hand we began to plan our craft.  I did not want to have a craft of making tiara's because as simple as it was for me, I could see how disastrous it might be to have kids do it.  So I bought beads of medium size to put on bobby pins.  I bought the most elegant beads I could find and used the same fine spool wire I used to make the choker and earrings.  It was simple to teach the kids to do and short enough for there attention span to complete.  I bought beautiful pink draw string bags of translucent silk at a wedding supply section at a craft store.  They were under $1.50 each (that is Canadian money don't forget) These were to give to each guest as they left. In it I put a foil pack of Disney Princess gummies. (available at your grocer's candy aisle) Some candy hearts with love messages on them (the party was close to Valentines Day) and was to be the final resting place for the bobby pin craft, so it would not get lost and the placecard that was on the table for the dinner. 

The Dinner had only two aspects to it.  It had to be elegant and it had to be pink.  I bought a square meter piece of bright pink cotton/polyester and that was placed diagonally on a crisp white linen tablecloth I had. (cloth $2.30)  I bought some bright pink fake flowers for the center piece to be placed in a crystal vase.  (flowers cost $4.00)  I took out the fine china and paper dollies were used profusely were ever I could make them work.  Two pink candle sticks, (I also happened to have kicking around) and the table was everything for a girl to want.  I served pink finger foods such as cookies and one mother sent us fairy bread.  (White bread butter with sugar and sprinkles cut into triangles) crackers and pink cream cheese and grapes.  The tea had to be pink too, but with this we had to experiment.  I found that just because the box is red the tea may not come out red.  The strawberry tea I bought was not very "strawberry" tasting enough for us as well.  I fixed that by making the tea this way.  I made a half pot of strawberry tea with three bags, let it steep a bit and then I added a few drops of strawberry extract and three - four drops of red coloring as well.  Then I added milk and sugar to taste.  I served this tea and the girls loved their pink strawberry tea enough to ask for more. Some parents offer there stock of Princess movies and sent them along with their child saving us money we could of spent supporting the movie industry. We were pretty much set as far as my daughter was concerned anyway.   

What I wanted to do was pick up the "little princesses" in the morning, so  I found out from the parents when would be best time.  There is one thing though, and the reason for all my justification on low costs earlier you must have a camera to do this and to do this right.  You will not regret it.  We bought a camera for this party, even though we wanted one anyway the party helped us make the decision faster let's say.  But you need a camera - period.  I arranged with each parent to have a bag with their princess costume in it, some sneakers, swimsuit & a towel.  We picked up the princesses in their pajamas, messy hair and their bag.  The girls were very excited and eager to find out what was in store.    I took them to Smitty's, a family restaurant and they arrived and ordered on the kids menu enjoying the fact that they looked a bit out of place in their jammies.  I interviewed the children at the restaurant via camcorder.   We then took them to a local fitness center where the girls, for one fee, played basketball (still in there pajamas) and then went swimming in the wave pool (In the swim suits we had the parents pack earlier). 

When the children started to get hungry it was time to come home.  At home they got dressed in there princess costumes to prepare for lunch.  I had everything ready, as I was well rested and prepared for them.  I filmed each princess make her grand entrance with a curtsy as I announced each one.  I gave them titles to go with there name such as Princess Rachel of the Pink Rose, or Princess Angie of the Green Forest.  I used the girls favorite color and a natural element to make the title.  These titles were also on each placecard at the table.  The girls hammed it up all the way.  They sat so straight and ate daintily and discussed kingdom matters with their pinky finger dangling out.  I recorded them each telling the camera what they would do if they were a real princess.  It was sometimes predictable and most times touching the things they said they would do.  After the luncheon we gathered around the TV to watch the video we had made.  It was very funny and enjoyable to watch. Later the girls made their crafts while they watched the video "Princess Diaries".  They had a long day already and it was a good way to end the party.  As each guest left, my daughter sent them off graciously as the host of the party.  We gave them the silk drawstring bags, and hopefully some good memories.  We will make a VHS tape of the day and send a copy to each family that let us have the care of there special little princess, so they can see the video document of the time they had.  It was a wonderful day.  I found this age (8 to 9 year old)was a good age to do this type of party.    God Bless