Princess Party 8yr - Dress-up Princess Relay

My daughter chose a princess theme for her 8th birthday party. 

INVITATIONS:  We found invitations that she liked at our local Dollar Tree store.  They were light pink and had a fuchsia and holographic silver heart in the center that said - PRINCESS - surrounding that was a glass slipper, necklace, ring, wand, crown and purse with heart details on each one.  There were also little white stars sprinkled through out.  We filled out the information inside with a fuchsia pen and filled the invite with confetti (fuchsia hearts and circles, pink flowers and stars, and silver stars and hearts).  We sent these to all of the girls in Josie's class two weeks before the party was scheduled. 

DECORATIONS:  We decided to have the party on our back patio.  I chose pink, fuchsia, silver and white for the color scheme and hearts and crowns for our theme.  Our patio is made of brick pavers, which gave the castle feel we were going for.  We have large steps that go up to our sliding glass doors.  The top step before the house is good sized so we decided to make that the location for the throne.  I used a chair and covered it with a large white table cloth that I already had.  I then tied a pink, fuchsia, white and silver sash around it and made a big bow in the back.  I cut out a crown shape from heavy duty aluminum foil and double taped it to the front of the backrest.  It turned out very cute!  I used a fuchsia plastic table cloth cut length wise for a rug leading up the steps to the throne and lined it with brick pavers to keep it in place. 

On one side of the throne I added a large planter that I filled with fuchsia colored geraniums and white forget-me-nots, I stuck in a small pink mylar balloon on a plastic stick that said - Happy Birthday Princess - and had all different princess jewelry and clothing on it.  Above the throne we hung a banner that was pink, fuchsia and purple and said - HAPPY BIRTHDAY - in between happy and birthday was a circle that said - PRINCESS - and had a tiara, wand, necklace, earrings and ring all with heart details.  I hung a heart shaped decoration that said - Princess - and had little silver hearts and swirls hanging down from it with rings, shoes, necklaces etc. on them from my patio light fixture.  I cut up the rest of the plastic table cloth (used for the rug) into triangles and stapled them to heavy duty string to make two 12 ft. flag banners.  I ran them from rod iron torches that line our patio on either side.  We leaned a large mirror against the house and taped a poster of a princess to it.  Around the poster, we wrote with blue marker - Mirror, Mirror on the Wall Who's the Fairest of Them All?  Below the mirror I place a yard ornament frog wearing a gold crown with a rose in his mouth and holding a sign that said - Kiss Me.  The girls thought he was hilarious. 

I had a gift table in one corner with a pale pink table cloth and sprinkled with more of the confetti.  I printed a picture of Josie in her tiara and party dress and put it in a pink picture frame with fuchsia hearts and a crown on it.  I put the picture and a fuchsia balloon weight holding white and pink heart shaped mylar balloons on the table.  I kept all of my party supplies in a large laundry basket under this table.  On one side of the patio was our patio table set which I sprinkled with more of the princess confetti and 2 1/2 glass slippers that I found in the wedding section at Dollar Tree (6 for $1).  I purchased 3" inlaid wooden craft hearts and painted them fuchsia with left-over craft paint.  In the center of each one I wrote each girl's name (ex. Princess Hannah) with a silver pen and stapled fuchsia curling ribbon to the backs of them and hung them at different lengths from the inside of the patio table umbrella with the extra curling ribbon hanging down.  On the other side of the patio I had a six foot table that I used to serve food from and to hold supplies for the different crafts and games that the girls did.  That table was covered with a pink plastic table cloth and sprinkled with more confetti and glass slippers.  I found a cardboard castle caddy that said - PRINCESS - on the drawbridge and used it as my centerpiece.  I placed heart shaped plates that matched the invitations pink and purple basket holding the treat bags was on the other. 

COSTUMES:  Josie wore a pale pink sundress with white poke-a-dots.  It had a white sash that tied around the waist with a pink flower in the center.  She also had on white sandals with pink and fuchsia hearts.  I purchased a silver tiara with pale pink jeweled hearts and a matching wand for her.  Two of her brothers dressed up in knight costumes.  Her oldest brother was a court jester and wore a red and blue jester hat he already had a red and blue striped long sleeve shirt and blue shorts.  He walked around at the beginnning of the party juggling balls.  My mom was the Queen Mum and wore a queen costume we found at the Salvation Army the day before the party for $2!!!  THE PARTY:  As each girl arrived my son would say - Hello I am the royal guard Sir Zachary I will be escorting you to the party - he would then escort the girls around the house to my husband who would then blow a trumpet fanfare and announce the girl's name (ex. Princess Lindsey).  I had the craft table set up with princess activities (color-by-numbers mazes dot-to-dots and coloring pages)I had printed off the internet and crayons for the girls to do until everyone arrived.  When all of the girls had arrived my husband announced the Queen and finally my daughter with the most flourish of all saying - Announcing on the auspicious occasion of her 8th birthday her majesty Princess Josephine!  We then started with lunch.

FOOD:  My daughter chose pizza.  We came up with names for the different varieties and placed a card with the name in front of each kind:  Princess Pepperoni Charming Cheese Her Majesty's Ham.  I made them by using table tent cards punching a heart in the corner and writing the name with a fuchsia pen.  I then taped a penny inside of them to weight them down.  We made fruit kabobs with pineapple grapes strawberries and marshmallows and called them Princess Wands.  We served pink punch to stick with the color scheme. 

CRAFT #1:  After lunch we started with our first craft activity.  I had purchased foam crowns and wands for the girls to decorate.  Each girl was given a bottle of glue and then chose the color of crown and wand they would like.  I then had a divided container filled with different accessories for them to add.  We had rhinestones in all different sizes shapes and colors; self-adhesive foam hearts dots flowers and swirls; little pom-poms and all different colored glitter glue pens.  I wanted to do this craft first to give them time to dry. 

GAME #1:  For our first game I divided the girls into two teams for a relay race.  I had purchased two blue graduation gowns at the Salvation Army for $1 we cut them down and decorated them using glue gems and glitter in the shapes of hearts crowns and swirls.  The girls had to run across the yard and put on dress up clothes (the gown a sash a princess hat necklace 2 bracelets and high heels) run to my husband and get their picture taken run back take the clothes off and then tag the next girl until everyone had done it. 

STORY TIME:  I had placed a big quilt on the patio and had my mom the Queen read the story My Child My Princess by Beth Moore from the throne.  It is a wonderful story about a little girl who decides she doesn't want to be a princess anymore and goes off to be with the regular children who do awful things.  In the end she returns home to her father the king who tells her that he will always love her and she will always be his child his princess.  (My mom got teary eyed while reading this story.) 

GAME #2:  After story time we played another game.  I had purchased a princess version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.  They had to stick a numbered tiara on the princess poster on the mirror while blind-folded.  One kit came with everything needed for 8 players. 

CRAFT #2:  I purchased this craft kit at Walmart it included enough supplies to make 10 bracelets and was on clearance for $1.50.  Each girl was given a baggie with all of the parts that I had put together before the party.  It included one jelly bracelet a large plastic charm (either a heart or butterfly) two smaller heart charms and three jump rings.  Each girl had to attach the charms to the jump ring and then slide it onto the bracelet.  We had to help them close the jump rings with pliers so it was good that there were a few adults to help. 

GAME #3:  Our next game was a relay ring race.  We divided the girls into two different teams.  They had to pick up a ring from a tray using a long pen decorated with a frilly crown on top run across the yard and place the ring onto another tray then run back and give the pen to the next girl in line until one team got all of their rings into the tray.  When they were done they got to pick 2 rings to keep.  After this we had cake and ice cream. 

CAKE:  I made a heart shaped cake.  I frosted it with pink icing and placed a silver tiara with fuchsia heart shaped gems in the center (minus the headband part) and decorated it with fuchsia and purple candy letters that spelled out - HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSIE.  We used pink purple and yellow glitter candles.  It was displayed on a footed crystal cake plate.  Josie chose Birthday Bash flavored ice cream.  This was served on the same princess heart shaped plates we had used for lunch.  After cake and ice cream Josie opened gifts.  I had her open them from the throne and each of her friends stood by her as she opened her gift and we took their pictures.  PINATA:  I had found the perfect pink and silver tiara shaped pinata at the Paper Factory for $9.99. Each girl was given a treat bag that matched the invitations.  I had written the girls' names on them so they wouldn't get mixed up and they came with silver foil twist ties to keep everything inside.  We hung the pinata from our swing set.  This was a big hit at the party. 

GAME #4 Our last game was Pass the Slipper.  We used one of Josie's dress-up slippers that is white with hearts and rhinestones to pass around.  We played the Disney Princesses cd.  When the music was going they passed the slipper when it stopped whoever was holding the slipper was out.  I had a vase full of red rose suckers when a child was out they got to pick one.  When the girls realized this they started passing very slowly!  After this we had all of the girls put on their crowns and wands and took a group picture with the girls surrounding Josie on her throne.  FAVORS:  I used the same treat bags that I had used for the pinata.  I filled them with 3 red and 3 fuchsia chocolate hearts candy bracelets with large heart shaped candy charms ring pops pearl shaped necklaces and my favorite find - notepads that matched our party supplies exactly on clearance!  The girls left with their treat bag crown wand personalized princess heart 2 rings bracelet rose sucker and candy from the pinata."