Royal Ball -4yr- Pretzel Sandwhich Wands

ROYAL BIRTHDAY BALL-AGE 4 

INVITATIONS: I created my own unique invitations for the party. Using Picasa & then editing on Walmart's digital photo shop, I created one 4 by 6 picture that was a collage of 6 pictures I had taken of my daughter at Disney World with several of the Disney princesses.   I used scrapbook adhesive to attach the 4 by 6 photo to the front of a blank yellow card (yellow looked the best with pictures of Belle & Cinderella). Before attaching the picture, I used a calligraphy font on my computer and printed the inside of the card. It read: Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo Princess Name" invites you To her royal birthday ball Where fun will be had by all Her highness wants you to be her guest So be sure to wear your princess best Date: Sat then added a Disney Princess sticker to seal them. They were addressed to each little girl as Princess "Name". 

DECORATIONS: The tables were the girls ate were covered with pink tablecloths. On those were small crystal vases including artificial pink carnations (found at $1 Tree) Disney princess confetti (actually a packet of stickers found at $1 Tree) Disney princess plates & napkins. The adults used pink plates and napkins. I found little clear high heels (looked like glass slippers) at the Dollar Tree to place at each girl's seat. Inside each slipper I placed a little card with the girl's name on it. I was going to put pastel M & M's behind the place cards (they would also fit into the little slipper) but I forgot.

The girls also drank out of little plastic goblets ($1 Tree) that I added jewel stickers (Michaels) to the base of. My husband found several 'scene setters' (castle and princesses) at Party City to use in decorating the walls. There was also a group of pink purple & princess balloons on the table with the cake & gifts. The food table was covered with a Disney Princess tablecloth since all the others had pink ones. Near the food table I added a sign that said "Be our guest be our guest be our guest." Above the mirror in the bathroom I draped a pink feather boa and added a sign that said "Mirror mirror on the wall Who's the fairest of them all?" 

ACTIVITIES: When the girls arrived I had card tables set up (with pink tablecloths) for them to decorate pink foam crowns. Each girl added her initial (cut with whitefoam using a Sizzix) glitter glue and jewel stickers. They also decorated magic wands(using stickers and glitter glue). I found the wands/crowns in a princess party kit at Target back in December. I sorted out all the stickers before the party into snack size ziploc bags so that each girl had her own bag. This made it very organized because each girl had all the supplies she needed right at her seat. I also had another card table set up and a friend painted the girls' fingernails (found princess nail polish at Target) and gave them a crown tattoo on their hands. They took turns having this done during the craft time. For those who finished early I had an area set up with all my daughter's princess toys for some free play: princess books a vanity with hairbrush & hairdryer dolls blocks etc. 

GAMES: At 11:30 the husband of the friend who painted fingernails arrived with our special guest (none of the girls knew about this ahead of time): Cinderella! I bought a costume at Party City back in October and asked a sweet & beautiful teenage girl I know to come dressed as Cinderella. My friend came into the clubhouse and gathered all the girls together to tell them that a special guest had arrived all the way from her castle at Disney World. When Cinderella came in all the little girls ran over to her and wanted to give her hugs & talk to her. It was precious! To my surprise she even brought my daughter a balloon & bouquet of carnations.

After visiting with the girls she led them in a game of musical chairs. When a girl got out she received a necklace from Cinderella. The winner received a princess sticker in addition to her necklace. Since the girls ranged in age from 2 to 5 I thought having them receive a prize when they got out of the game would eliminate any crying at the party & I was right. Everyone was happy! After musical chairs Cinderella led the girls in the Princess Dance (a song on the Disney Princess Tea Party CD I checked out at my local library). After the dance each girl had her picture made with Cinderella. I was fortunate to have a friend whose husband is an excellent photographer and the pictures turned out great & will be sent to each girl in her thank you note.  

COSTUMES: All of the girls came dressed in their favorite princess costume. I let the moms know ahead of time (via e-mail) that if they needed to borrow a dress that we had several extras since my little girl loves playing dress up. We loaned out Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and my daughter chose to be Cinderella. 

PARTY SNACKS: Using an idea from my sister-in-law I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches then cut them with a small star cookie cutter (4 stars could be made from one sandwich) then inserted a pretzel stick so that they looked like little magic wands. We also had a fruit tray with grapes strawberries pineapple and cantelope a veggie tray with cucumber tomatoes celery carrot sticks and dip snack mix (cheetos sun chips doritos and pretzel sticks) cheese dip with crackers pastel colored m & m's pimento cheese sandwiches and my mom's delicious chicken salad sandwiches. We had pink lemonade to drink and in each cup we added an ice cube that had a cherry frozen in it. The girls loved these! There was also tea water juice and Sprite. And of course we had cake and ice cream for dessert. 

CAKE: I found a beautiful & delicious cake at Publix for $55. It was pricey but worth it! It looked like a castle and included plastic keepsake Princess figurines of the main 6 Disney Princesses as well as a Princess picture frame. They said it would be enough for our 30 guests but we had a lot leftover so it would probably be enough for 40. 

FAVORS: I found some cute plastic totebags on e-bay. They had the Disney Princesses on the front included a velcro closure and would be great as a little purse for the girls. I attached a note to the handle using pretty ribbon that said "Princess 'Name' Thank you for coming to my royal ball. Love Princess 'Name'. This made it easy to be sure each girl received her bag. The bags included princess ring pops stickers and crayons (Dollar Tree) princess pencils (Target $1 Spot) princess notepads and candy (Party City). They also took home their wands & crowns the glass slippers & goblets from the table and the necklaces won in the musical chair game."