Snow White -4yr- Poisoned Apple

We held a Snow White themed party for my daughter Jeena Ann’s party.  Since there’s nothing Snow White out right now, I ordered a Snow White dress online, dressed her up, and took her to a local orchard.  (The dress came with a matching headband).  There, I took pictures of her in front of the apple trees, picking apples, eating apples, and posing with the number 4 from her princess hopscotch game, which has a picture of Snow White on it.  (It was a great couple of hours, and we took home half a bushel of apples.)  I used one of those pictures for her invitation.

INVITATIONS:   I made a 4 by 6 invitation on Photoshop.  About 40% of the invitation was the picture.  I gave the rest of the invitation a red background, matching the exact shade of red to her dress.  I added blue starbursts all around to match her dress.  In yellow font, (again matching the dress), I wrote: Calling all Dwarves (16-point font), Snow White (AKA Jeena Ann) is Turning 4 and Needs Your Help to Celebrate (14-point font).  Then, in 12-point font, I gave the date, time, place, and RSVP email address.  For the place, along with my parents’ address, I wrote Happy’s Cottage.  Then, in 10-point font, I wrote: In lieu of gifts, please bring new or gently used clothes for donation at St. Joseph’s thrift shop.  I am proud to say that the donation was my daughter’s idea! I had the invitation printed as photos by Walgreens and placed them in bright yellow, photo envelopes that I got at Staples to keep the Snow White color theme going. 

DECORATIONS:  For the decorations, we kept the color theme of red, yellow, and blue from Snow White’s dress.  My parents had just moved into their apartment, so I had the whole place free to decorate.  Their living room is hexagonal, so going around the ceiling, I decorated with yellow and blue streamers.  Then, in the center of each wall, I tacked red bows that my mom had made using red streamers.  These bows were supposed to represent match Snow White’s headband.  On one of the smaller walls, I placed a framed picture of Jeena Ann dressed as Snow White where she is holding her #4 hopscotch picture of Snow White.  (This was taken during our apple picking jaunt.)  On three of the other walls, I placed pictures of Snow White that Jeena Ann had beautifully colored using colored pencils, colored chalk, and crayons.  (There were five pictures all together that she had colored for this room, and each one was different in style and color scheme.) 

On the largest wall, I placed a big, yellow banner that I had created using Vista Print.  In blue font, it read, Happy Birthday, Jeena Ann.  There were red circles/bubbles on it.  And in the lower, left hand corner, there was an apple core.  On the four windows, I taped red and yellow apple cutouts that are used by teachers for their bulletin boards.  On the four windowsills, I placed numerous apples from our trip to the orchard.  In the corner of the room, I tied to a balloon holder three helium balloons.  One was a red star, one was a blue star, and one was a yellow flower. Then, on one wall, I placed the hopscotch piece that I had described earlier.  Finally, in front of the sixth wall, I placed the wishing well on top of a stool, which I had draped with a blue tablecloth. I made a blue sign over it that identified it. In the dining room, I dumped a bale of hay that I will explain better in the activities.  Over it on the wall, I tacked a picture of the dwarfs mining that Jeena Ann had colored. 

I also placed on the shelves a picture of Jeena Ann with the dwarfs at their mine that we took at Disney World last year.  On the same shelves, I had several brown baskets that look like the Evil Queen’s basket, full of apples.  I also had the book, Snow White, standing there so that the kids could see and recognize it.  In the kitchen, I had a yellow sign that read, Poisoned Apple Bar, which I decorated with Technicolor apple stickers.  I had a brown basket full of apples out and a number of poisons that I will describe in the activities section.  I also had yellow bowls, blue and yellow forks, blue plates, red napkins, and blue, yellow, and red cups displayed.    To add to the decorations, I labeled the juice boxes with stickers of Jeena Ann when she went apple picking.  The stickers read, Enjoy Snow White’s favorite apple juice here at Happy’s Cottage, on them.  I used two different pictures to create two different sets of stickers.  One set of stickers had blue font and the other set had red font. 

On the apple cider gallon jar, I created a larger sticker, again of Jeena Ann apple picking.  It read, Enjoy Snow White’s favorite apple cider here at Happy’s Cottage.  I used red font.  I created these stickers using Evermine’s templates.  On the fridge, I had pictures of Jeena Ann.  The pictures were predominantly from our apple-picking day.  I also had one picture of Jeena Ann meeting the real Snow White at Disney World last year.  On the front door of the apartment building, I taped a yellow sign that I had made that read, Happy’s Cottage.  Then, I had yellow signs that directed people up that read This Way to Happy’s Cottage.  Each sign was decorated with apple stickers.  On the side door, I had a big Snow White door sign that I had gotten from Birthday Direct that read Welcome to Jeena Ann’s Snow White Party.  Then, I had similar signs directing them to the correct apartment.  

ACTIVITIES/GAMES:    1. Crafts: The first activity was a craft.  I got large apple ornaments from Oriental Trading and placed them in a brown basket.  The kids, as they came in, could take an apple, and scratch designs onto them.  (Oriental Trading) Then, they would put a piece of string through the hole on top to make the ornament.  I added gem stickers with which they could decorate the apples.  If they finished that before we were ready to begin, I also had coloring sheets of Snow White, the prince, and the dwarfs and a basket of crayons.  The objective was to keep the kids busy while the other kids were still coming.  While the kids worked on their crafts, I played the following songs: God Bless You by Osmond Collins, Happy Birthday, Princess by Ariel, Animal Friends by Adriana Caselotti, and Whistle While You Work by The Montreal Child.   

2. Story Time: The next activity was the story.  I read Snow White to the group in case some of the kids were unfamiliar with the story.  I read the story for about two weeks to Jeena Ann every night beforehand, so she corrected me whenever I made any mistakes.  Since I was dressed as the Evil Queen, I made sure to act out my part.  Jeena Ann’s friend’s father had come, dressed as the Huntsman, so he acted out his part.  Jeena Ann pretended to bite the poisoned apple that I held up for her.  She fainted, and her friend, who had come dressed as the prince, kissed her on the cheek to wake her back up.  

3. Dancing:  After that, I had the kids grab their grown up and dance to The Silly Song from the Snow White movie. 

4. Ring Around the Apple Tree: I had the kids stand in a circle and hold hands.  They had to sing the following song which I made up to the tune of Ring Around the Rosies:    Ring around the apple tree  The poisoned apple’s not for me  Happy, Dopey, Sneezy, Achoo Achoo  We all fall down     Once they fell, they would grab an apple from the center.  Whoever ended up with the green apple, which was the poisoned apple, was out.  That child would get one of the red apples, and we put the rest of the apples back in the middle and played the game again until we had a winner.  (Many of the kids happily ate their apples once they lost.)  The winner got an apple sticker.   

5. Cleaning: I divided the kids into two groups at one end of the room and placed toy kitchen utensils at the other end of the room.  The kids participated in a relay race having to clean up the mess like Snow White did.  Each child had to bring back one of the items and place it on the floor before the other could go.  There were four kids in each group.  Each child got to go twice.  The winning team got Snow White stickers that I had found on Oriental Trading.  The song for this activity was Whistle While You Work from the movie.   

6. Pass the Mirror: I had the kids sit in a circle.  Then, I gave Jeena Ann a mirror that I had found on clearance at Hallmark.  The mirror is black and has a pink crown on top.  It reads at the bottom, The fairest of them all.  They had to pass the mirror around the circle until I stopped the music.  The kid with the mirror was out.  The winning child got a Snow White sticker.  I played the song: Snow White: The Mirror Mirror Song by Debbie and Friends.    

7. Wishing Well: I had the kids throw large gold coins that I had bought from Oriental Trading into the wishing well.  To create the wishing well, I decorated my daughter’s pink laundry basket, including the handle, with leaf garlands that I had bought at the dollar store.  Each child had four chances.  Whoever got at least one in got a Snow White sticker.  

8. Poisoned Apple Bar: I had the kids line up and follow me into the kitchen for the poisoned apple bar.  They got to pick an apple from the basket and take it to my dad who cut it for them.  Then, they took it to my mom who offered them their pick of poison, which I will explain better in the food section.  The kids returned to the party room where I had blue, yellow, and red tablecloths laid out as tables.  (We only used the blue one.)  For music, I had One Bad Apple by Nikko Lowe and Apples and Bananas The Hit Co. playing.   

9. Cutting the pie: I will describe this in the food section but the music for this activity included, Apple Pie Moonshine, by Jake Owen and God Bless You, Happy Birthday, Princess! From the beginning of the party.   

10. Mining: The last activity was to go mining in the hay since the dwarfs were miners.  To go mining, they had to wear yellow mining hats that I had bought from Oriental Trading.  I had hidden literally hundreds of prizes in the hay.  These prizes included rocks that I had spray painted red, yellow, and blue.  There were gems, (transparent rocks that I had bought at the dollar store).  There were also lots of those big, gold coins used earlier.  Whatever the kids found, they could put in their treasure chests (yellow bags.)  They were also instructed to look for poisoned apples and keep them away from Snow White.  These were little pompom, red apples with eyes and feet that I had found on Oriental Trading.  They got to take the poisoned apples home too.  We played Heigh-Ho, from Snow White for this activity.  Some of the kids stayed a while after the party still mining.  Some of the adults got in too.  (You had to wear a mining hat if you went in even if you were an adult.)   

PARTY SNACKS/CAKE:  For snacks, the kids loved munching on the apples.  Some of the apples on the windowsills disappeared as well.  For the poisoned apple bar, the kids got to choose for toppings amongst chocolate, butterscotch, and caramel.  They also got to add M&M’s and Nilla wafers if they wanted.  They each got an apple juice box.  The adults could have apple cider.  They were also welcome to the apples and any poison that they wanted.  Instead of cake, Jeena Ann opted for apple pie.  It’s apple pie them men love, Dearie!  Jeena Ann’s friend’s mother made two, amazing pies.  Like Snow White does for Grumpy, our friend used extra dough to write Jeena Ann’s name on the pies. 

FAVORS:  The favors were the kids’ apple ornament, any apples that they took home, their coloring sheet, stickers that they won, and the rocks, gems, coins, and poisoned apples that they found. 

COSTUMES:   Jeena Ann dressed as Snow White, top to bottom, black hair to match.  (Disney’s official costume)  I, (her mom), dressed up as the Evil Queen with Disney’s official costume.  My mom, (her grandmother) dressed up as a poisoned apple that we got at Oriental Trading.  The costume included a worm hand puppet.  Her friend, Mason, dressed up as the prince.  He had a red cape and a crown.  Her friend’s Dad dressed up as the Huntsman with a brown, hooded cape over a green shirt and brown pants just as the huntsman in the movie.  All the kids got yellow mining hats for the mining activity.