A Princess Party!

So, here it is...a princess party in the making :)  I know some people frown upon big kids' parties.  But, I love to plan them (if time is on my side, which lately it's not :))...but we Stegs love a good kiddo party and we make it a whole family event so everyone helps. I think it helps kids learn to plan and be organized to throw a party.  And I like to do it because we don't really have any big family get-togethers and this is the kiddos' one time a year to have the focus be all on them...and in a family with 5 kids I think that's important :)  And we start at the invite.  I know most people don't do snail mail anymore, but I just haven't been able to bring myself to do evites yet.  I know they are easy, but like I said, I get the kids involved and we try to make it fun.  When Ash asked for a princess party, I jumped at the chance. I really thought I had lost all opportunity to do a princess party.  Hailey never had one, Shelby never really liked princesses (aside from Jasmine a couple years ago) and Ash was more into Hello Kitty than princesses recently.  But, she had a change of heart this year.  I was so happy!  So b/c I knew this might be my last princess party I did go a bit overboard :)  I had this idea in my head of these cute invites.  I went with Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Belle as our main princesses.  I had leftover tulle from another party and some fancy paper so they didn't really cost anything...aside from a stamp (which is expensive enough these days...but I know our kids love snail mail so I think that cost is worth it!)  So, here it goes...a "few" pics to pass the time...especially for my mama in FL :)

Ash helped with the glitter accents on the princess dresses :)

Even Logan helped...he has an appreciation for princesses since he's got 3 big sisters :)

We almost always put a pic of our kiddo on the invite...just makes it a little more fun :)  I can't remember our exact writing under the tulle, but it was princess-appropriate...something like "Gowns, Crowns and Sweet Treats, too.  Nothing short of a Royal Princess Celebration will do!  Her Royal Highness, Princess Ashley, requests the honor of your presence for her 5th Birthday Ball on Sunday, Sept 15th...rsvp to King Kevin and Queen Kelly..." :)

Aunt Sue sent us this cool towel origami book, which Shelby loves.  She had been waiting to make a bday cake out towels and this was her opportunity!  Maybe she can be a future cruise ship worker?? :)

Just so you know I was serious about snafoos and this party...yes, all of my cakes fell apart or didn't rise properly...ugh!  Ash didn't care though...she especially loved the rainbow cake which she asked for!

Our cake ball/gowns...Ash helped, can you tell?! :)

Yes, even Kev has a wicked talent for party planning.  This evening it was tulle-cutting.  He's a gem...I just couldn't sit and do this for very long with my bad back...

Ash helping make her frosting...

...and helped with her castle roof...big 5 year old!

Very tired mama finishing off the castle cake...while trying to keep a straight back...not easy! (Shelby took this...she likes to take pics at angles :))

My fondant helpers...Shelby made stones for the castle...

Ash made mini flowers from my new fondant mold...love it! Never had a mold before for fondant and it was worth the 6 bucks!

Castle cake alzl done...finally!  She was so excited to see it...and we took a pic with it in case it fell apart over night (yes, this has happened before!)...extra special thanks to SS Sharon (our FL Friend!) for making Ash a personalized princess shirt for her big day!  Love it!

Our very own Steg cleaning lady...her idea to use the shopping cart...worked like a charm!  haha about the curlers in the hair...she loves her hair curled these days!

The princess and her BIG crown...aka the pinata!  Special thanks to Nina Stegs for running to Hobby Lobby to get this gem.  We considered making one like we sometimes do, but that just wasn't gonna happen with a last minute party!

Ash putting together her goodie bags for her lil' buddies :)

We were gonna make a pin the princess on the castle game and then it occurred to me that awesome Sharon in FL had given us a big castle puzzle years ago...I had Ash put it together...

And then Hays and D taped the back and up on the wall it went...no artwork involved...yay!

Princess Ash with her finished goodie bags.  I was so grateful to use up all my extra tulle (which has been turning up all around our house thanks to cats that love it :))...so we made tulle princess dress bags out of them...super easy and cheap (bags from the dollar store). I should not have put their names on them though b/c I had no idea glitter glue took a day to dry...ugh!

Hays was my trooper as usual and helped with the crown craft...cutting felt and hot gluing.  I did end up paying her for all her troubles, but it was worth it to not do this all myself!

Princess cake pops! Super easy!  Ash loved the edible glitter on their dresses the most :)

Personalized crown sugar cookies.  Hailey did this for me...she loves to do icing/piping work...she could take after her mama in the treat decorating department...I really need to get her into a Wilton class :)

The felt crowns all ready for the princesses to bling-up!

I got this little idea in my head to do a Princess Treasure Hunt.  It was one thing that sorta worked in my favor.  I got all the goodies at the dollar store.  The girls had to each find 7 treasures around our backyard.  Thank goodness it was a nice day because doing it inside our cramped living space was not really an option!  They found a glass slipper pencil sharpener for Cinderella, a dinglehopper (fork) for Ariel/Little Mermaid, a rose for Belle, an apple for Snow White, a "magic" carpet for Jasmine, a hair clip for Rapunzel and a crown for Aurora/Sleeping Beauty.  I wanted to add a frog for Tiana, but apparently the dollar store is on a shortage of these as were other party places in Bloomy and I could only find 8 (not enough). 

Sweet King Kev made the map...I think he has some hidden artistic talent in him as much as he'll deny it! :)  I love that I have ideas and he can make them happen...though he might wish my crazy brain would shut off so he wouldn't get roped into things! 

My two handsome princes :)

An attempt at the Little Mermaid...Hays is a little too big for this now since she's 5'4'' :)

Daddy organizing the game...trying to plant Belle's roses in his garden :)

Ash all ready for her party...the cake actually made it in the fridge for 2 days...but it was interesting to note that it changed colors...the pink faded...weird.  She still loved it!

Showing off her food table :)  Pink princess punch, choc. covered strawberries and marshmallows, princess cake pops, castle cake, frosted animal crackers (our fav!) and crown sugar cookies.

The "fruit" of my labor....the cake  Not shabby looking in a pic, but you will see later how bad it was leaning.  Rice Krispies are not the best tower builders...thank goodness for trim work that covered it up!

Hays made these yummies!

Aurora Ash and her party table...all ready for friends to arrive!

Another view of the tight quarters of the party room!

Our "help the princess to the castle door" game...so grateful for that easy puzzle to use!

The Fab Five...all decked out...Pocahontas Hailey, Little Mermaid Shelby, Sleeping Beauty Ashley and the two princes (Logan has on Dylan's 1st birthday hat from 6 years ago :))

Ash decorated the front door to her "castle"...and showed off a special princess bow :)

My beautiful princess :)  She really wanted to be Little Mermaid after Nina Stegs got her that costume that week and her friend, Gracyn, had that party, but we talked her into a more princessy dress.  Pink worked much better for this party as did her biggest sister's Cinderella crown :)

A couple princess twirls before the friends arrive!

Me and my girl...I was her "princess security" and was glad I could put to use this super cute shirt that my sister-in-law, Candy, made for our Disney trip years ago!

And then the friends arrived in a whirlwind...13 little girls (was supposed to be 12, but one brought another family member). I guess I figured a few might not show up, but they ALL did!  We did our craft first...felt headbands that you add jewels too.  They turned out cute and were super easy/cheap.

We had Ashley's personalized princess party music on (an awesome gift from Aunt Candy and fam) and they girls danced to that. 

Then onto the pin-the-princess game...Ash didn't win (I think Lillian did), but they all had fun trying!

Then it was cake time!  My sweet new friend, Karen, took pics for me. I had just met her for the first time that day and she jumped right in and helped with everything.  I love it when people take pics for me b/c it's so hard to do this and run the party!

The bday princess blowing our her candles...she was a little miffed at me that I put the wrong "5" candle on her cake...she wanted the rainbow one that Nina G sent her.  I made sure to use it on her real bday!

One last shot with the castle before all that hard work was sliced into pieces!

Proof of the tightness of our kitchen with 20 people in it.  I could barely move to give the girls cake and ice cream!

My sweet, happy girl eating her cake :)

The party crew with Ash being a cornball :)

Then the treasure hunt began....first we started on our deck...the "glass" Cinderella slippers (pencil sharpeners) were hidden in our lil' playhouse...

...the dinglehoppers for Ariel were in our sandbox

Belle's roses were in our sad garden :)

Who knew a weeping willow could provide apples...for Snow White :)

Aladdin's (Jasmine's) magic carpet was by the fence...

...Rapunzel's hair was hanging from the deck stairs...

it wasn't easy to unhook hair from the stairs :)

and the final prize was in our playset...Sleeping Beauty's crown...and the BIG crown/pinata, which they were supposed to bring up to the house to do...instead they tried to steal the candy out of it...silly princesses!

The gang...13 little princesses...so cute!

Time for gifts. It was chaos!

We ran out of time to do the pinata, but parents were gracious and let us do it anyway...Ash went first, of course!

She gave it a good pounding, but that baby did not want to break...they all tried 2-3 times.  Finally the boys broke it!  Thank goodness for brothers!

Candy went a-flying...kids went a-diving!

We ran out of time to do hair and nails, but Mrs. M. was a good manicurist :)

Post-party...the boys playing Wii (Isaac makes a nice princess :))...and the princesses with their ring pops :)

Lil' Prince(ss)?  He doesn't look too shabby with a crown on :)  He was a trooper for the party and thankfully slept through most of it!

Ash and Lillian--the robotic princesses :)

Ash showing off her cake pop :)  The lady that created these things needs to be crowned queen!  They are a staple at our parties and the easiest things to make!

The lil' goodies we put in our goodie bags...nothing too fancy this year...apparently princess isn't as "in" as it was.  We always pick "off season" party themes.  Little Mermaid is apparently "in" with the new movie coming out soon...I had no idea.  And below is Ash with her loot. (fyi...the Lalalooopsy is the weird looking doll on the right, Nina :))...she has such sweet, generous friends who know what she loves!

So there ya' have it.  A princess party in the making--my first and probably last one, but I'm glad I spent the time/effort doing it even in spite of a bad back and some stressful snafoos.  It was worth it to see Ashley's happiness and hear from so many of her friends what an awesome time they had.  There were truly so many ideas for this kind of party that it was was kind of overwhelming, but I am happy with what we accomplished in just a week of planning and not much time to do it in.  I will say that 13 little girls in our small house was a bit much.  Thankfully they were all so good, but it was truly a house-full. I don't think they noticed how tight it was, but I am not sure I can have that many kiddos in this house again at once.  My sweet Ash...she is just so friendly though, that even 12 friends wasn't enough. She was upset I didn't invite some others.  She just loves her buddies and spending time with them.  I love that about my social gal!  So after a week of hard work and countless hours of craftiness/cake-i-ness and creativity this was the product.  It reassures me looking back on something like this that if Kev ever strays away from the computer business and I find more hours in my mothering day, we could possibly go into the party business :) haha :)