My daughter was so excited to have her first priness party. I wanted to make it a memorable event for her and the 11 other girls attending. The ages of the girls ranged from 3 to 12, and they all had a blast. The invitations were decorated with a crown stamp embelished with glitter glue. Writen in poem form, the read, "A royal decree for all in the land, A princess party is being planned. Princesses come from far and wide, At 1 o'clock have your carriage arrive. The 10th of June is our special day, At Lagerstedt Castle your mom knows the way. Everyone wear your princess attire, For games cake and climbing the castle spire. We hope you can come to our royal ball, Queen Amber is requesting a call ( phone number)" Signed Princess Ella. When the girls arrived, they followed a sign to the castle around the side of the house. Coming into the backyard, they first see a giant castle made out of 8 refrigerator boxes and painted to look just like a castle. (No joke. It looked like a real castle, not cardboard boxes. Everyone was amazed!)It was also decorated with pink, purple and white balloons and pink tule. We found the design at www.mrmcgroovey.com and it was totally worth the work, plus you can save it to use again. Each princess was greeted by the Queen, myself in costume, and given a Princess bag (from Oriental Trading Company) and told to write her name on the inside. Then they were given a foam crown (from Michaels or Oriental Trading Co.) and cardboard wand (Oriental Trading Co.) to decorate with stick on jewels, glitter, foam stickers, ect. This kept them busy while all the other girls arrived. Next, we had a Royal Beauty Parlor set up. Each princess sat on the throne (chair draped with a silk table cloth) and had her choice of nail polish, body glitter, and blush. Each girl was then given their own lipstick to apply and take home. There was a mirror on the table and a full length mirror decorated with pink tule so they could admire themselves. While the other girls were waiting, they played in the castle. Next, the princesses were asked to gather in front of the castle. A group photo was taken. Then the queen read the story, princess and the pea. Next we found out who was a real princess. Hide a green golf ball under 1 of 4 pillows. The girls faced the castle while hiding the ball under a different pillow each time. Each princess sat on the pillows to find the "pea". When they found it, the Queen said " you must be a real princess." Then they were given a princess necklace(Confetti Junction) and jewel bracelet(Oriental Trading Co.). Then everyone was ready for a snack. They ate in the castle courtyard. Older princesses were the Royal Helpers and served the younger girls. Pink paper plates with white doilies were all dishes up with grapes, PB&J sandwiches in heart shape and star shaped glitter sugar cookies. Each princess was given a plastic wine glass decorated with her name in glitter glue, jewels, and curling ribbon. These foods were chosen so that their princess dresses weren't ruined with cake and frosting. Next, we played pin the crown on the princess. After their turn, each girl was given a pen with a crown on the top, glitter notepad, and princess stickers (oriental trading co.) Our final activity was search for treasure. We covered a kids plastic swimming pool in a big white tablecloth, and filled it with pink packaging peanuts. All the princess gathered around and searched for jewel rings, kisses from the prince(hershy kisses) and tootsie rolls. This is much harder than you would think, and they had so much fun! Then the girls played in the castle more until it was time to go home. Everyone had so much fun, including myself!