We just celebrated my daughter's second birthday with a princess themed party.
We chose this theme for her because we didn't want to traumatize her with a character like we did last year. Since she was still scared of the Easter Bunny this year, I think it was a smart idea. First, we made invitations on the computer that read: "Hear ye! Hear ye! Her Majesty, Princess (name of my daughter), requests your presence, Lady or Sir guest's name, at her Royally Fun 2nd Birthday Bash! The celebration will commence at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday April 3rd at Mary Elizabeth's Castle located at street address of party in the Kingdom of Fort Lauderdale, and end promptly at 5:00 p.m. The festivities will begin with a feast fit for a Princess! Wear your royal finery! R.S.V.P. the Queen Mum at (telephone number) by March 31st." I had a picture of a princess (not Disney) that I downloaded from the internet. We rented the park that is located across the street from my home. It has a cute little playground and exercise track where people can walk around the park and watch the children play as they are exercising. Also, there is a gate, so it was the perfect forum for our little event. We rented child-size table and chairs with little umbrellas attached to the tables. I hung tulle with a princess crown on the fence for people to see when they approached the playground. There was a sign with Cinderellas on it that said: "Welcome to (Name of my daughter)'s 2nd Birthday party." When each child arrived, there was a horse (pony) at the gate to "escort" each child to the area where the party was. We started the party with a musical number by the Bee Bop Buddies, who sing songs and the children went on a magical trip to find my daughter's birthday cake. Cinderella appeared while they were playing, and she helped the children find my daughter's birthday cake. Everyone who helped find the cake (i.e., all the children) got a sticker. I had Disney princess stickers for the girls, and dragon/seven dwarf stickers for the boys. It is amazing how much children love those stickers. We then began eating, and Cinderella did some face painting for the children. I had a craft corner, where the children and their parents could decorate clear cups and disposable sippy cups for those who still use sippy cups with foam princess related stickers. I had a huge tub of stickers that I bought at a craft store for $7.99. The tub had castles, princess, stars, hearts, dragons, etc., and the children loved making creations using the stickers and a paint pen to decorate their cups. This was great so no one misplaced his/her cup. The children had a great time doing this as well. We served red and white pizzas, sandwiches on a plastic tray that looked like crystal, fruit and vegetable trays. I made the sandwiches, and I used glass slipper and tiara cookie cutters to cut the sandwiches into royal shapes. We then cut the cake with Cinderella. My daughter's cake was store bought in the shape of a castle. She had some happy birthday music and everyone came over and watched my daughter blow out her birthday candle and she danced with Cinderella to the music. We then had a pink and yellow trackless train come in the park, and the train took Cinderella to the front entrance as she waved goodbye. The train came back to the party and took the children and adults on rides around the playground on the exercise path. The train was a big hit for the girls and boys (and parents, too). Finally, we had a castle pinata that I made using a copy paper box, toilet paper rolls and lots of fancy streamer paper that I bought at the party store. It was a pull string pinata, and had princess-related items such as crown erasers, balls, pens and pencils, candy, etc. At this point, everyone was exhausted, so we gave out the goody bags. For the girls, we had decorated plastic bags with the foam princess stickers, and had the following items: a plastic crown (which I got on ebay: 100 crowns for $29.95), a princess tutu (which I, again, got on ebay for 12 tutus for $24.95, a boa with stick on earrings that I got at Dollar Tree for $1.00, a purse that I got at the Dollar Tree for $1.00 (at Easter Time, they sell beautiful little girl purses made out of satin with beaded handles there), Cinderella fruit chews, bracelets, necklaces and lip glosses (that I got packages of 6 for $1.00). The boys got plastic sand pails in the shape of a castle that were filled with boy-toys (I bought mine for $1.00 per pail at a local drug store, but found them in packages of 2 at Dollar Tree) and candies and a plastic sword. People are still calling me, telling me what a good time they had.
