K.H. asks from Seattle, WA on August 21, 2010
Princess Party Ideas - Seattle,WA
Hi everyone,
We are throwing my daughter a princess themed party for her 4th birthday. Sounds like a lot of fun, but I have two planning challenges: 1) I am not particularly creative or crafty 2) She knows more princes than prinesses.
We have about 6 kids coming so far ranging in ages of 20 months to 5 years old (I'm totally fine with a small group of kids as i am sure she will, too). I have a few ideas so far for the two hour party. Here is the tentative party agenda so far:
*coloring pages and crayons available as people/kids arrive (10-15 minutes) - I think this might be sort of borring...any other ideas for the party warm up?
*eat/play (1/2 hour to 45 minutes)
*Games - Pin the tale on the dragon, Slay the dragon pinata, and hunt for dragon eggs (putting mini bags of Jelly Bellies inside jumbo eggs..what else can I put in there?) (20 minutes to 1/2 hour)
*Presents (10 minutes)
*Cake (15 minutes) ... or is it cake first and then presents?
*playtime in the house or backyard (the remaining time of the party)
My dear hubby thinks I'm overthinking this...I probably am. I mean, most soon-to-be 4 year olds are happy just playing and don't really care if there is a theme. Isn't it just us adults projecting onto them? lol! I do plan to try and decorate the house to be somewhat "princess-y" since the games are centered around dragons (since there are more boys to entertain and I know Maddie will enjoy playing those games, too). Do you have other, simple ideas to help me plan this party...have I mentiooned that I'm neither creative nor crafty??? Help!
Oh yeah, one more challenge...the party is next week and I work full time (so not a whole lot of extra time to plan, especially not anythng elaborate!). And I never have loved planning events or parties. Sigh...I guess that was three more challenes! = )
Ideas? Thoughts? Encouragement?
Thanks!
K.
Featured Answers
N.J. answers from Dayton on August 21, 2010
You can have princess stuff for the girls like the pretty shoes that come in 8 packs at Sams club and Tiaras from the dollar store.
For the boys you could have prince stuff like dollar store swords and crowns and the riding bouncy balls for their "royal stede". If the riding bouncy ball are too expensive they can even have the horses that come on sticks which are available in the dollar store
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More Answers
N.J. answers from Dayton on August 21, 2010
You can have princess stuff for the girls like the pretty shoes that come in 8 packs at Sams club and Tiaras from the dollar store.
For the boys you could have prince stuff like dollar store swords and crowns and the riding bouncy balls for their "royal stede". If the riding bouncy ball are too expensive they can even have the horses that come on sticks which are available in the dollar store
1 mom found this helpful
L.M. answers from Dover on August 21, 2010
My daughter (Madison Cheyenne) is having a princess party for her 4th too. I have lots of ideas for you. In addition to having coloring pages available, you could let them decorate their own crowns/tiaras (I bought multi prism colored ones for both boys and girls) w/ gems, glitter, etc. The girls could make a septor/magc wand while the boys could make a sword and/or royal shield. We are using plastic wine glasses and letting the kids decorate their own (self sticking gems). All of the above are also the take-home gifts for the party attendees.
I also ordered a princess castle backdrop to take pictures in front of.
I found lots of goodies for take-home bags but most are really girly so I have had trouble thinking of boy things unless I go into the knight theme...really trying not to though...let me know if you think of something.
Best of luck.
1 mom found this helpful
K.M. answers from Seattle on August 22, 2010
We just had my son's 4th birthday party. We just let the kids play for the first little bit. We had gotten out the hot wheels and set up a train track and had my daughter's dress up clothes out. As soon as we were fairly sure everyone was there, we did cake and gifts and they spent the rest of the time playing with the gifts while the parents socialized and my husband cooked up hamburgers and hotdogs. As far as decorating - balloons go a long way, and if you have non-helium balloons around the kids love to play with them. I get my helium/mylar balloons at the dollar store. I really liked the having cake & gifts at the beginning of the party. That's what my son really cared about and then everyone was free to leave whenever they wanted. Good luck - it will be fine, don't stress. Kids don't need much to entertain themselves when there are a bunch of other kids around.
1 mom found this helpful
T.W. answers from Milwaukee on August 21, 2010
For my daughters 4th birthday we did the princess theme too. Lets say we had 8 little girls here to help her celebrate it. Pretty loud but really fun. For her birthday she wanted a princess castle and little princesses. So what we did is had our neighbor build a wooden castle since he is a carpenter. Next we went to the craft store and bought little wooden furniture, some craft paint and brushes. For the party we lined the table with newspaper and placed a piece of furniture in front of each child with an egg carton of different paints and a brush. Each child was to paint the furniture for the castle to make it more special for our daughter. All the kids loved it! After the painting, we went outside to play games, eat cake, open presents, then back inside so the girls could play with the castle, furniture and the little princesses. It was so much fun watching them all play.
C.1. answers from Minneapolis on August 21, 2010
Do you have a climber type thing in your back yard? Drape it with some pink or purple fabric and decorate it to look like a castle. Not sure how much the younger kids (or boys) would like it, but she would love it!
J.F. answers from Philadelphia on August 21, 2010
We;re having a princess tea party, with a "ball" and music playing for them to dance too, also, were going to make a nail salon and hair station and have the dresses to play dress up. My daughter will be 4 too
J.N. answers from Seattle on August 23, 2010
Hi K.,
I would start with playtime (let them warmup with eachother). Play 1 or 2 games, do cake and then presents. If there is still time left, let them do playtime. I do think giving them options of coloring is great, but most kids at 4 will just want to run and play. Check out Party City. They have a lot of princess decorations.
Have fun!
J.N. answers from Seattle on August 22, 2010
Sounds great so far! My daughter wanted a princess party foher 4th birthday too and we also had about 50/50 boys and girls. For a craft, I went and bought a multi pack of those foamaies crowns at Michaels. It came with all the stickers. Then I bought foam letter stickers and added them in. Each child made his or her own crown with their choice of decorations and most put their name on it. The pack came with pink and purple crowns of course, but also blue and white ones. The boys were just as happy as the girls to make and wear them. Also, there is no glue or cutting involved, just stickers. It was easy and fun and fit with the theme. I had it out for kids to do as they arrived. Other than that and te cake and decorations, there really wasn't anything princess about the party and my daughter still loved it!
Good luck! Don't forget to have fun!
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