The Linda Family

Ashleigh had been making plans for months…For quite some time she has been telling me she wanted a Princess Crown birthday cake. As her birthday was approaching, and I was still recovering from Bekah’s birth the task of actually having a birthday party seemed a little daunting to me. I tried to convince Wes that April would be a better month, it would be spring time and we could have fun outside. Unfortunately for me, he didn’t go for it

We started talking to Ashleigh about her birthday party and she decided that she wanted a Princess party like her friend Mia had last fall. Upon further discussion she realized that she really wanted a prince and princess party so that her friends who are boys could come and have a good time. She made her guest list and we sent out the invites, and started to plan what we could do to have all of her friends here and make it a Royal Gala.

I tried to go simple, but really, if you know me, you know there’s no simple anything….With the help of my mom we made up some great goody bags with tiaras, lip gloss, Disney Princess Crayons, Disney Princess Fruit Snacks, and a necklace & bracelet set for the girls. The boys were ready to be Knights in Shining Armor with Chest Plates & Swords, and they also went home with Spiderman Crayons, the same fruit snacks, and a card game. While everyone arrived we had some Disney Princess Movie music playing and the kids had fun dancing around the living room. Once the majority of the guests were here we moved into the dining room for BINGO. I had intended to make BINGO cards so that I could use Disney Princes and Princesses (because the commercial ones are only Princesses). Unfortunately I had a heck of a time trying to find pictures of Princes and the images were all completely different sizes and it was totally overwhelming.

I had pretty much given up on the BINGO game and was trying to find something else that I could do instead when I found a BINGO card generator on a website that is full of homeschool materials. It was amazing. I was able to choose the size of the cards, whether I wanted words or pictures, and then I chose a theme. I chose the midevil theme and we played BINGO with knights, princesses, mermaids, suits of armor, and all sorts of princessy stuff! Perfect!

The next “project” was Princess Clay. I think the kids enjoyed it. I whipped up a batch of homemade play-doh and the kids got to choose their coloring (kool-aid) and mix that into it, as well as some glitter, for the Prince/Princess effect. It was messy, but not that bad. They had a good time and I just wiped down the table when they were done. We also played “pin Cinderella in her castle”. Well, it was more like stick Cinderella in her castle. The kids had fun, several of them took two turns.

For lunch I tried to go healthy. We had sandwichs, PB&J, tuna salad, and chicken salad. The PB&J were cut into stars, hearts, and flowers. We had veggies and dip, fruit salad, and some chips & pretzels to go with it. I had a bunch of Capri-sun Juice pouches we had never consumed, so we served those as well. The kids all seemed to be happy and full when they left the table.

The cake was Ashleigh’s favorite part. With all the time I put into it, she sure better have enjoyed it! It actually was not as bad as I expected, I just forgot that I had an infant to care for as well as make the cake. Next year it will be easier! She chose the Wilton Castle cake pan for her cake. I had never made flowers before, but I found it was surprisingly easier than I expected.

By the end of the party I was ready to lay down for a bit and take a nap, though that could have been caused by the fact that I wait until the last minute for everything and therefore only got 3 hours of sleep the night before her party…but hey, it all got done and everyone had fun! Thankfully I have some great friends who helped along the way!

After the party was over we relaxed for a bit and took some photos before Celebration #2 started. Nana arrived, then cousin Virginia and Dave, then Aunt Beth, and eventually Uncle Roy. Aunt Beth brought a ton of great stuff and we spent the latter part of the afternoon redecorating Ashleigh’s room. You’ll have to wait for the next blog post for that, but for now…Enjoy the party photos