A party for a princess!

Lindsey had her first real birthday party last Saturday, the 26th. I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of birthday parties, because I hate having to make other people spend their hard-earned money on a trinkety item for my child! But, it does make the child feel important, and every kid needs a special birthday party every once in a while. It's fun to do a party for little 5-year-olds because it's the age where kids start to really develop friendships. My little Lindsey has some darling friends!

The party went from 2:30 to 4:30. The invitation we sent out told all the girls to wear their favorite princess outfit to the party. When each of the girl's got to our house, the "handsome prince" (aka, Brevan) met them at their car and walked them up the "red carpet" stairs into the Royal Princess Party. Brevan did such a great job escorting all the shy girls! He even opened and closed the doors for all the moms that dropped off their girls. At one point, he opened the car door for my friend Buffy, but then noticed another mom, so he quickly shoved Buffy in the car and slammed her door shut so he could rush over and help the other mom! The first activity was to color and decorate paperdolls and their clothes. I had stayed up until 2:00 a.m. the night before, cutting out all the little parts of the paperdolls.

I bought this cute hat for Royal Princess Lindsey. I also pulled her hair up in a bow and curled it. She looked like the Belle of the Ball!

The next activity was "Pin Cinderella in her castle." A great pasttime, but quite a few of the girl's were nervous and didn't want to play.

The next activity was a game I made up called "Musical Tiara". Each girl had to try on a tiara and pass it on to the next girl, while I played the story of Cinderella on the CD player. If the story stopped while they were wearing a tiara, they got to keep it and sit on the couch while the other girls got their own tiara.

The whole group of princesses! Holland Morrison, Memphis Finlinson, Lexi Anderson, Camille Anderson, Aeva Johnson, Lindsey, Brooke Burnham, Jorja Simmons, Cate Myers, Macy Ah-mu, and Brynlie. Logan also joined the picture!

Next, I read the story of the Princess and the Pea. Then we played a game where one of the girl's hid a green bouncy ball (the pea) under one of the two pillows (the mattresses). One of the other girl's sat on each of the pillows to see if she could tell which one had the "pea", which would mean she was a real princess. It was so cute to watch the little girl's sit on the pillows and wiggle their bums all over to find the "pea"! When they figured it out, they got a new ring.

Then it was present time! Lindsey got quite the amount of fun toys!

I don't make fancy cakes. I buy them. Lindsey asked for a beautiful princess cake, and I thought this one was perfect! Cinderella (her favorite princess) even lit up! Of course, there was the typical party fight over who got the pieces with the giant roses.

The next activity was "castle building". I found this idea on the internet, and it was a huge hit! I bought a ton of sugar cubes and some small candies, and made Royal Frosting (because it's very sticky). The girl's made their own princess castles and decorated them. There might have even been a little finger lickin' in the middle.

The last activity was the much-requested pinata! Lindsey did not think a party could be complete without a beautiful castle pinata that she beat up with a strong bat! It was fun to watch the little princesses try to smack it! When all the candy fell out, Ryan quickly ran to make sure every girl got her fair share. They added the candy to their goody bags, which also had fruit snacks, a necklace and a pack of princess stickers.

And that was it! A very fun, but exhausting, afternoon! I left the mess for Ryan and the kids to pick up while I went to dinner with friends and watched the Relief Society Broadcast at the Stake Center. I'm so glad my favorite 5-year-old princess had a very special day!