Princess Party

It happened. My kid fell head over heals for princesses. Until a few months ago it seemed like she couldn't care less about princesses. She was into rocks, cars, puzzles, coloring, books... but not really girly stuff. Then one day she came home from school where they had been talking about what they would be when they grew up and she said she wanted to be a princess. I asked her what princesses do and she said something along the lines of "nothing, they just hang out". Uh huh. Ok. The independent woman in me started freaking out internally, but then I remembered what a girly girl I was at her age (pink everything, thank you). So here we are riding the princess wave (which is seriously full blown). We walk around holding imaginary Cinderella's hand, we watch Disney princess movies, tell 'once upon a time' princess stories... you name it. Princess are a part of our daily existence now. 

So it shouldn't surprise anyone that Riley wanted a princess birthday celebration. I'm sure it would have shocked many of my friends to see me pile up the cart with all things princess, but you embrace the things that make your kids happy even when you never thought you would do certain things. Ah, to be a parent.

Like last year, we decided to have a small gathering. I knew I would be out of town the week before and wanted to keep it easy to prepare for. We invited my dad and the in laws and then decided to invite a couple people with kids, one of which unfortunately couldn't make it. Riley didn't seem to care if there were 6 people or 20 so I'm all for keeping it small for now.

Riley most adores Ariel (and wants to be her when she grows up) - her teacher even let her borrow a book from school over the weekend that's all about Ariel, but I tried to bring in multiple princess characters while still having Ariel be the main star.

Our party was fairly simple. We hung out for a bit and Riley played board games with grandma.

I asked for a silly face. This is what I got.

I made Italian Beef sandwiches and an orzo salad for lunch. We also had a veggie plate and hummus and crackers. Nothing too fancy and nothing that Riley would really eat (except some of the veggies), but the adults enjoyed the food.

Sandwich toppings. The olives were a new addition and a good one.

After lunch some of our friends arrived just in time for Riley's favorite part of the day - opening gifts. Riley was waiting for this allllllll morning. As you could probably guess there were a lot of princess presents.

She audibly gasped at this gift when she opened it. It was so dramatic and cute at the same time.

And then there was the playing with all the gifts...

Found this at the airport on my way home from CO.

Glitter without having glitter everywhere. Win win.

Cupcake time! We went to Byerly's for Jesse and my birthday and while his birthday cupcake was really good - mine, not so much. We decided to check out yum!, a local restaurant that has delicious food with the hope that their cupcakes would follow suite. And they did. So good - can't wait for another birthday to come up so I can buy more cupcakes from there.

And just for kicks we played a game that was simple and fun for all... pin the seashell on Ariel. Of course, the guy holding the baby and using his non-dominant hand won.

Such a fun and simple party. We had a little drama that night when we wouldn't let Riley stay up all night playing with her princess stuff and the next morning when one of her dress up princesses broke in half, but otherwise the day was a success.