A Birthday Fit For A Princess! Part 1

Invitations and Party Decor

My youngest turned 6 in September…wow…were did that time go? To say she is obsessed with Princesses would be a understatement! She is a hopeless romantic already!! When we were discussing her birthday party she of course wanted a princess party.,,,ughh…really? Don’t get me wrong I LOVE a good princess party, but we have already had a Princess party TWO years in a row. Been there done that! So we were able to nail it down to a specific Princess this year and I was thrilled when she picked (was talked into) Rapunzel and Tangled….yippee!

My little Princess was sooo excited she couldn’t wait to run to Party City and buy everything Tangled they had! WHAT?…do you know what I do every day?…so she hesitantly agreed to let me SEE what I could come up with. Make no mistake though they better be good or she was going to Party City pronto..lol. Luckily the invitations passed the test. I don’t draw! I can’t draw! Even my stick figures bow their heads in shame…lol…seriously! But I’m finding I can sort of make things out of shapes on the computer…cool! So I was able to put something together that resembled a tower and then using some embroidery floss made some Rapunzel braids to hang out of the windows. Cute!

I loved the idea of those little braids so much that I thought how cute would it be to make a big braid out of yarn and have it hanging down onto the front porch from the upstairs window. I also thought “hey I’ll make one that we can use for a photo prop also”. After spending an entire hour making a small braid to use as a photo prop I quickly decided…”yep, we need to come up with another idea for Rapunzel hair that is not yarn”…lol. A little tip for you if you try and make a braid out of yarn. Once you have all of your yarn cut into pieces gather your three sections for braiding and tie each section with a hair band at the bottom BEFORE you try and braid. It will keep the yarn from getting all Tangled up! Trust ME! Anyway, I had to find something else to use that did not require braiding and came in long pieces. I was walking through the aisles of Party City (well I can’t make EVERYTHING) and I spotted the large rolls of plastic table coverings in bright yellow…Perfect!

The “hair” is hanging from an upstairs window and we draped it all the way down to the front porch to greet our guest as they arrived. It was easy to work with and gets the idea across! We also used it to string through the trees outside and also along the ceiling in the dining room were the food was set up. The hair was a bit messed up by the time we got to pictures outside but you get the idea…lol.

Then I had to decide how to set up the food. Were would Rapunzel have a party? The Snuggly Duckling of course! I themed the food table and the dining room to resemble the Snuggly Duckling (the thug pup from the movie). I used a lot of burlap fabric and browns and made labels for the food that had the Snuggly Ducking logo on them. We turned the lights down low and used some candle lanterns to add to the ambience. I had so many ideas for this but truly just ran out of time! Hard to plan your own party when your planning for other people as well…lol.

I knew I wanted to have most of the party outside for a few reasons. 1. Most of the movie takes place outside as Flynn and Rapunzel travel to see the lanterns. 2. My house is not big enough to hold 14 6 year olds. 3. My house is not big enough to hold 14 6 year olds!…oh did I say that twice…yeah…thought so! Of course it was a rainy and cold week…of course! Luckily the sun came out that morning and dried everything up in time. Thank you GOD! I really was sweating that one! Anyway, I have a large tree on the side yard that I decided to make the focal point. I used some Christmas lights and the hubby wrapped the tree is those, he then strung the Rapunzel “hair” through the trees. I had printed several photos of clips from the movie out on some glossy photo paper and using some fishing line I hung the pictures off of the branches around the tree. Thank you Taylor Swift
(another obsession of my little princess) for the inspiration…one of her video’s has a similar thing and I loved it when I saw it! Also, if you Google Disney’s Tangled and look up images you will find TONS of FREE high quality photos to use…there are really some great ones…here is one of my favorites!

he he he….love Maximus! My hubby wasn’t real sure this was a great idea…he didn’t get it. BUT, when the kids arrived and they were running around squealing and looking at every picture he GOT it! We also took a white frame (found at Michaels in their clearance rack for $5) and using fishing line we hung it from the tree branch as a photo op spot. For some reason we didn’t get a good shot of the pictures hanging from the tree…but trust me it was cool!

I was able to duplicate the Yellow sun from the movie and made some of the Kingdom Flag banners that you see hanging in the Kingdom during the lantern celebration. And finally of course you must have Flynn Rider wanted posters! (Again these are available on the internet if you Google)

So for decorations I really barely spent any money. I bought a role of tablecloth covering, a $5 frame and some ribbon. The rest I gathered up from around the house off the internet or made myself. Use your creativity and you don’t have to spend a fortune to make a magical atmosphere. We’ll talk about price a little later,

Come back tomorrow to read about the food and the games for the party!

Celebrate Life!

Candy