Preparing for the princess' party

How do you plan for a simple birthday party? You go to Chuck E. Cheese's and let them do all of the work. However, if your birthday child says she wants to have a party at home, then it's not that simple any more.

I try to make at-home birthday parties simple by having a simple menu,

• hamburgers
• hot dogs
• chips
• baked beans (optional)
• garden salad with ranch dressing
• kool aid
• cake
• vanilla ice cream

one or two activities,

• a princess-related craft such as making your own crown/tiara
• or, paint wooden Christmas ornaments (since I have a ton of these)
• or, kiss the frog (a variation of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey)
• and, hitting the pinata

and only two hours. However, our family and friends love to party and sometimes our "simple" birthday parties end up turning into grown ups card parties lasting way into the night. That's when hubby usually ends up being the host and I retreat into my bedroom or studio to recouperate from exhaustion. But, this year's party won't metamorphose because hubby has to go to work that evening. We'll end on time.



















This is the graphic I used on the birthday party invitations from Evite. I love Evite because it's easy, free, and quick. However, not all of my friends and family are connected. Or, I don't have everyone's email addy. So, I also have to go with the paper invitations. I was going to make coordinating princess invitations but time ran out. So, I went with these invitations. '

I know these don't exactly represent my little princess. But, it'll do since I have no time to create something better. I also wanted to get a tiara pinata but I couldn't find one. So, I settled for this instead.










Then, what princess party would be complete without pink and white everything?

There is one thing I do like to do that's not so simple and that's make the birthday cake. I love baking. I took a Wilton cake decorating class at Michael's a couple of years ago and that's all I needed to get me making more decorative cakes. By far I no cake decorating expert but I get by with the little skills I do have. This year I'm going to try to make a variation of one of these cakes.

I got on the internet and found some great decorating ideas. I'd like to try some of them but I really don't want to spend the $. I'm trying to go frugal and simple here but my creativity bug is urging me to do something more. We'll see.

I'll post pictures of the party probably next week. I hope you have a great day!