God's Little Princess Tea Party

Though Caleb kept me on my toes by coming up with a very unique party theme this year, Hadley-girl picked one of the easiest. Every little girl wants a princess party at some point in their life, right? 

All the planning went pretty smoothly and I bought almost all the supplies I needed weeks in advance, hoping that when Grandpa arrived we wouldn't have so much to do and could have more time to just hang out with him. That stomach bug though set me way back. Spending a big chunk of Monday working on Caleb's dragon cake and then going out to dinner with everyone that night didn't help matters either. I had a big job ahead of me the following day to get everything in ship shape before that afternoon when our visitors arrived.

I had worked up a plan in my head and had a list or two going, thinking it was going to be tight but we'd get it all done. I stayed up a little later than I should have that night but was ready to get moving the next morning with high hopes...until...Reid got sick at the breakfast table. Time to cancel the party?

We could reschedule for the following week but then Grandpa would miss it!...What could we do? I didn't want to spread germs to anyone else.

After some deliberating and calling a few family members to ask their opinions, we decided just to keep Reid upstairs all day and sanitize the house as much as possible. If you look back at my last post and see the pics of what a mess my house was, just trying to get everything orderly was a feat, but now the cleaning needed to be taken up a notch. And, since Reid was extra needy, Dave had to stay glued to our boy unless he was napping, which meant he wouldn't be able to help unless the little fella was napping. Nonetheless, when Reid went to sleep, my hubby came down to join in my efforts to get things picked up and Grandpa even asked where he could help - sanitizing door knobs, vacuuming, and helping to keep the other kids entertained.

Thankfully, I'd picked out a much simpler cake idea for Hadley's party than I did for Caleb's. I made Courtney a wedding dress cake for her bridal shower that turned out nice, and I thought I could do something similar to create a princess dress.

I used a set of Hadley's dress up beads for the belt.

Most of her party was done in pink, which has been her favorite color for months now. Lately though, she keeps saying "purple" or "purple and pink" for her favorite color, so that's what she got for her cake!

In addition to the princess theme, I thought it might be cute for the girls to have a tea party and Hadley loved the idea. I found a cute tea set online and bought a couple for the event, thinking my kids would definitely make good use of them even after the fact so it would be money well invested.

Choosing such a popular theme, I didn't really need to do much to come up with ideas. Every store that carries party supplies has a ton of princess items to choose from. As I began planning though, something just didn't seem to fit right as I was browsing through all the Disney options available. The more I thought about it, Hadley doesn't really even know much about any of these characters; instead she is simply enamored with just the idea of being a princess. She loves playing dress up and pretending she is one.

A while back, one day when my girl was up in her room talking about being a princess, Dave kind of chuckled and lightly-heartedly teased her that her daddy wasn't a king. As I thought about that conversation later though, I reflected on how if God is our Father and He is a King that all of us who are his children really are princesses! So, as I brainstormed ideas for a princess party, it is not surprising that this conversation popped back in my head and from there everything took a new twist. Instead of the typical magical storybook characters one might have expected, Hadley's birthday became a celebration of being a child of the King.

Pinterest had some beautiful artwork along these lines that I was able to print out and use for decor on the table to help set the tone. :)

Aside from the main table, I didn't do a ton of decorating. I had another little table set up for the guests in case we didn't all fit in the dining room, some necklaces and crowns lined up waiting for our princesses to receive, and a bunch of pink balloons scattered about (thanks to Grandpa for blowing them all up - he always gets stuck with that job).

Then there was the food table. I tried to think ahead to buy a lot of pre-made items from Costco that I could just heat up to save time, and it is a good thing or we'd have never gotten it done that day. My mom, knowing how pressed for time I was and how much I had on my plate that day, came out a couple hours early to help pull it all together. She actually did a ton of dishes for me and cooked most of the food while I was decorating, making tea, putting things on platters, or getting myself ready. Courtney also stopped by the store for me to grab things I'd forgotten and then jumped in at the house to help with the decorations and dishes or whatever else needed to be done. How thankful I was for those two!

My mom even had to do a little fixing up on Hadley's princess gown because the straps were way too long. With a few safety pins, she got her all taken care of though. What a beautiful princess!

We were still busy at it when the guests arrived but had a pretty good handle on things. First came Hannah and Melanie and then Anabella and Stacey. As everyone trickled in, each princess picked out a crown and a set of beads to wear. We invited all of the guests to wear their favorite princess attire and many of them did, but even if they didn't, every girl had at least a few accessories to make her feel like a princess.

At the Dollar Tree, I found some bracelet making kits. I didn't want to start any games until everyone arrived, so this made for a good opening activity. The kids added jeweled stickers to adorn their bracelets as we waited for the rest of our friends.

Originally Caleb was supposed to hang out with Daddy and Reid, but at the last minute, he decided he wanted to be part of the party too. I didn't know if I'd have enough supplies at first, but a few friends couldn't make it who'd originally planned to come so it all worked out.

I tried to keep the party small this year, but we still had quite a house full.

To go with the theme, I used a Sharpie to add "Child of the King" to the bracelets before the girls arrived. 

While I prepared a lot of the decor and crafts in advance, I forgot about getting any party games together until the night before. Pinterest led me to some website with tea party games where I found a few cute ideas. One of them was a tea bag toss. Much like the typical bean bag game, the girls attempted to throw tea bags across the room and land them in teacups that were lined up and waiting for them.

The birthday princess had to get us started.

Anabella likes this game.

Go for it, Hannah!

We have an overhanded pitcher here, folks. 

Round two!

Taylor gave it a pretty good shot.

Hannah was probably the most precise.

Even Miss Melanie tried it...

...and boy did she show them how it's done!

Afterwards we played a game I saw at the mall when I took Caleb to the kids cooking classes they had last summer. Balancing teacups was our primary objective. First, I had the kids balance one on a saucer in the palm of their hand as they circled the couch, and then it got more difficult as they had to do the same thing with a teacup on top their heads. Next, we tried to balance spoons on their noses, which I remember doing as a kid, but none of them could figure out how to make it stick aside from me! No worries though. I remembered we had some plastic eggs left over from Easter and challenged them to the classic "carrying an egg on the spoon" game.

Being the oldest, a lot of these games were a piece of cake for Hannah.

Taylor did excellent too.

Hadley's fell a time or two, but it wasn't a competition. She just picked it up and kept moving.

Yay, Lily and Jen!

Stacey gave it her best effort to get that spoon to stick.

Caleb's getting in on the balancing action.

With the games over, we moved into the dinning room. You can tell from the pics here that they all seemed pretty proud to be sitting in front of their own special teacups.

Before the tea and snacks were served though, we did another craft. Target had some mirror craft sets in their dollar bins with glitter and jewels for everyone to create their favorite designs. There were several Bible verses that I thought would be beautiful to write on the the handles as words of wisdom for His princesses, so these sets were the perfect find. All the girls - and Caleb the party crasher - agreed as they busily bedazzled theirs.

Hadley's

Hannah's

Anabella's

Finally it was tea time!

I loved this picture of my fancy little princess with her glass slipper dangling through the spindles.

Some of the mommies opted for milk or juice for their girls instead of tea, but not Anabella's. When Stacey wasn't looking, that girl even spooned in some extra sugar as Granny tried to keep her from putting in even more. That stinker!

My grandma brought at special surprise - her teapot! She thought she had picked up her mother's antique teapot and wanted to use it to pour Hadley some tea from her great-great grandma's pot, but she accidentally picked up her own instead. That was okay though. It was still special getting served from her great-grandma's teapot, especially when it was being poured by the owner - her Great Grandma Nora Ann.

The grandpas and Aunt Pat made good use of the other table I set up.

This was the first party my great aunt has been able to attend for my kids. I was so excited because she's the one who has really encouraged me in my cake decorating, a job she used to do for many years. She has even handed down all of her cake pans and decorating supplies to me now since she no longer makes cakes for a living. Needless to say, I was excited for her to see what I'd come up with.

After everyone got their fill of the hors d'oeuvres, we lit the candle on Hadley's cupcake dress and sang.

This was the scariest part of the party for sure. I was snapping away as my girl sat in front of her cake but then all of the sudden saw this through the view finder! Hadley was leaning in way too close to blow out her candle and ended up scaring the life out of all of us. We thought she was going to try to lick it! She got a little startled as we all hollered for her to stop, but at least she listened and pulled away. I never thought about telling her not to touch it; I just took for granted that she'd know. Lesson learned...Shew!

Yummy!...The little booger even snuck a second one later at the end of the party when I wasn't looking.

Having so many little girls dressed up as princesses, one would expect to have a very dainty, quiet afternoon, right? Think again! These girls spent a good chunk of the party chasing after and wrestling Caleb - pulling on his arms and legs, tackling him, and getting a little rough. They were fiercer than I expected lol. I'm not sure how it all got started but several times, Mommy had to jump in and get everyone civilized again. Caleb didn't complain though...Actually, I think he liked it!

One night about a week or so before Hadley's birthday, my grandma called me so excited about the gift she'd just purchased for our girl. While she was shopping, she spotted a Frozen dress that lit up and sang "Let It Go." For days, Grandma talked and talked about how beautiful the dress was, excited to see Hadley's reaction, hoping maybe she could even wear it at the party. Though Grandma didn't get it to us in time for her to wear (plus we already had a princess dress picked out for party), she still was wanting her to open it and try it on while her friends were there. Knowing how excited she was, my Mom helped her do the outfit swap and Hadley was just as delighted as Grandma had hoped. I'm not sure which of them was more excited or which of them I enjoyed watching more.

Lily had her Anna dress so of course these two had to get a picture together.

Finally, it was time to open the rest of her gifts.

NaNa got her some pjs and underwear for her Build-a-Bear as well as a matching night gown for her.

A tea set from Grandma Ann

A beautiful ballerina music box from NaNa

Thanks for the water table, Grandpa McKinstry!

The only princess dress Hadley's asked for was a Cinderella one. Thankfully, Granny found one as well as this pretty ruffled shirt.

Hadley always says, "Hannah is my girl." Now she has a best friends frame with their picture in it.

Aside from seeing them briefly at my dad's funeral, this was the first time I'd seem my old roomate Jen and her husband Matt since Reid was born. They also got a new addition - little Noah! Thankfully, they moved closer recently so I hope we will see more of each other.

A couple vintage style swimsuits from Mommy and Daddy

The rest of the party was unstructured but a lot of fun. We got a few pics, the girls wrestled Caleb some more, and I got to visit with my friends too.

These are my friend Andi's girls - Celeste and Annabelle (aka Bitsy). Again, aside from at my dad's service, I hadn't seen Andi since Reid had been born either or since she had her third little one, Esme. She got to stay a little later than most of the other guests, so I especially enjoyed our catch up time even if the little ones kept trying to get in the middle. 

It was a lot of work....but it was a lot of fun...and worth it for my princess.