Princess party silliness

Princess magic (public domain photo)

Ha ha ha So, while the grand-kids are on vacation, I decided to post some of my non-exclusive Yahoo!parenting articles on the blog. This is the first gem I came across. It's about planning a princess party as you can see. I wrote it the very first year of my writing career and it shows. It's extremely out of character for me, very frilly and flowery. There are some good tips in there if you can get past the sickening sweetness. Have a good laugh on me, at me or use a tip or two.

Planning a princess party

Your daughter's princess party invitation arrives on a scroll. You arrive on the scene with your hopeful princess. The backyard is filled with a multitude of tiny princesses in fluffy pink. Castles and unicorns fill their heads. Sparkling shoes adorn their feet. A tea party is set up on one table. A sugar cube castle is being erected on another.

The cake is covered in dreamy white frosting with pink sprinkles. A throne has been decorated for the queen. Party guests run here and there with streamers on sticks doing ribbon dances. The pinata is a unicorn with more ribbons trailing down. Colorful carnival games have been set up around the lawn for the amusement of princesses from neighboring

How did they do it?

As you survey this picture perfect scene you are thinking about the parties you have given your daughter. None compared to this extravaganza. Don't worry. Your next one will. It isn't as hard as it looks. Here's how to plan a princess party to please even the most sophisticated princess.

Let's start with the invitations.

To make the scroll invitations start with an aged looking piece of paper. Write out your invitation. Glue a thin dowel to each end of the paper. Roll the dowels up toward each other until they meet and you have your scroll. Try introducing your invitation with Here ye Here ye or some other medieval expression. On the invitation specify that each girl is to dress in her princess best.

What else makes a princess party special?

*Streamers on sticks can be made by tying ribbon to painted 12 inch dowels. You can purchase them already made at a party store.

*For the tea party you need a pink plastic table cloth, a plate of plain sugar cookies with pink icing, toy tea cups and a teapot filled with lemonade.

*For a castle building adventure all you will need are several boxes of sugar cubes, frosting mortar, and plates to build the castles on. Build an example castle before the party. Put it in the center of the table.

*The princess cake is a plain white cake with white frosting and pink sugar sprinkles. Add tiny toothpick flags.

*For the princess throne, drape a white sheet over a regular chair. Tie pink flowing ribbons at the top to embellish it and hold the sheet on. Decorate a dowel with ribbons as a staff. The little princesses take turns being queen for 15 minutes.

*Unicorn pinatas are not hard to find. Since the rest of the party is sugary sweet fill this one with small toys. You can buy a bag of them at party stores.

Carnival games for your princess party can be quite simple.

*Queens bowling is just a piece of plywood painted pink with purple lines. Use a kids plastic bowling ball set. To stabilize the pins glue three dowels in a triangle onto the pink alley.

*For a peasant penny pitch game paint a piece of wood pink with a small purple circle in the center. Try to throw your penny so it lands in the circle.

*Prince Charming ring toss players try to toss a giant diamond ring over silver painted dowels stuck into the lawn. The ring can be purchased in the wedding department of a craft store. They're usually used as napkin rings.

*Royal Golf is just a kids golf game with the "hole" fastened to a piece of painted plywood.

*Off with their heads is played at your princess party by placing pink koosh ball heads on a small wooden box and trying to knock them off with another koosh ball.
You may have noticed that this princess party is designed with Mom in mind. Most of the activities can be done by the kids on their own. That makes Mom the queen.

Ha ha ha ha aha aha ha aha ha a Oh my.

Note: Portions of this post were previously published on Yahoo! by this author.