Emory’s Princess and Knight Party

Approximately ONE day after she turned three, Emory began planning her fourth birthday party. Imagine my disdain when she declared she was having a princess party. A princess party?!?! How do you make that cute?!?! Nothing against those who do, but I’m not a fan of buying party products with commercial characters on them. The second problem: we had lots of little boys on the invite list and I’m sure they wouldn’t be too thrilled to receive a girly princess invite for a girly princess party. After much negotiation, we decided on a Princess & Knight party. Several times I reminded her that there would be no Sleeping Beauty, Ariel or Jasmine at her party. The compromise? Bubble gum! We have a ‘no gum until you’re four!’ rule, so amongst the normal party treats on the food table was a big ‘ole bowl of bubble gum. And pink bubble gum at that. She didn’t miss a Disney princess one bit!

We hosted the party in our backyard, and as if I didn’t know that July is freakishly hot in the south, it turned out to be a little to warm for everyone’s comfort. And for some of the food we were serving. Most of the candy castles melted {see the pink lollipops on the ground beside the table? sad.} so I went ahead and tossed them out, but we were still able to enjoy cupcakes, tiara sugar cookies, fruit skewers, marshmallow pops and sandwiches.

Don’t get me wrong, we allow plenty of commercial Disney stuff in our house, and I cannot think of a single Disney dress-up outfit we don’t own, but I really really really didn’t want her to wear a Disney princess dress to her party. She wears them all the time to other parties, but I knew there was a good possibility I would get  cute picture I wanted to frame and I preferred she wasn’t wearing something so…well, Disney. I got on Amazon and ordered her a plain, non descript princess dress and told her she was gonna be ‘Princess Emory’! She was beyond excited and kept telling me it was not a ‘movie princess’ dress, but a ‘real princess’ dress!Most of the little girls arrived as princesses too. And some of the boys even showed up in knight outfits!For those that didn’t dress-up or wanted a few more accessories {who doesn’t?!?} we had a ‘Dress up at the castle closet!” station with tiaras, wands and fancy rings for the girls, and swords and shields for the boys. Emory’s second request {after a princess-themed party} was a jump castle…just like Jack had at his party. Turns out they had ‘retired’ the castle because it looked worn, but after begging, they let us use it. For quite a large, unreasonable fee if you ask me. But Emory was excited.The swords seemed like a great idea at first, but mostly the boys beat the you-know-what out of each other, and I was slightly nervous about someone leaving the party without an eye. Luckily they were foam and no one got seriously hurt. Watson mostly played with some other little ones his size, but got lost in the big boy area a few times.  Again, I got a little nervous that someone would lose an eye!We also set up a “Take a Palace Portrait!” area, where the boys and girls could pose. My original goal was to take each child’s picture and include it in the thank-you note, but of course the pictures never got taken. Oh well. Maybe next time. {Kat and John couldn’t help themselves.}

We gathered the little people around the tables for cupcakes and to sing ‘happy birthday’.She was trying to be a big girl…But really couldn’t help her embarrassment at being sung to. But she didn’t cry, which was an improvement from last year, so I was happy.All the kids enjoyed {sugary} treats and drank every juice box and water bottle we had. It was so hot that each little {and big!} party goer’s face was a bright shade of red. When we couldn’t stand the heat anymore, we retreated to the house. It was a little chaotic having 50+ people invade my house, but they mostly stayed in the sunroom, so the damage was little.

{Our littlest brother dressed as both a princess and a knight.}{biggest brother stayed outside and cooled off in the beverage tub.}

After her friends left, the birthday girl headed straight for her gifts! She got way more than she needed, of course, but loved loved loved each and every thing.Watson enjoyed her toys too!It was overall a cute little party, and a huge success in Emory’s eyes, as she told me ‘dat was da best birfday pardy ever, mama!’. Of course I get stuck on the handful of things that went wrong didn’t get done {a failed attempt at hand making a dragon piñata, sewn streamers that never got hung, a lack of picture taking on my part}, but Emory never seemed to notice, and that’s what really mattered.

My baby girl loves being four and is already starting to plan her next birthday party…a  Madeline theme…which will most definitely be indoors!!