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| Of course this idea was from Pinterest, I did this the night before her birthday morning. Only thing different was I hung the balloons outside in the living room since they always get up in the middle of the night so her room door was not going to work |
Okay this is going to be the longest post ever since it's about my daughter's recent birthday party. My now 4 year old daughter wanted to have a princess themed birthday party and so I played with the idea and thought of a Princess Tea Party theme. This way the girls would be able to be all princessy and enjoy a nice tea party with tea cups and everything. I secretly was delighted at the idea of throwing one too! Although, this year I decided to do a more cozy and small party since it would be more controllable enjoyable to do crafts and activities with a small group of girls, 6 little girls to be exact (T's 3 very best girlfriends, her godmother's daughter and her friend). Luckily, my 2 year old boy went down perfectly for his nap during the party and my 13 year old daughter was home to help! Lastly, I set a budget of about 5,000 baht ($150+) for the party since I believe you don't have to waste money when you can diy or find it cheaper!
So here's the rundown!
The Invite...
First, you have to have an invite! I found this perfect scroll online and put the details of the party as well as found a cute seal with her initial.
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The font I used was Edwardian Script but after checking for the link, I found that you have to pay for it now and so I would recommend going to any free font site like dafont.com and downloading a font style you like from there.
I then printed the artwork on A4 premium drawing paper and cut the shape out with the Silhouette. The invites were then put into an envelope and sealed with our family's letter seal to add that royal touch!!!
Here they are, signed, sealed and ready to be delivered to the lucky princesses:
I then printed the artwork on A4 premium drawing paper and cut the shape out with the Silhouette. The invites were then put into an envelope and sealed with our family's letter seal to add that royal touch!!!
Here they are, signed, sealed and ready to be delivered to the lucky princesses:
The Birthday Banner & Streamers...
I used the Silhouette machine and cut her name and the background shapes then used 3M repositioning spray adhesive (the link actually goes to the widely used Krylon one -- in the states-- but I am using 3M since it's the only kind I can find here in Bangkok) to attach them together. I really recommend this repositioning spray adhesive for any paper craft you are working on. It's so easy to use, you can spray several pieces at the same time, goes on clear and you can reposition it (it's like the stickiness on the back of post its!). After all pieces are cut and glued together, I strung them together with ribbon and then attached with some masking tape at the back so that it would position just the right way on the wall.
The streamers were made of scrap fabric streams that were cut and then tied onto a plain old white string (the string that is used for packages). Also great project for just decorating a room too and the perfect way to use all those scraps!!!
The Pom-Poms
I have a confession to make, I'm a tissue paper hoarder--in addition to a hoarder of mostly all craft-related items. I love my tissue paper collection and I couldn't bear using tons of them on the pom-poms. And so trusty ol' IKEA came to the rescue! I bought the colored paper napkin packs and they had the perfect colors for the party.
1) IKEA Fantastisk (don't they name their items so cool?) paper napkins, I also bought the paper plates and cups for the party there too.
2-3) You take about 6-8 paper napkins and lay them on top of each other and then follow these directions! But instead of the wire I used a plain rubber band (it was also great since you can stretch the rubber bands onto whatever you are decorating).
4) Now the tricky part! You want your pom-poms to be fluffy and airy but they just don't look like that, you have to spread the sheets since each paper napkin is 3-ply. So carefully spread your napkins apart and fluff! It's a learning curve but it gets easier!
1) IKEA Fantastisk (don't they name their items so cool?) paper napkins, I also bought the paper plates and cups for the party there too.
2-3) You take about 6-8 paper napkins and lay them on top of each other and then follow these directions! But instead of the wire I used a plain rubber band (it was also great since you can stretch the rubber bands onto whatever you are decorating).
4) Now the tricky part! You want your pom-poms to be fluffy and airy but they just don't look like that, you have to spread the sheets since each paper napkin is 3-ply. So carefully spread your napkins apart and fluff! It's a learning curve but it gets easier!
And hopefully you will get these:
The Goodie Bags and Activities Goodies...
As mentioned, I was working with a budget, luckily I found some great goodies that were perfect!
1) The custom made royal invites.
2) All the goodies on show. Books were from Kinokuniya (100+ baht/book), some princess pencils from The Emporium (they came is a 6 pack), notepads I had hoarded through the years, fruit chews, bracelets (also hoarded, bought them from Sampeng years ago) and a custom skirt I made with my fabric stash.
3) Princess tiaras, these were for the craft activity, I got the idea from here at Lu Bird Baby.
4) These were also for the craft activity, they were little zipper pouches that the kids would paint in their names with metallic gold or silver acrylic paints. You can see my tute for the stencils here.
5) This frame was a light bulb moment at IKEA! It's the Tolsby frame and was 49 baht for each of them. I used artwork from Lettering Delights and my trusty Silhouette to cut a hole out so that a photo could be inserted, the other side just had a message saying thank you for joining the party.
All these goodies then went into a paper bag decorated with a doily and their name written on it.
The Activities & Crafts...
A smaller amount of kids turned out to be perfect since each one had the chance to do their own crafts. In addition to the princess headpiece and zipper pouch, I also had the following:
- A bracelet kit that I got at the mall (The Emporium) and it was perfect since it came with plastic bangles and gem stickers.
- A bunch of plastic beads and elastic to make our own royal jewels (Central B2S).
- A wand craft made from foam clay, which dries light and airy (Central B2S) and attached to balloon sticks. *** Sadly, this craft turned out to be more of a art piece than a wand. But the kids had so much fun making them, so did the moms!
- "Kiss the Frog" (aka pin the tail on the donkey), I took green construction paper and cut out a frog and cut out lips and sprayed the repositioning adhesive spray so that the girls could kiss the frog while blindfolded with these cute panda eye covers I got from Cotton On (Mega Bangna). It was a hit! The girls had so much fun and a lot of giggles, their prize were IKEA markers!
- Well this was a last minute activity craft that my daughter requested. She wanted a pinata (she calls it a "pee-a-tah") and how could I say no right? Well I was very lazy to do the whole paper mache pinata and on a budget to buy one and so I MomGyvered it. Looked around the house and found paper plates, stapled plates together into a shape, covered it with crepe paper and liquid glue.....then thought about what that shape would be...it turned out to be a teapot for the tea party! The lid, spout and handle were just cut out shapes, again from the Silhouette and decorated with a bit of frayed crepe paper and presto.....PEE-AH-TAH completed!
A smaller amount of kids turned out to be perfect since each one had the chance to do their own crafts. In addition to the princess headpiece and zipper pouch, I also had the following:
- A bracelet kit that I got at the mall (The Emporium) and it was perfect since it came with plastic bangles and gem stickers.
- A bunch of plastic beads and elastic to make our own royal jewels (Central B2S).
- A wand craft made from foam clay, which dries light and airy (Central B2S) and attached to balloon sticks. *** Sadly, this craft turned out to be more of a art piece than a wand. But the kids had so much fun making them, so did the moms!
- "Kiss the Frog" (aka pin the tail on the donkey), I took green construction paper and cut out a frog and cut out lips and sprayed the repositioning adhesive spray so that the girls could kiss the frog while blindfolded with these cute panda eye covers I got from Cotton On (Mega Bangna). It was a hit! The girls had so much fun and a lot of giggles, their prize were IKEA markers!
- Well this was a last minute activity craft that my daughter requested. She wanted a pinata (she calls it a "pee-a-tah") and how could I say no right? Well I was very lazy to do the whole paper mache pinata and on a budget to buy one and so I MomGyvered it. Looked around the house and found paper plates, stapled plates together into a shape, covered it with crepe paper and liquid glue.....then thought about what that shape would be...it turned out to be a teapot for the tea party! The lid, spout and handle were just cut out shapes, again from the Silhouette and decorated with a bit of frayed crepe paper and presto.....PEE-AH-TAH completed!
The Princess Tea Party Decor...
Paper napkin pom-poms, goodies, pee-ah-ta, streamers and everything else was ready to decorate! I picked up some helium balloons at Pinata Party Place while out that morning picking up the birthday cake.
Threw everything together and it looked like this:
Paper napkin pom-poms, goodies, pee-ah-ta, streamers and everything else was ready to decorate! I picked up some helium balloons at Pinata Party Place while out that morning picking up the birthday cake.
Threw everything together and it looked like this:
I had bought these adorable little tea cup sets from the 60 baht shop and you can see the IKEA paper cups, plates and napkins. I also used paper napkins that I ironed out the night before for table mats. Bought some fresh (well almost fresh day old cheaper flowers at Villa-I didn't need pre-bloom ones) and each place setting had a place card cut from the Silhouette with each of the princess' name.
For the cake stand, I just took an over-sized cup we had and a plate and use UHU putty to hold it together. Perfect again for the teacup/tea party theme!
The Princess Birthday Cake...
How cool did this cake turn out? This 3D cake was ordered from S&P and was 790 baht ($26)! You need to order about 2-3 days ahead and pick it up yourself but it was so worth it, the kids all loved it! I then added a small decorative pom-pom, candle and tiny frog! Can you guess the on-going theme here other than the princess theme? Yes, Princess Tiana!!!
Last but Not Least...
My birthday princess and her Princess Tiana costume I had made for her.
Well, that's it.... I'm happy to report that the party was a success but will have to decide whether I'm up for another themed party next year! I hope you enjoyed sharing this special day with me and it will help you with your princess or prince! Happy crafting!
