A Princess Party

As far as I can tell, there are a few things that consistently capture the imagination of four year old girls (or at least, my four year old girl): princesses, fairies, sparkles, and sugar.

Consequently, we had a little of each at Kathleen's fourth birthday party. (Okay, maybe a lot of that last one. The sugar was pretty much free-flowing.)

We don't have particularly elaborate birthday parties for little people, but we think a birthday theme is a lot of fun. So, after a bit of back-and-forthing, Kathleen eventually settled on a princess party. (It was very nearly a fairy party. Princesses and Tinkerbell run pretty much even in terms of devotion around here.) And since she was turning four, Kathleen got to invite four guests. She chose her sister (good thing!), her younger cousin, and her "best friends" Audrey and Mei Mei.

Two days before her birthday party, Kathleen asked for a new princess dress. The one she had been wearing is the one made for her for Halloween more than two years ago. While it was once lovely and flowing, it had become faded, even hole-y (not holy, mind you). And yet Kathleen would not retire it. It seemed a new dress was very much in order.

So, because a mom of three littles has nothing else to do, I ran to the fabric store Saturday night after putting little people to bed. And I sewed the dress the next day (pausing, of course, for church and supper with friends), finishing it up sometime after one in the morning. (Almost finished, anyway. I hemmed it in the morning, after trying it on our princess.)

And the sleep deprivation? Totally worth it for this delight:

A prancing pink princess.

Because Madeline had had a banner for her birthday, I wanted one for Kathleen's birthday, too. But as of 8pm the night before the party, all I'd done was bought paper and printed letter templates. But while I sewed, my knight in shining armor came to my rescue. He paintakingly cut and pasted and hole-punched and strung the banner, entirely to my specifications. And he didn't complain once. Not even once. True story. True love.

Nan and Grandpa joined us for the party. We loved having them with us! And it was great having extra hands to hold Indy. (He was a bit cranky. A few days later we learned he had ear infections. Poor little man.)

The princess and her friends, some of whom chose to wear princess and fairy attire, began the party by making princess crowns. (Sadly, our cousin was sick and could not come.) The girls carefully stuck "jeweled" stickers to foam crown forms.

Cinderella, Tinkerbell, and the birthday princess perfect their crown creations.

Then they did a bit of dancing with ribbons on rings. I'm sad not to have photographs of that -- it was darling. And then there was some just general playing.

After what seemed an eternity to Kathleen, we opened presents. Her little friends had spent lots of time and energy picking just the right things for her -- and she loved them.

Presents! For me!

We fed everyone some pizza and then moved onto the cake. Now, the cake was the very first thing that Kathleen knew she wanted at her party. She'd seen the cake kit at Michael's back when we were planning Madeline's party in September, and it was love at first sight. She declared then and there that she wanted a princess cake. And (despite Mama's secret hopes) she did not forget.

So, a princess cake it was.

Having no cake decorating experience whatsoever, I was terrified. But with quite a bit of frosting, we were able to make the cake look rather princess-y after all. Kathleen was more than satisfied. (In fact, I imagine there will be more princess cakes in the future, so pleased were our girls.) And we sang, and she wished, and we ate.

Our birthday girl in miniature. In cake.

And then, before we knew it, we were thanking our guests, sending them off with their crowns and ribbons and balloons and goodies, until it was just us.

Daddy snapped a photo of (a very tired) Mama and her three as the festivities wound down. We had such fun!

The party was a perfect way to celebrate our sparkly, spirited little girl.

We'll make you princess cakes for as long as you want them, Kathleen!

Happy Birthday, Princess!