Anyone who has been reading this blog for any length of time is going to love this:
Bo wants a princess birthday party this year.
Arrgh!! What is a feminist, Disney-loathing mom to do?
I'm actually not freaking out too badly (especially compared with J). In fact, believe it or not, a princess birthday was my suggestion.
She was starting to talk about having a Hawaiian-themed party after attending a luau at her cousin's school. But I could tell she wasn't in love with that idea, and I've been watching her slowly start to pay attention to princesses over the last few months.
It was never our plan to completely ban something she took a natural liking too. We just didn't want to be the ones to suggest it or introduce her to it, especially since we don't like how Disney over markets itself to young kids and because of the whole girl-rescued-by-a-boy theme in most of the stories (some of you have kindly pointed out in the past that many of the princesses are quite strong characters in the stories. Thank you. They still have giant boobs.).
So she was talking about the luau party the other day when I had a sort of out-of-body experience and heard myself say, "You know, I think a luau would be fun, but I've been hearing you talk about princesses lately. Maybe you want a princess party this year."
"YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Now we have two months to come up with a princess party that she'll love--and one that her father and I are willing to attend. I'm still trying to steer clear of the Disney characters and go with a non-commercial theme. I'm struggling a bit, though, and would love to anyone's suggestions. Here are some ideas I've gathered so far:
For party favors--
"Gold" crowns made from lace, a beautiful project by Bitter Betty.
For the cake--
The Princess and the Pea (a story she loves), by Seven Cakes
Or maybe a simple cake with this Cinderella topper from an awesome online shop called Bake It Pretty:
I love how pissy Cindy looks. 10 points for whoever can come up with the best caption for what the happy couple is saying.
For a gift--
A princess dress sewn from a pattern like this one. Yes, a Disney brand. I know. But maybe I'll switch the colors up a bit, just to put a personal stamp on it. And to give my kids one more thing to discuss in therapy 20 years from now.
For fun--
Make a plywood drawing of princesses and princes with holes where the kids can put their faces for photos, like this from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle:
OK. Help me. I think I'm getting a cavity just looking at all the sweetness when I do a Google image search for "princess party." Thanks.
Castle cakes (made also using waffle cones) are pretty easy. cheap cute tiaras are great favors (and can be made or found at most dollar stores). a pinata made to look like a shiny high heeled shoe (thing the glass slipper from cinderella). A princess tea party would probably be a fun way to go too
Posted by: Basht | April 29, 2009 at 02:26 AM
ohh and pin the wand on the fairy god mother!
Posted by: Basht | April 29, 2009 at 02:32 AM
love the crown craft.
have you seen lauren child's princess and the pea book? if not... it might be right up your alley...
ab
Posted by: runswithscissors | April 29, 2009 at 08:02 AM
You could make it a fairy tale themed party, so it would include princesses but also Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, Gingerbread Man, Hansel and Gretel, etc.
You could have someone pretend to be a dragon and the princesses all have to work together to scare the dragon away to save the kingdom. If there will be boys at the party too, they could take turns with the princesses saving the princes from the dragon and vice versa.
A few suggestions of unconventional princess books to read:
The Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch
Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole
And for when she's a bit older: Fearless Girls, Wise Women and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from Around the World by Kathleen Ragan and Jane Yolen
Posted by: Brandi | April 29, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Make it a Warrior Princess party. Get foam swords and teach the girls how to rescue the boys.
Posted by: Mariah Neeson | April 29, 2009 at 10:59 AM
My daughter had a princess party in August (NON Disney) I made her a cake with a Barbie in the middle (her dress was the cake, you probably had one as a girl too, I did not but that is another story ;) I made her a big ol tutu and bought dollar store tutu's for the guests, with dollar store crowns and wands from Michaels (all part of their favors too) (Michaels has a ton of generic princess stuff in the dollar section now, cards, wands,etc.) I bought crown shaped picture frames and had the girls paint/decorate them for part of thier favors and then gave them back to them with their thank you cards and a picture of the birthday girl and guest in the frame they had decorated, it was a hit!
Posted by: kristine hanson | April 29, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Fun, Mimi! These suggestions from people are all so awesome. MK, too, wants princesses but she keeps saying "pirates and princesses" so I guess we are not necessarily Disneyfied... oh, but wait, she wants to dress up as Snow White so nice try on my part. :)
love ya, see you in six weeks!!!
Posted by: nis | April 29, 2009 at 12:13 PM
With a summer birthday one wood Pinata. The kids (and parents) always have fun with em. Pipe cleaners, pompoms, and beads are great for making their own jewlry.
Posted by: Karla W. | April 29, 2009 at 02:02 PM
Can you give it a more Renaissance twist to still keep her happy with the princesses but ditch the whole Disney thing? It is really easy to make floral wreaths/crowns out of wire, tissue paper (flowers) and curling ribbon.
On a side note, it is nice to see parents that aren't all caught up with Disney Princess. My 3yr old niece wanted to be a pirate or robot for Halloween and was told (by my sister) that she HAD TO be Cinderella instead. Bah.
Posted by: Randi Dickinson | April 30, 2009 at 01:39 PM
Make it a Hawaiian princess party and tie it in with the history and culture of the native peoples. Then you can have one of those males you don't like jump into a volcano to save the Hawaiian princess.
Posted by: Papa | April 30, 2009 at 04:44 PM
You guys are awesome.
Randi--It's funny that you say that about floral crown/wreaths made from tissue paper. Bo and I started making something like that yesterday! She put long streamers on the back of it and likes to run around the house with them flowing behind her.
Daddy--very funny. For the record, I think men are fabulous and just because someone is a feminist doesn't mean they don't like men. I just don't want my daughters to grow up waiting for some man to rescue them or grow up thinking their only job is to look pretty.
More in a sec ...
Posted by: Megan | April 30, 2009 at 05:07 PM
Basht--love the pin the wand on the fairy godmother idea. That's awesome.
Runswithscissors--I don't know that author's version. I'll look for it. Thanks!
Brandi--thanks for all your great book suggestions, too. I think Bo is kind of leaning toward the fairytale thing versus just princesses. She's been really into Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel for the last few days. We're still two months away from the b'day, though, so you never know what will happen.
Mariah--I like your thinking!!
Kristine--what a great idea for favors. A friend of mine did something similar at her daughter's art-themed birthday party. The kids all left with their own framed masterpiece. And Bo loves those cakes with the doll in the middle. She's starting to notice Barbie dolls, although she calls them "Darby dolls."
Nis--6 weeks! I can't wait! MK could do a Princess Bride party since there are pirates in that story. Has she seen the movie?
Karla--pinatas are always fun. The last time I was at a party with a pinata, it was a bachelorette party and let's just say the shape of the pinata wasn't age appropriate for a 4 year old's b'day party. ;)
Thanks again for all the feedback, guys!
Posted by: Megan | April 30, 2009 at 05:18 PM
Don't know if you have michaels stores out there but in their dollar section they have darling princess stuff such as blank note cards (perfect for invites) and plenty of other cleaver goodies in the same line. the best part is they are very whimsical and non-disney. Not to mention there are different styes of princesses some with blond hair some with curly hair etc. Read a great non-disney princess book make a crown or wand have some fun cupcakes and I love the idea of pin the crown on the princess and your done. Disney is not welcome at our house as well.
Posted by: gretchen | April 30, 2009 at 08:22 PM
Megan check out the Princess and the Paperback book. It's about empowering girls. You could do a party around her.
Posted by: beth | April 30, 2009 at 08:27 PM
Oops i mean the Paper Bag Pricess by Robert Munsch.
The kids could make their own girl out paper bags.
Posted by: beth | April 30, 2009 at 08:52 PM
The Paper Bag Princess is a great story too! Have you ever read that one? One of my faves, for sure!
Posted by: Serena Thompson | April 30, 2009 at 11:50 PM
check out the princess and the pea cake on the family fun magazine website - you can do it yourself!
Posted by: Tracy | May 04, 2009 at 06:56 PM
Princess parties are so much fun! My nieces just went to a princess party the other week and they had a blast. They dressed up in fancy dresses and crowns. You could also have some cute party favors. I came across a really cute project that would be perfect for a princess party. http://www.favecrafts.com/Crafting-with-Kids/Dream-Fairy
It's so cute I can't even get over it. Do you make any crafts like this one?
Posted by: Christine | May 05, 2009 at 05:23 PM
I had that very same dilemma! My daughter decided she wanted a Cinderella party instead of the science party we had been talking about for her 3rd birthday. And I am not a princess party kind of gal...Oh well, what's a mama to do? Here's what we came up with:
http://emilyinthedesert.blogspot.com/2009/03/lets-have-birthday-party.html
Posted by: Emily | May 05, 2009 at 05:55 PM
When I was in the first grade I declared myself a "ninja princess" inspired by the Teen-aged Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Posted by: Mariah | May 18, 2009 at 09:15 PM
Oh, you guys! Thanks for all the adorable ideas. Emily, those candy rings in your favor bags would be a huge hit here. Bo loooooves rings, and she likes to make me tell the story of how J proposed to me--as well as the story of how J lost his wedding band while coaching football one day.
I'm about to jump into this princess-party planning full force, so it was fun to look back at all these ideas tonight.
Posted by: Megan | May 24, 2009 at 02:50 AM