Celebrate every little princess
Our family loves celebrating birthdays. Ever since our little guys were born, we made an effort to make each birthday special by choosing a fun theme and creating a unique cake and decorations to go with it. One year our son was all about tanks, so we turned our dining room into a mess hall and our tractor into a tank!
We look forward getting friends and family together every year to celebrate our little ones milestone trips around the sun, however last year the princess party my daughter and I spent months talking about and weeks planning fell completely apart (along with millions of other’s celebration plans) when it became apparent that her 5th birthday that fell on April 16th would have to be cancelled due to COVID. Graciously, despite the disappointment – she compromised on a homemade confetti unicorn cake that was way too big for our family of four to eat on our own, but did our best!
This year to compensate for last years disappointment, we may have gone a wee bit overboard … ok, a lot overboard, but as we started planning – we wanted a party where we could celebrate no only our daughter, but her friends who also missed out last year. What more, we wanted to honor the mothers as well – after all we did survive remote learning (just barely).
Given that our little girls are just that, little girls, for only a short season – I played off our daughter’s request to have a Unicorn Princess Tea Party and thought what it would be like to bring one of her princesses storybooks to life and pulled inspiration from there and of course Pinterest! The following is what resulted … hope you enjoy! 🙂
Hear Ye, Hear Ye!
Lady Emma-Anne has requested a gathering of the other princesses of the land for a Royal Tea Party.
Ladys should arrive in pink tops (if possible) and will be provided princess attire and jeweled adornments.
Entertaining games will follow before receiving an etiquette lesson in how to be a princess prior to attending a royal tea complete with scrumptious finger sandwiches and an array of yummy desserts.
Queen Mums are also welcome to join their princesses as we socialize over brunch and adult beverages suitable for a queen.
Cordially,
The Queen Mum
Welcome all Queen Mum’s and Princesses!
I found the 16×20 welcome sign at BlueBunnyPrintables on Etsy. They were so easy to work with and had my order done within 24-HRS. All I had to do was download the image.
Once I had the poster image I uploaded it to the Wal-Mart Photo Center and had the 16×20 poster printed at our local Wal-Mart for under $7. I was really impressed with the high quality image and paper they used. While I was there I picked up an inexpensive frame for just $15.
I used our son & daughter’s craft easel to prop the frame up.
I ordered a HUGE role of white netting and pink ribbon from Amazon.com and carried the ribbon and netting decoration theme into the house and through the rooms. Very simple, girlie and effective!
I picked up the two cypress topiaries and pots from our local area nursery (which will be going into larger pots later this spring to adorn our front door).
What’s Your Unicorn Name
Once our guests entered the house, they received a name tag with their Unicorn name. This was a HUGE hit with not only the girls but the moms as well. Some even have saved the other mother’s unicorn names in their phone as their name ID. LOL!
Again I went to Etsy and found this fun welcoming ice breaker at BrownCowCreatives for just $5. What more they also preset the name tags so all you have to do is print them off on standard name tag stickers. This couldn’t have been any easier! We used a 8×10 frame we had at home to add a touch of elegance to the reception table with some flowers we placed in a glass basket my daughter and I picked up at a charity shop.
Moms & Mimosas
Once our guests received their name tags, the Queen Mums were treated to mimosas with fresh raspberries and each picked out their own rhinestone tiara to wear.
Princess Registry Table
What girl doesn’t love to dress up in sparkly fluffy tutus?! Each princess received their own tutu to wear and keep.
This was by far the most popular table! Imagine have a your choice of shiny glittery bracelets and necklaces to try on and keep! Each princess personally chose her own jewelry before spraying themselves with rose water from the vintage atomizer perfume bottle that was filled with rose water. Each little princess must have visited this table half a dozen times during the party to freshen up and reapply rose water! A total hit!
Every princess needs a Fairy Godmother!
My Mother-In-Law was such a trooper! Not only did she embrace the role as a Fairy Godmother she had each little girl hypnotized and convinced she was real! With her pink fairy wings and heart wand she taught each little princess from her ‘Official Fairy Godmother Etiquette Book’ how to walk, wave, sit, and curtsy like a princess.
She also went over table manners and tea etiquette. How to place your napkin in your lap. Not talk with your mouth full. How to ask for something rather than grab what you want. Each little princess would later have an opportunity to practice what they learned at the Royal Tea.
Game time …
We had a lot of fun playing a couple of games. The first game we played was where a gift wrapped box was passed around from princess to princess. As it was passed around each princess had a chance to unwrap one of the boxes until they finally reached the last box inside which contained a box of rings for the girls to wear.
Next we played that was a take on ‘hide the thimble’ but this was ‘Find the glass slipper’. The girls had a lot of fun searching the room and working together to find the glass slipper. Each one of them wanted to hold and look at the plastic glass slipper.
Sweet Temptation
No birthday (or Royal Tea) is complete without sweets!
We were able to find a local bakery which was able to make unicorn cupcakes, cookies and macaroons. Our daughter was very clear about about the unicorn theme, so we incorporated the fondant and buttercream chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with teapot sugar cookies and fairy dusted strawberry and vanilla macaroons. We also ordered petit fours from Harry and David to add to the High Tea with strawberry yogurt covered pretzels.
We went through a floral wholesaler to bulk order a ton of flowers which my mother really enjoyed arranging in a variety of ways – such as in the cinderella carriage. We had a lot of fun with flower arrangements, which really made everyone feel special.
Needless to say our little princess was more than excited.
Rather than a huge cake, we kept things simple and arranged some of the cupcakes on a tiered plate and added a little birthday banner which added additional height to the display with a fun gold crown on the birthday girl’s cupcake, and number candle – all of which we found on Amazon.com. The girls loved the little gold crown and each took holding it.
Of course what’s a princess tea party without a cupcake ferris wheel?! This was such a fun and cute display piece which we are going to have fun using again and again in the future!
My daughter and I found a large set of these vintage press glass plates at one of the local charity shops. They worked perfectly with the royal tea theme, what more – they were perfect for the Queen Mums to use when we brought out the yummy savory treats!
All in all this was not a difficult look to achieve. The pink satin tablecloth, pink tulle skirt, heart streamers, and birthday banner are all available via Amazon and can be reused over and over again. Also the chintzy tea pot was found at Home Goods – my new favorite store!
One lump or two?
My mother really out did herself with the floral arrangements. Buying the flowers from a local area wholesaler was not only a huge cost savings, it provided us with the ability to create our own look and style.
I was able to provide my mom with some photos of my vision and she was able to replicate it using floral foam and floral bowl adaptors for candle tapers which we placed on some of our candle sticks and on a cut glass crystal candelabra we found at Home Goods.
As a special treat we incorporated a family heirloom into the mix and used my great great grandmother’s china, which had been sitting on a shelf for decades. Place settings were kept simple with linen napkins with demitasse spoons and butter knifes. We found some fun plastic cups that looked like vintage press glass for drinking glasses. Name cards with faux jeweled diamond place holders made the place setting fun
For an added touch of elegance and fun, we did a custom made menu in the form of a scroll which we got through Etsy. The mom and girls really had enjoyed opening the menu and reading what was in store for the tea. Cute touch of fun!
My daughter and I had a lot of fun looking through the charity shops for old pink depression glass plates, glass dome cloche covered dishes, and tiered plates to use on the table.
Practice Makes Perfect …
Remember the etiquette lessons that my Mother-In-Law (aka the Fairy Godmother) taught the girls earlier? Well, now they each got the opportunity to practice what they learned … and when the girls learned that their Fairy Godmother would be watching them, and those who displayed proper etiquette would receive their own rhinestone tiara … every girl immediate at attention and listened!
Practicing manners …
I have never been more impressed with how well behaved 8 little girls could be at a tea! Would you believe not one spilled a single drop of tea nor did they leave a single stain! Each one execute flawless manners and etiquette enjoying homemade scones with strawberry jam. PB&J crown finger sandwiches with herbal caffeine-free fruit tea.
The Queen Mums were super engaged with their little princesses and really were a wonderful help during the even each jumping in.
I hear by declare you are a princess!
Inspired by some other parties shown on Pintrest … I created the above certificate in PowerPoint and customized one for each of the girls and printed them off at home. Once the tea was over, the Fairy Godmother presented each of the little princesses with a certificate and their very own tiara which they all LOVED!
After the tea the girls did a fashion show for the mothers – showing off their princess walk, wave, curtsy, tutus, tiara’s and jewels. The fashion show was another highlight of the party which the girls and mothers loved!
Let them eat cake!
Hands down easiest way to distribute birthday cake!
Fairy Godmothers do exist!
Again, my mother-in-law was the perfect Fairy Godmother and truly embraced the role. It was so touching to see how much the girls connected with her and each one of them gave her hugs when it was time to leave.
Happily ever after …
What an amazing group of friends and incredible moms!
The Pinterest Experiement 