Cinderella Party

Aaris had her birthday party for her friends on Saturday. She was excited for days...even weeks. When she woke up, and before she came out of her room, she put on her pretty white church dress. She said that since she was going to be Cinderella for her party, she thought she would wear her Cinderella wedding dress. Well, we went ahead and let her open two presents before her party. One present was a big castle trunk full of princess ball gowns. The second present was shoes that looked exactly like glass slippers. She loved them and of course dressed up in them for her party. It was a Cinderella/Princess/Prince party. We had it in the morning, but it still was very hot and humid. Thank goodness most of the kids didn't seem to mind. We had some great friends that lent us their shade tents for some relief from the sun. Everyone entered on the long red carpet (we did pink though because it matched the party colors better) with bubbles floating everywhere. They were able to decorate crowns with jewels as we waited for everyone to show up. We then started a series of games and activities. We played musical glass slipper, pin the glass slipper on Cinderella, musical red carpet game, laundry pick up race, and of course we had to have a castle pinata. We even somehow managed to get a group picture of most of the kids. We then headed inside to get our food. The kids all had a special drinking cup with their goody bags that they used to drink out of for lunch. The girls had plastic champagne glasses and the boys had knights/prince goblets. The goody bags for the girls had a decorated ponytail holder, stick-on earrings, princess stickers, and a plastic bracelet and ring. The boys goody bags had a clear plastic castle and colored sand to do a sand art project. They also had a kaleidoscope (figured it looked like a telescope the prince would use to look for his princess). And all the bags had a magic star wand made out of rice krispie treats. After eating lunch we sang "Happy Birthday" to Aaris, watched her blow out her candles, and everyone had cake. (I made the cake using a fondant recipe from my friends blog, but I didn't enjoy the experience. So, even though I liked how it turned out, I will have to think twice before I use it again.) All the kids wanted a piece of cake that had part of the dress on it. Even after the party was over, Aaris continued to play and play until she was red in the face. No presents were asked of for Aaris. But, if anyone wanted to bring presents, they could bring items to donate to the kids at Dell Children's hospital. We got some great donations and will take them later this week. A few kids were extra sweet and did give Aaris some very princess-y presents. It was a wonderful party. My favorite thing was that Aaris not once mentioned that she was tired (something she use to always do). I have to admit that to me this was more than just a birthday party. It was a party to celebrate a successful recovery from her heart surgery. My little princess made it to her 4th birthday healthier than any other birthday before!! Praise God!