Sleeping Beauties :o)

Renee is a true Sleeping Beauty now...along with Cinderella, aka Rebekah. The girls are asleep, tired from their BIG day!

The guests were asking their parents ALL day long when it was time for the party! I bet it seemed like a long day to the parents who kept having to tell them "not yet!", too.

For me, though, the day went way too fast, because I was still planning and making things, even up to the time of arrival of the first guest. The kids really pitched in and helped, but some things just took longer than we expected. It was a lot of fun--for everyone! There were a few chaotic moments here and there, but we survived. ;o)

We had decorations in keeping with a royal ball...a MacFarlane Clan banner on the door, with castle tower columns on either side of the front door. The red carpet was rolled out in the hallway, with rope lights on either side. We had a helium tank and used it for the pink and blue balloons. Bill did this part, although I'm surprised he left enough helium to blow up any balloons. I kept hearing a high-pitched voice coming from the other room where he was blowing them up. LOL

The guests were given their royal outfits: princess dresses and accessories for the girls, and a silver cape, and gold sword and shield for the boys. They all sat down and decorated a silver crown with jewels to complete their outfits.

I made up a Coat of Arms sheet and the party guests colored them to represent their families or themselves. The crayons were part of their favors. I also bought princess coloring books to go along with those for the girls; the boys got a magnet set. We played a "Kiss the Frog" game where the participants each got a pair of "lips" to tape on the frog's lips and try to turn him into a Prince. It must have worked, too, because afterwards there was a prince where the frog once was!

Lady Katelyn read the "Princess and the Pea" story to the party guests, and then afterwards tested the validity of each of the Princes and Princesses to see if they were genuine. Amazingly enough, they all passed the test and could feel the "pea" underneath the pillow. So each of them received a Certificate of Authenticity to verify they were "real" Princes and Princesses, signed and sealed by the King.

We found that a dragon had stolen all the "gold" from the town and eaten it! It was time to slay that dragon (pinata) and get back the gold (gold wrapped candy). So each Prince and Princess took a turn to slay the dragon, and finally the dragon was slain and the gold was recovered. Hurray!

Princess Rebekah and Princess Renee received very nice gifts from their subjects, and were very thankful that the guests could come. It was time for the castle cakes, ice cream and drinks. We made two castle cakes, one in blue and one in pink to match the colors that Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty were wearing.

I made the goody bags out of red and purple velveteen into a money purse, and filled them with gold pieces (gold coin chocolates and other gold-wrapped candy).

The party was as much fun for me to plan as it was for the kids to enjoy. The only sad part about it all is that now the twins are FIVE! :o( I can't believe how fast they have grown!

Since some people had trouble seeing the other album at Clark Photo, I did another at Shutterfly. Here is a NEW album of pictures from the party: A Royal Birthday