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The Royal Fifth Birthday Princess Party
The princess party was a smashing, over-the-top, regal affair. It was the perfect day for a backyard party! Blue skies, warm breezes…who knew!? I’ve always fretted about Bug’s winter birthday. I worry about the weather and people chickening out when the roads get slick, or choosing chicken noodle soup over cupcakes because it’s such a hassle to get kids in and out of the house to be somewhere at a certain time on their day off. What can I say, I’m a worrier by nature. Thankfully, I’m almost always proven wrong. Maybe because I worry so much? Who knows.
But I’m probably not going to stop being a worrier. It seems to be my good luck charm. The things I forget to worry about are always the things that go wrong! I worried about the weather; it was perfect. I worried about the tablecloths; they were perfect! That bed canopy thing that I bought for two bucks or something was the perfect table runner! I thought I was going to have to pull off some kind of crazy origami sewing project, so I allowed extra time just for setting the table and guess what? It was the exact right size to go over the cheap plastic tablecloths and dangled down just enough on both sides. I couldn’t believe it. Thrift stores, I love you.
The Royal Bounce House Ball was a bouncing success, of course. Those princesses bounced their little pink fluffy hearts out. The music, maybe not so much. We rigged up my Dad’s iPhone in an iPhone dock and played “joyful waltzes” from my very own personal Pandora station. It would have been perfect except I didn’t buy the party amp to make the music loud enough to hear over the bounce-house blower. I kind of forgot about that blower. It was a choice between the party dock or something that would look nice in my house after the party and unfortunately for the party, I chose the sleek smaller design with less boombox sound.
You could still hear the music, it just wasn’t as atmospheric as I had wanted it. Sometimes you gotta let things go though.
One of the best things about the party is how even the older guests dressed up. I think they know me! It made my day. My mom was the best. She sewed herself a crazy purple sequined skirt in about two minutes and then flounced around the party bippity-boppity-booing and giving out fake jewels and necklaces to everyone. What makes it even more amazing is that she also sewed the Bugalicious Pink Party Flags the morning of and cooked the french fries. Now you know where I get my over-achieving party skills from.
I love my mom. And check out my dress! It fit!!!
I even sword-fought in it!
And was victorious!
Don’t mess with the Queen Mother.
And I bounced in it!
But who cares about me. This party was all about Bug!!!
Except I didn’t take as many pictures of her as I should have because I was running around like a Queen Mother with her head cut off. Just call me Anne Boleyn, or was that Mary Queen of Scots? One of those queens. Queens do tend to get their heads cut off frequently. I’m pretty sure Bug still had a good time though, in spite of my headlessness. Maybe she was a sugar-powered blur that couldn’t be caught on camera. Yeah, that’s it.
I’m so glad Madge got this video because I didn’t get a single picture of her blowing out her candles. Shame, shame, shame on me. Note to self: next time delegate a photographer. Pay them if you have to! But Deb and Toby did get quite a few really great shots.
Deb was my own personal Cinderella. She came out the night before and helped me so much. She made the icing, iced the cupcakes, made a pattern and cut out the princess crowns for the tiara craft (that got sadly neglected because the bounce house was just way more fun). She mixed us up some magical margaritas from the lemons and tangelos that I picked from my own backyard (to help keep me awake, she says) and helped me set up a light summery Italian wine station for the older royalty.
They were so yummy! I recommend stopping by Trader Joe’s and perusing the Italian wine section if you want to get your hoity-toity midsummer-night’s-dream drink on. So cheap too—$5 and under!
Deb woke up with a stiff neck the day of the party (probably due to me pushing coffee on her the day before and making her sleep on a futon on the floor) but she powered through and kept on helping. I don’t even think anyone noticed she was in pain. She even jumped behind the barbecue at one point and flipped a few burgers when my Dad (who I had delegated way too many jobs to) got called away. She pretty much saved the day.
Speaking of hamburgers, we made little sliders or royal hamburgerettes as I like to call them. Bug’s favorite food is McDonald’s, sadly, so I did my best to fit that into the princess theme. We made homemade buns (I’ll have to blog that recipe someday, it’s easy and delicious) and tiny little patties flavored with powdered ranch dressing. They tasted pretty good, when they were hot. But I probably should have had somebody swing by MickyDees and to pick up 20 happy meals instead because no matter how hard I tried to get all the food on the table at one time, the hamburgers were about 20 degrees too cold by the time anyone got to eat them. It was sad.
Even the fries were cold. Too bad. So sad. But they did taste good warmed up the next day. So there’s that.
The cupcakes, however, were delicious! I made them too. They weren’t even a box mix! I actually followed a somewhat complicated recipe that Bethany emailed to me especially for the occasion. She’s blogged it here. If you bake and you like cupcakes, these are a MUST. Delicious and about a thousand calories each!
I think the little girls enjoyed the food. The ketchup and the candy at least!
All in all, the food didn’t really matter. It was just so great to be surrounded by so many friends. I was afraid they wouldn’t come, you know? I have a lot of family out here in the sticks but most of my friends had to make the drive from the OC and an hour and a half is no commute to sneeze at. Something funny happens when you live at the beach. Anything farther than 20 minutes away seems likes it’s days away. We like to stay put in our cozy little towns and save gas or something. I know this because that’s how I was. So I was super thankful that so many of my friends made the effort to come and spend the day with us.
Of course some of them came from across the street, but still! It meant the world to me and Bug.
My best friend Tamie (she goes by Tamara but I get to call her Tamie) from SECOND grade was even there. It was awesome.
I think she’s singing me a serenade here…or just talking. With Tamie, you never know!
It was really sweet to have my dad home for the party, and my grandpa too since I am living and throwing a party in HIS house. He seemed to like how I’ve fixed up the place. Phew!
Even Toby was there. Bug is so loved. And blessed.
And spoiled rotten. I think next year we are going to have to have a no-present policy. First, because I want her to appreciate gifts more, and second, because we have reached the Disney Princess saturation point. Bug is in heaven. She loves it all and would take more but I’m starting to feel like I’m in fuchsia hell.
Just kidding. You know I loved it too.
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Thrifty Thursday! Edition 2: Costumery!
If I learned anything today, I learned to NEVER pay full price for costumes. Not that I ever have but when I was at the bounce house rental store the other day, I poked around their costumes thinking I might find something princessy I could wear to Bug’s party this weekend. I am the queen mother after all. I should be dressed appropriately. They had princess costumes for adults alright but they were horrible!
I don’t know what was worse, being Cinderho with her skirt up to there or the over-pricedness of the crappy fabric! Bagged packets of cheap fabric sewed horribly with scratchy thread, that’s what they were and a lot of them cost upwards of fifty bucks! You know what else? The bags were sealed so you couldn’t try them on. A total waste of money. I’m almost 40, if I’m going to wear a short skirt, I need to try it on first. I figured I could do better at home with an old skirt and a poofy blouse with a tight belt and call myself a peasant.
Then we hit the thrift stores. Gold mine!! I found that funkytown number you see above for three bucks! Don’t worry, I’m NOT going to be wearing to the princess party. I might be a funky queen mother but I’m not that funky. It was just too good of a deal to pass up. I think I’ll wear it to church. Ha! Maybe not.
Then hiding amongst the dusty old wedding dresses, I found the most royal of queen mother costumes ever: a velvet bridesmaid dress or maybe a choir costume from the 70’s. Empire waist line, completely modest neckline (for all the bending and scooping I’m going to be doing) and a floor length skirt in flawless purple velvet…it’s so perfect!!! I could swoon.
I know it’s hard to tell how perfect this dress is because you are so distracted by the awful-bad-hairday-mullet I’ve got going on. I spent the day gardening with my hair pulled back in pigtails then I thought I’d just run a wet comb through it and hit the thrift stores. Wet combing never works. But whatever, I don’t have time for vanity when thrift stores close at five! Also these pictures were taken with my water-proof camera at my aunt’s seamstress shop so they aren’t the best quality and the velvet is a mess of black. You’ll just have to trust me on this. The velvet is not black. It’s a beautiful shade of deep purple.
You can kind of tell in these shots where I’m trying to over-compensate for my bad hair and double chin with the classic hold-the-camera-above-your-head photo technique. You’ll see in the photos after the party. It’s the most perfect dress ever.
Except for one tiny little thing. Just a smidge of an issue. I can’t breath when I wear it. Seriously, this dress was so small on me. I could zipper it but I could only take half breaths because the empire waist was cinching me in half. If I wanted to, I could exhale completely and bust the whole dress off me in one incredible hulk move. It was tempting.
Good thing I have a seamstress in the family. The dress was only three bucks so I bought it anyway and drove straight to my Aunt’s shop declaring it a fashion emergency.
Auntie Keren to the rescue! My aunt is the bomb. My mom said there weren’t any seam allowances to be let out, my aunt disagreed. She ripped, pulled, sewed and ironed. I tried it on again. Still too small. I slipped her a twenty. She said she’d do something magic and I could pick it up on Friday.
I’m not worried a bit. She’s Keren!! If anyone can make it happen, she will. She can do anything. I am confident I’ll not only be able to wear it all day, I’ll probably bounce in it in the bounce house in it! I have no idea what she’ll do but I know my aunt. Anything is possible. Besides the dress was so cheap! It’s worth it alone just for the fabric!
Speaking of fabric, have any of you tried to sew tablecloths lately? My mom and I went to the fabric store with visions of a six-foot princess table covered in a pink cloth trimmed in flounces (ribbon maybe?) and roses on the sides. You know me with my over-the-top visions when it comes to party planning. I wasn’t going to have anything to do with those awful paper/plastic/vinyl table cloths that cost a buck fifty and whip up in the wind and float across the yard. I had bigger ideas.
I had big ideas until I did the math that is. Nice pink 60-wide fabric is not cheap!!! Even the cheapest would have cost me over thirty dollars. I was so depressed. I can’t spend money like that. It’s just a five-year-old’s birthday party, not a wedding. So I went home with my tail between my legs, dreaming up blog posts where I show you how to sew/tape/glue/whatever paper tablecloths that actually stay ON the tables. It would have been a good idea too. I probably could have even pulled off little paper-vinyl rosettes and flounces with those cheap plastic tablecloths. Who knows maybe I’ll still end up doing that.
BUT! I found pink tablecloths at the thrift store. Technically one of them is some kind of fancy bed canopy thingy, another one is a bed skirt and one is a lace tablecloth that someone accidentally washed with a very red shirt. I don’t care. They work for me. I think they’ll be perfect for a fancy princess party. Just you wait and see!
In other news: My backyard is looking fabulous.
I hired some gardeners and they came secretly while I was gone and mowed everything down. They’re super ninja gardeners. I didn’t see them or hear them. They just got the job done. My backyard wilderness looks like a peaceful park setting!
Nevermind the GIANT brush pile and the rolls of chain link laying around. The gardeners say they will be back Friday to remove the brush and the handyman family friend says he’ll be back today or tomorrow to whip the fence up. Or we’ll just discreetly roll the mess of chain link off to the side somewhere. I’m okay with that. It looks good enough to me. We’re ready for a backyard Princess Party!
