Surprise! I'm back for a blog visit, and I'll be here all week, folks. Maybe I can be a quarterly blogger? Anyway, the beginning of this week is all about parties, parties, parties. Brace yourself, there are a lot of photos coming your way.
To start, this special little lady turned three years old ...
About 6 months before her birthday, Miss Ruby began requesting a pink princess party, with a princess castle cake, a pinata, and could Snow White please come? I was happy to oblige.
We set the tone with a dreamy pop-up castle card, complete with a little princess inside. I used my Silhouette Cameo and shapes from the online store to make them, and they came together surprisingly easily. They made Ruby squeal with delight (ok, me too). We were off to a good start.
When the guests arrived, they were invited to make their own crown. Again, I cut the crowns on my Cameo, but crown kits are easy to find online or at your local craft store. We decorated with foam stickers.
We also had a cozy reading tent set up with plenty of princess books. Reading is Ruby's all-time favorite activity, so this was a no-brainer. As my present to Ruby, I made this princess quilt and a couple of floor cushions for her room. The fabric is from the Once Upon a Time collection by Alexander Henry. I just winged the quilt, but the floor cushion pattern came from the book, Girls World, by Jennifer Paganelli.
We played Pin the Crown on the Princess (and Prince). I made the game with Silhouette store shapes cut as big as I could fit on a 12x12 piece of cardstock, and just glued them to a piece of foam board. Easy, peasy.
The highlight of the party, of course, was when Snow White showed up. Ruby was a little star struck.
Snow White was actually my friend, Anna, and she did the most wonderful job. Her character was so spot on, and she has a really beautiful singing voice. Snow White sang the wishing well song to the kids, read Ruby's favorite version of the Snow White book (a vintage Golden Tell-A-Tale from Grandma's house), and then was nice enough to take a photo with each of the kids, which we later sent out in thank-you cards.
Not only was Anna an amazing Snow White, she is a very talented wedding photographer and was so nice to take some photos of the party. Any picture in this blog post that looks really good was taken by Anna. She has a great food blog, too! You can check her out at Costa Kitchen.
Our party food was a pretty standard (but delicious) barbecue, with princess touches. There were crown shaped cheddar slices for my cheese-loving girl (thanks, cousin Sam, for cutting all those for me!), pb & nutella crown sandwiches (thanks, mom!), and princess pink popcorn (it is tossed with melted pink candy coating and pink m&ms ... so yummy!).
My friend, Sonja, sewed all of the beautiful buntings for the tents. They added such a nice touch, and matched the quilt in the reading nook. I made the giant paper roses using a tutorial by Studio DIY (who happens to have the happiest Instagram feed on earth).
The kids all had a go at the pinata, which they LOVED. It always seems strange to me to put a beloved character on a pinata and then bash it to pieces, but whatever. The kids want that candy! We filled it with princess rings (pirate rings for the boys), and candy necklaces and bracelets.
After showing Ruby many princess cakes on Pinterest, and she concluded that she needed a pink castle with tall towers and princesses on it. I am a total amateur, but we pulled it off, and even fished the perfect cake toppers out of Ruby's new Princess Candyland game that arrived just the day before from her aunt.
Later that night when I was tucking her into bed, Ruby told me I actually had made the wrong cake. Because this was just a little castle and it was supposed to be big, big, big so the princesses could go inside. I'll probably forgive her someday. :)
I think she was just stalling bedtime, because she seemed pretty pleased with it in the moment.
As a party favor, Ruby made each of her friends a little beaded bracelet. I was shocked that she actually had the patience to get through this project, but she happily stringed beads for like 15 bracelets. She and my mom made a great team.
I cut the favor boxes using my Lifestyle Crafts die-cutter and a box die. The princess toppers were made with my Silhouette. Isn't teamwork great?
I had to make cookies, too. They're my favorite part of any party. My favorite sugar cookie recipe is for Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies at Bake at 350.
It was a special party for an exceptionally special girl. A big thanks goes to my mom and mother-in-law for all of the party-prep help, my nephews for all the manual labor grandma assigned to them in the house and yard, Jared and Thayne for manning the BBQ, my friend Sonja for crafting right along with me, and Anna for wowing the kids as Snow White and taking such pretty pictures. :)
Come back tomorrow to see Oscar's Star Wars party, which just happened over the weekend! I totally geeked out over it. I'll also have a killer Silhouette promotion going on.