A Tangled Birthday Party

Over the past four days, we have had "locks" of fun celebrating G-Bear's fifth birthday.

G-Bear requested a "Tangled" party for her birthday this year.  This was my first birthday party attempt, since we have enjoyed all of G-Bear's previous birthday parties with family at MoMo's house.  I was a bit intimidated, because my mom has made all of G-Bear's birthdays so special in the past.  I was determined to make the party very special and fun while remaining fiscally responsible.   In the end, we had a great time planning and preparing, and the party was awesome.  

G-Bear worked hard on the invitations.  We used giant princess paper from one of her coloring books, I wrote the words, and she added color and decorative embellishments. Then G-Bear, E-Bear and I hand-delivered the scroll-rolled invites to our neighbors while playing musical horns and toy drums (gotta love the kids' "royal" delivery, inspired by Prince Charming's hand-delivered invitations in the movie Cinderella!).  We were off to a great start:  we had a TON of fun, and no purchases were necessary.

Next, it was up to me to tackle decorations.  Family Fun Magazine by Disney has a great website full of party and arts & crafts ideas for just about any movie or character theme.  I found lots of great decoration ideas, crafts and printables in their "Everything Tangled" section, all free and many requiring little more than a color printer.  

Our favorite decoration was the Rapunzel hair braid.  It doubled as a gift to G-Bear and creative party decor.  

G-Bear wearing the Rapunzel hair braid that I made as a present for her party. 

For the braid, I used two pounds of yellow yarn from the craft store and some red satin ribbon saved from Christmas. The braiding process was not for the faint of heart: it required the full length of our living room and hallway plus two hours of my time (this clearly reveals my novice-ness when it comes to braiding long hair, as an expert or anyone more cleaver than me could have accomplished this in a fraction of the time.).  T snapped a picture as I embarked on my braiding adventure:

It was totally worth the $6 spent and the hours of my time.  G-Bear loved her braid!  It was a great decoration, hanging from our porch "tower" and nearly touching the ground below.  Since the party, G-Bear has hung it in her closet to hold her hair bows and clips.

Next, I made paper "lanterns" reminiscent of the movie to hang from our ceiling:

We used materials that I had on hand: envelopes, a three-hole punch, a stapler, left over holiday ribbon, markers and push pins.   G-Bear loved them, and they added a fun, magical feel to our space.

The lanterns in action.

Finally, I made two banners, one for inside, one for outside, out of construction paper squares and utility string.  These were also reminiscent of the movie and a fun way to say, 

"Happy Birthday, G-Bear!"

For party activities, we decided to make prince and princess crowns with the Disney template, cut from manilla folders I had on hand.

G-Bear's crown craft.

We set out extra "lanterns" for the guests to decorate and take home for themselves, as well as Rapunzel coloring pages that I found from this great source.  

G-Bear, E-Bear and I made homemade playdough before the party in purple (Rapunzel's favorite color) and yellow (like her golden hair).  We set it out for the guests along with all of our playdough tools.  And finally, during the party, T hid a costume crown near our community pool and we took the kids on an impromptu "crown scavenger hunt" around our "neighborhood" with the help of rhyming clues.

The kids had a great time with all of these crafts and activities.  Their smiles and laughter at the party melted my heart.  Even a few adults left with paper crowns :)

By far, my most intimidating project was the cake.  I am not an artist, so I was thankful to find lots of inspiring Tangled cake ideas online.  I made a tower out of an ice cream cone cupcake, attached a printed image of Rapunzel and Eugene, and placed it on top of the cake.  G-Bear and E-Bear loved it!

We made extra "tower" cupcakes for the kids as well as tangled hair cupcakes:

G-Bear was glowing as we sang "Happy Birthday." 

"I really like my party," she said to T and me.   

I could tell that her favorite part was being surrounded by her family and friends. 

The added efforts and details were both budget-friendly and made her party experience extra special.

Blowing out the candles!

We saved presents and family time for G-Bear's actual birthday.  In the morning, we enjoyed cereal with homemade whipped cream and sprinkles in honor of MoMo's signature birthday breakfast:

G-Bear's happy birthday breakfast

G-Bear enjoyed opening birthday cards in traditional birthday attire,

and she loved T's present to her,  her own set of pictures from our Disney World trip.

T's present to G-Bear was a set of pictures from our Disney World trip.

After enjoying bunny-shaped mac & cheese for birthday lunch, and a special dinner at a local pizza restaurant, we couldn't go to bed without opening one last present over ichat with MoMo and Papa.....a new big girl princess bike complete with tassels and a handlebar doll carriage.  Our big girl was speechless with excitement.  It rained all day today, so she rode her bike back and forth across our carpet.  I think she is ready, not just for her new bike, but for life in her sixth year.

We love our G-Bear!  We'll treasure all of these great birthday memories.