How to Host a Unique Fairy Princess Tea Party

Make your little girl’s special day one to remember by throwing her a unique and simple fairy princess birthday party that she and her friends will remember for years to come.

First, you will need to send out invitations. You can make a pretty fairy princess themed invitation on your own computer or buy some inexpensive ones at a party store. If you are into scrap-booking, you can even make your own invitations. Usually 10 children is a good number to invite. Encourage the girls to wear a fancy dress to the event. If budget allows, you could give them their own personal fairy princess dress with their invitation that they could wear to the party.

The day of the party, start by decorating the room you will have the party in by putting up pink and white streamers and matching helium balloons. You could place posters on the wall of her favorite princess or even framed photographs on easels of your daughter in her beautiful pink princess costume. You could have Disney princess CD playing in the background to set the mood.

Next as the children arrive, have them start working on an activity, like a free, downloadable fairy princess or Disney princess coloring page until everyone arrives. Have crayons and markers set out so they can color while you are ushering in guests.

When everyone has arrived, you can start by playing a princess game. You can have princess accessories and pictures hidden throughout the room and a page with clues, like a treasure hunt. Whatever the girls find, they get to wear or take home. They can all help each other until everyone has found one.

If you need one more activity, you could decorate a princess cone hat or make your own tiara out of a headband and beads.

Lastly, it’s time for tea and cupcakes or birthday cake. You could do decaffeinated iced tea in little tea cups for the little girls or pink lemonade for those who would prefer it. You could have them decorate their own cupcakes with sprinkles or have them already decorated in your child’s favorite way. At this time, if budget allows, you could ask a teenager to come dressed up as Cinderella or your child’s favorite princess. You can find adult princess dresses for very reasonable prices and this ads a fun and unique element to your party.

When your guests depart, it is customary to send them home with a party favor. Inexpensive fairy wings would be a great gesture or a small party bag filled with your favorite princess items found at your local craft store or party store.

Most of all, have fun with it and ask for help so you can enjoy the special days too!

How to Create a Princess Room in a Weekend

Little girls love everything pink. There is nothing better in their eyes than a pretty Disney princess room all decked out in pink with accents of purple and white.

Start by painting an accent wall or all of the walls in pink. You can choose a color by printing up a picture of Sleeping Beauty and matching the color to her dress. If you want to tone it down a little, and not have it so bright, you can use a pink in the same color tone. Your local Home Improvement store can help you with that. Lowe’s has it’s own line of Disney paint colors, so in that case you wouldn’t even need to bring in a picture as they would have one in store. They have brochures that will give you ideas on how to paint and decorate your child’s room in a variety of themes, including Disney princesses. Keep the accents in the room light. The baseboards and doors should remain white as it breaks up all of the pink.

Next, the bedding. Choose bedding that is beautiful, but is also durable and machine washable. There are many princess quilts out there on the market. Try your local discount store to find bargains on kids sheets and comforters or look online to find special sales and deals on popular princess bedding.

Choosing the right decorations can be the hardest part of designing your child’s new room. There are so many princess items out there, it’s hard to know which one would be best. Start simple, add a few accents in like a Sleeping Beauty doll on the dresser or a princess mirror on the wall. To add a unique touch to the walls in the room, you could even put up some framed photographs of your child dressing up to be her favorite princess. You can add other princesses in like Cinderella, Snow White, Belle and Ariel slowly as you find things you think will belong in the room and not just make it full of clutter.

If this princess room is a surprise for your little girl, you could get some princes toys to add in. You could put a few princess dress up costumes in her closet to complete the look if the room is a gift for a birthday or other special occasion. No little girl can resist looking like her favorite princess. You could even hang a Sleeping Beauty Dress on the wall for decoration. Try getting 3 nice white pegs at your local Home Improvement store and hanging 3 princess dresses along a long wall for a stunning and unique effect.

The finishing touch is always the curtains. Choose frilly curtains to make a big impact. Everything in the room doesn’t have to have princesses on it. Try some white lacy curtains or sheer white curtains to give dimension and interest to the windows and to the room itself.

Good luck making your little princess’s room extra special!

How to Choose a Good Children’s Charity

Many of us want to give. We like to help others who may be less fortunate than ourselves. There are many worthy causes to support and foundations to donate to. The following are charitable foundations that have stood the test of time and are worthy organizations for your hard earned money. All of them provide forms for you to fill out in order to get a write off on your taxes.

Make a Wish Foundation grants special gifts or visits to children with life-threatening medical conditions such as cancer. Some requests are as simple as a princess costume for a little girl with a visit from Cinderella or a soldier outfit for a sick boy who has always dreamed of being an army captain just like his dad. You can of course just give monetary donations, but it is so much more rewarding to learn the stories of the children and grant their wish personally.

Another favorite is the Princess Alexa Foundation. Alexa is a 4 year old with cancer. She loves the Disney princesses and to dress up in fancy princess dresses. She noticed that her hospital’s toy box was void in this area even though it is children’s most popular play items. In her honor, her family has a goal to obtain 2000 dress up costumes to donate to local children’s hospitals to help bring joy to ill children. They have reached their half way mark due to generous donations from companies like Little Adventures who donated hundreds. It is a worthy cause and Princess Alex will tug on your heartstrings as you learn more about her and how you can help her get additional princess dresses and accessories.

The Ronald McDonald house is a wonderful children’s charity that helps low income families meet the financial obligations of high medical bills and housing to be near specialized hospitals.

If you need more ideas, see Children’s Charities of America for a list of trusted charities in your own area.

Tips For a Fun Disneyland Vacation

Disneyland is often a dream vacation for many kids and for parents alike. Make your trip fun and easy by following a few simple suggestions in this Guide.

Before you go on your vacation, check out the software called Ridemax. You simply plug in which rides you would like to go on and it prints out a schedule for you with the order and time you should go on the ride. It takes into account when lines are the smallest, so you really maximize your time. Ridemax does not take the spontaneity out of the trip, it just makes it more manageable.

Make sure you stay at a hotel that is across the street, or closer. Parking in the Disney parking lot is $59 per day (the same price as kids admission), so you don’t want to have to pay that much or be a slave to a shuttle. It is best stay within walking distance. Once you make it to the parking lot, you can hop on a tram to the front gates. The parking lot is huge, so it’s a long walk in itself. Save you legs for walking around Disneyland itself.

Bring snacks and water bottles in a backpack with you to the park to avoid the astronomical prices of food. Things like granola bars, fruit leather, crackers, nuts, peanut butter sandwiches and such work well. Don’t bring anything that can melt. If you fly to LA, you can pack a suitcase with just food or if you drive you can stop at a store outside of Anaheim or bring food from home.

Nearly everyone at Disneyland is wearing some type of character clothes. Buy one for each day locally before you come to California. Kmart is a great place to buy Mickey and Pooh t-shirts for girls or boys, at the bargain price of under $10 each. Most little girls wear their princess dresses all day around the park. Disney Princess dresses at the park run anywhere from $60-$100 each, so make sure you buy them one for each day before your vacation. You should expect to pay $20-$40 for a good quality dress. You will see many boys with their pirate clothes and pirate hats on. You can buy these in advance as well.

If you have little girls, the highlight of your vacation will be dinner with the Disney Princesses. The food is actually reasonable and the atmosphere is wonderful. Make sure your child wears her princess dress to the dinner. During the dinner, princesses like Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Snow White, and others will come to your table, talk individually with your child, and even sit with you for a while. As they leave they can take a picture with Ariel (she can’t walk around during the dinner because she has fins and not legs).

If you have little boys, make sure you visit Tarzan’s Tree house and let them climb trees to their hearts content. Little boys who are in to pirates, will also like the ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Make sure they wear their pirate costume and pirate hat on the ride for extra excitement.

Great Halloween Costumes For Girls

Whether your little girl is 2 or 10, she will love to transform into something special for Halloween. Sometimes girls like to have 2 or 3 costumes to mix and match or to wear to different parties or events.

Most girls love and identify with the Disney princesses. They have grown up watching Disney movies and even taking vacations to Disneyland or going to Disney on Ice performances. This explains why they may want to look like their favorite princess on Halloween.

A great brand of princess costumes for girls is Little Adventures. They have boys and adult costumes as well. There are many online retailers that sell the Little Adventures brand of dress up clothes. You can even find them on eBay and Amazon. The most popular princess Halloween costume is definitely Cinderella. There is just something about Cinderella that makes little girls old and young alike smile and feel happy and beautiful!

The second most popular Halloween princess dress for girls is Sleeping Beauty. No pretty princess can resist pink. The Little Adventures brand Sleeping Beauty costume is also machine washable and made from high quality fabrics that are comfortable and do not itch tender skin. The long sleeves make it perfect for cold Halloween nights or add on the pink cape with hood to make sure she will be warm on her special night of trick-or-treating.

If your child would prefer something less girly, a witch costumes would be a great alternative. She can even use her witch dress after Halloween to play the Wizard of Oz or other witch characters. You may also want to get her a Dorothy Costume to facilitate fun dress up play with her sister or neighborhood friends. Little Adventures also has a machine washable line of witch, Dorothy, Ladybug, Bumble Bee, and Pirate Girl costumes that are so fun for little girls on Halloween or just for fun.

Some families like to match for Halloween or have a family theme. The Wizard of Oz is a great theme to have. Two sisters could dress as the witch and Dorothy and the Mom could be Glenda the Good Witch and the Dad could be the scarecrow, lion or tin man.

For a costume party, our princess dresses are always a big hit. They are lovely and graceful and very unique. Mom, daughter, and doll can all dress up exactly the same. Guests will be intrigued by the exact match and how comfortable and fun the Little Adventures costumes can be.

Whether your little girl will be a princess or a pirate, make sure you make this Halloween fun and special for her by getting a fun and fancy Little Adventures costume. You won’t be sorry you did! Many costumes last for years and are passed down from child to child for every day dress up fun! Happy Halloween!

Last Minute Ideas For Fun Halloween Costumes

Halloween is quickly descending upon us. Halloween is many people’s favorite holiday and they spend months planning their family’s costumes. Some come up with themed family costumes, and others shop around for months trying to find the one perfect costume for their children. This is a commendable task, but there are many of us who are last minute shoppers and find it hard to decide between hundreds if not thousands of options. We don’t want our child’s costume to fall apart or rip after one wear, but we want it to be affordable and comfortable to wear.

If you are on a budget, there are thrift or consignment stores that sell second hand or used costumes. Sometimes you can find great sales and deals here, but they may not have the costume you want in your child’s size. There are discount super stores that sell everything from food to toys to costumes. You can find low quality costumes here at these stores that are usually itchy, are too small to fit more normal kids, and are in the $20 range, plus sales taxes. This is frustrating to most parents who can’t find a good costumes for their boys or girls.

Another option is to buy online. If you want a good quality costume that will last for Halloween and then can be used as a fun dress up for your child after the holiday is over, Little Adventures sells a great line of costumes for boys and girls. They can be worn as a cute Halloween costume and/or just for every day dress up play.

For girls, the best selling Halloween costume is Cinderella. What little girl doesn’t want to feel like a true princess and twirl her way up to each door step to collect candy and prizes. The second best selling girls costume is Sleeping Beauty. This Little Adventures costume is machine washable and is made from high quality fabrics that are comfortable and not itchy to wear. The prices are very reasonable and only cost a few dollars more than buying them at a local discount store. They last for years and can be worn for several Halloweens, to Disneyland, and to Disney on Ice. You may also want to check out a fun Dorothy costume, or witch costume with a hat included.

For boys, Harry Potter is very popular. Arm him with a magic wand and a black cloak and some round glasses and you have an instant Harry Potter costume sure to please. Little Adventures also has a line of boys capes and cloaks that are machine washable and high quality. Another popular boys Halloween costume is a dragon. What little boy wouldn’t love to transform himself into a fierce fire-breathing dragon? Maybe he wants to be a nice dragon and save the day for his princess. No matter what the occasion, your little boy will be comfortable and warm in a Little Adventures brand dragon cape that is sure to please even the most picky costume wearer.

For adults, princess Cinderella is a best seller and is also comfortable and machine washable. These adult princess dresses are great for parties, Halloween, balls, and costume parties. They tie at the back to fit a variety of sizes and shapes. Don’t forget the adult princess accessories like Cinderella headband and choker and long cape.

Use Fairytales to Plan Your Fairy Tale Weddings

If you don’t have a very specific image in mind when you start your planning your fairytale wedding, chances are great that no one will be able to tell that you were shooting for a fairytale wedding when you are finished except perhaps for the castle shaped votive candle holders gracing you reception tables or the shooting star themed bottle stoppers you are giving to your guests as favors.

When you set out to plan your fairytale wedding it’s easy to let yourself get swayed by how cute some thing or some look is. Don’t fall into that trap. Make sure it falls into your theme exactly. Oh, yes, many weddings have been planned in just that way and turned out very nice. But you want your fairytale wedding to be memorable – not ‘very nice’.

Your Fairytale Romance is Unique

The answer, of course, is to choose a specific fairytale to base your wedding theme on. The classic, and the one that most people are thinking of when they say they want a fairy tale wedding is the classic story of Cinderella. Ask yourself what are the elements of the Cinderella story that make it identifiable. The pumpkin? The horse drawn carriage? The mice? The staircase? The slipper? Yes to all of them. Now take those elements and create a memorable fairytale wedding.

Fairytales are Grand Adventures

How? There are so many ways you can turn these into a fairytale wedding that will have people talking for a long time, but consider these options:

1) Hire a horse drawn carriage to deliver you to the wedding ceremony, take you and your new husband to the reception, and / or to whisk the two of you away to you honeymoon.

2) Forego making your entrance at the back of the church, and choose a location where there is, or you can have built, a staircase in the front for you to make your appearance just as Cinderella did.

3) Use pumpkins carved (there are expert pumpkin carvers in every community and if you can’t find one any good woodworker could do it) with scenes from the story carved into the skin of the pumpkin and a candle inside to illuminate them.

4) Don’t forget the music. Choose the classic dance music from the Disney version of the Cinderella story for your first dance.

5) Top the theme off with a wedding favor that nails the theme. Choose a fairytale themed carriage candle or place card holder. Or perhaps a Cinderella’s shoe bottle opener, or Cinderella themed bottle stoppers with scenes from the Cinderella fairy tale.

The possibilities are endless. The point though is that it only takes a little bit of thought to turn that fairytale wedding from nice to unforgettable.

Disney Princess Guide

How many parents listen to their kids talk for hours about their favorite Disney princess? Little girls love what they wear, what they do, and what they look like. This guide is to help you understand and play more effectively with your children by getting to know the main Disney princesses better.

1. Cinderella
Disnye’s Cinderella had a wonderful father, but when her mother died, he married a wicked stepmother. Following his death, her step-mother and step-sisters make her do all of the chores and treated her as a slave. When the chance for a ball came, her fairy Godmother came and dressed her with her signature blue dress with her long blonde hair pulled up to a bun on the top of her head, and glass slippers on her feet. She danced with the Prince and they fell in love instantly. When the clock struck midnight she was changed back to a pauper and left her slipper behind. The Prince searched the city to find her and when he did, they married. She is very soft spoken, demure, and kind, even to those who mistreated her.

2. Snow White
Disney’s Snow white has pale white skin, shoulder length black hair and a beautiful singing voice. She is the most beautiful in the land. Snow white has a red and yellow dress, is kind to animals and people. She loves the Seven Dwarfs and the birds and animals in the forest. Her wicked step-mother sees her through a magic mirror on the wall and brings a poisonous apple hoping to take her place as the most beautiful un the land. The plan seemingly works when she falls dead after trusting the evil queen who turned herself into a poor old woman. Snow white takes one bite of the apple and faints to the floor. She is found by the dwarfs and was though to be dead. They placed her in a glass coffin, until a handsome prince riding through the forest sees her and kisses her back to life.

3. Sleeping Beauty (Aurora/Briar Rose)
Disney’s Sleeping Beauty has beautiful long blonde hair and a dark pink dress. “The evil Maleficent curses Princess Aurora at birth to die on her sixteenth birthday by pricking her finger on a spinning wheel. Three good fairies try to help Aurora avoid this fate by altering the curse’s effect and hiding her in a forest under the assumed name of Briar Rose” (SparkleNotes). The curse is unavoidable and she dies when she reaches sixteen. Prince Phillip kisses her and brings her back to life and they fall in love.

4. Belle from Beauty and the Beast
Disney’s Belle is a French princess whose name means “beauty”. She is the most beautiful in her village, but is modest and does not care about the outward appearance, which the town people find strange. Belle is educated, well read, witty, and adventurous and has beautiful long brown hair and brown eyes. She falls in love with a “beast” after being forced to live with him to save her beloved father’s life. The beast is under a spell and appears as a monster, but when Belle looks beyond the outward appearance and falls in love with him, he turns into a handsome prince and she saves him from certain death.

5. Ariel from the Little Mermaid
Disney’s Ariel is the daughter of an undersea king and is desperate to see what life is like on land. She has a beautiful singing voice and beautiful red flowing hair and big blue eyes. She collects items from sea boats and keeps them an underground cavern and saves the life of a handsome man from land and falls in love with him. A wicked sea witch named Ursula gives Ariel legs in exchange for her beautiful voice. Ariel goes to land with her new legs and sees the man she saved, Eric, a prince on land, and instantly falls in love, but she has to get him to notice her even though she can not speak. Ursula ties to foil her plan, but her sea friends save the day and Ariel and Prince Eric get married.

Disney Movie Features African American Princess

A new Disney feature film will debut in the summer of 2009. Dick Cook, chairman of the Disney Company, proudly presented the date and name. It is called the Frog Princess and features a beautiful new princess named Maddy. She is special because she is the first African American princess ever in Disney movie history and takes place in New Orleans and in the old world grandeur. It will feature singing and dancing animals as well as Disney’s signature princess sweetness and bravery.

On a recent trip to the South, Cook said, “We’re pleased to be here in the heart of New Orleans to announce ‘The Frog Princess,’ a great story with all the ingredients that go into making an extraordinary motion picture experience. Like many of Disney’s most popular fairy tales, it has elements of magic, fantasy, adventure, heart, humor, and music. The film’s New Orleans setting and strong princess character give the film lots of excitement and texture. We’re also thrilled to have John Musker, Ron Clements and Randy Newman lending their talents and creative energies to this project. John and Ron helped to usher in Disney’s second golden age of animation nearly two decades ago with ‘The Little Mermaid,’ and are on track to create the Studio’s next great fairy tale adventure.”

Talented writers, John Musker and Ron Clements, join forces with with New Orlean’s own Randy Newman to complete the movie and the soundtrack. Cook said, about this trio, “They’ve come up with an original story that is deeply rooted in the fairy tale tradition, and it’s filled with great humor, emotion, and musical moments. Randy Newman brings fun and excitement to every project, and I couldn’t think of a better choice to deliver some wonderful New Orleans style music.”

Young girls and parents alike look forward to this history making film, as we usher in a new era with the dawn of an African American president as well as an African American princess. Rumors have it that she will also attend the main 5 princesses (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Ariel from the Little Mermaid) at Disneyland, Disney World and other theme parks. She may also be included on Disney appareal, dress up clothes,

Disney has created a multi-million dollar industry with other princess movies including the main 5 princesses including most popular Sleeping Beauty featuring princess Aurora, Little Mermaid and Cinderella. Tastefully directed, this movie could surpass others as the highest grossing princess film ever as young and old alike attend it’s history making debut.

Fairy Tale Romances

Every bride gets swept up in the romance of her wedding. The beautiful gown, the loving fiance, the dazzling crystal bridal jewelry – it all feels like a fairy tale. When you are in this spirit is a great time to revisit some of the classic fairy tale romances.

Truly, the ultimate fairy tale romance is Cinderella. There are actually multiple variations of this story. I have seen the tale performed at the opera, read it in Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and watched the Disney cartoon version. There is one thing that they all have in common: in the end, sweet, but much-abused Cinderella captures the heart of the prince and becomes his bride.

Having just re-read the Grimm version of Cinderella, I was surprised to see that there was no mention of a fairy godmother, a pumpkin turned into a coach, or a glass slipper (her slipper was pure gold). However, most of the other major themes were present: the wicked stepmother, the selfish and cruel stepsisters, and the charming prince seeking a wife at the ball. (Did you ever wonder, as I did, why Cinderella’s father allowed his new wife to abuse her so?) Because it was the Grimm version of the story, you can be sure that the stepsisters came to a gruesome end as punishment for their mistreatment of kind Cinderella.

The Disney version of Cinderella is the one that is probably the best known and the most delightful (and I don’t seem to recall the stepsisters having their eyes pecked out by birds at the end of this variation!). It is certainly the one that is the most inspiring to brides trying to create their own fairy tale for a day. The imagery is undeniably enchanting: Cinderella’s beautiful gown, her long gloves, and her upswept blond hair with a headband.

Replicating Cinderella’s exact outfit would look too much like a costume, but many brides have been inspired by the feeling of her ensemble. For a fairy tale worthy bridal ensemble, choose a full skirted ballgown worn with long gloves, a dainty tiara perched in au updo and plenty of sparkling crystal bridal jewelry. Your veil should be full and possibly have multiple tiers. Scattering crystals on the veil to match your wedding jewelry would be a nice touch.

Forget about the idea of wearing glass slippers. The replicas that you see in stores are just clear plastic, and are pretty cheap looking. Instead, look to the Grimm version of Cinderella for inspiration, and choose a fabulous metallic shoe, which is much more chic than plastic. If you truly fancy yourself a princess, you can even plan a destination wedding to Disneyworld, so that you can have Cinderella’s Castle as the backdrop for your wedding photos. Perhaps you can even round up a spectacular glass coach and white horses to convey you to the wedding.

The most important part of any fairy tale is the handsome prince, of course. Whether your wedding is a fanciful gala in a castle or a simple ceremony in city hall, what really matters is that you have found your Prince Charming. As they say in the story books, may you live happily ever after.