Lily's Princess Birthday Party

Yesterday was Lily's 3rd birthday party. We've been planning and talking about this party since October, so we were excited! Lily wanted to invite all her playgroup friends plus her friends from school and there was no way I could have 30 kids + parents at the house, so my Dad was nice enough to let us use the banquet room at the golf course. It ended up being the perfect place and such a great party! I was happy and I know Lily was too.

Mom and Lily as we are finishing getting ready and waiting for everyone to arrive. They actually booked a wedding a few weeks ago for later that night (after I booked the party and sent out invites). So to make the turn over easy, we left some of the tables all dressed and set up for the wedding. It was cool with me, it made her Princess Party even more fancy!

My main concern was keeping all the kids entertained! We ended up having 22 kids and Lily. So I set up games and this craft table where they could make their own foam tiaras and crowns. It was a huge hit!

Craft table up close. My friend Patti lent me the table cloth and centerpiece, it is actually interactive and talks, but I think they were all too busy with their tiaras to notice that!

The big castle is a ring toss game and I also had Princess Velcro "dart balls" (for lack of a better term) up on the window.

We also had a Princess bean bag toss, bowling, basketball, tons of balls and a parachute!

"Pin the Princess in the Castle" game.

Pinata!

The favor/gift table. I forgot to get a photo when it was packed with presents.

(Patti also lent me that inflatable castle.)

Favors

Girls got crayons, a pad of Disney Princess paper, a star wand and a unicorn pop sucker.

Boys got crayons, a pad of either Cars or Toy Story paper, a little parachute man and the same sucker.

Balloon bouquet at the buffet.

My birthday princess.

The kids table.

We put down butcher paper and crayons.

(we also hung the pink paper lanterns around the room)

I was so excited when I found the Cinderella balloon weights. They made perfect centerpieces.

Cake Table

(also set for the wedding)

Lily's Princess cake/cupcakes.

We also had dancing.

Patti made us 2 full CD's filled with Disney songs to dance to!

(she was a big help!)

Lily was SO excited!

Courtney, Elise, Ashley, Trent and Lily playing with the parachute.

Sawyer giving Lily her gift.

As more and more people started to arrive, Lily got a little more quiet. I was surprised since it was all her good friends.

Now may be a good time to document who came (just so I remember in the future since it will be too hard to try to label everyone in every photo):

From Playgroups: Emily, Hannah, Trent, Elise, Ashley, Sawyer, Tyler, Lilly, Diego, Grace, Luke and Lucy.

From School: Makayla, Christie, Utsav, Tyler, Matthew and Carys.

and Avery, Taylor and Pasiley from Gymboree.

I didn't get any great photos at the party, but I did get a lot of candid shots and I am posting a lot of those since they all have different people and it will be nice to look back on someday and see everyone.

Matthew and Carys making their crowns.

Lily and Makayla

Enjoying her bowl of potato chips for lunch.

You can see in the photo that some kids had balloon animals. My Dad was supposed to be making the balloons for the kids, but he got busy with all the cooking and the mini crisis, so Paula's nieces and nephew took over and did a fantastic job! The kids were lining up for balloons and loved it!

The above mentioned, "mini crisis" was actually pretty ironic -- the fire sprinklers in the ceiling in the gym went off since it was too cold! Temps have been below freezing for a few days here and the lead that evaporates when it gets too hot, thus causing the sprinklers to go off, froze and caused the sprinklers to go off. We only found out when the firemen showed up since the sprinklers activated an alarm that alerted the fire dept! It is too bad it was a Princess Party and not a party for a little boy -- the fireman could have been extra entertainment!

Lily and my Mom with Patti, Bryan and Emily and Peter and Madison (Makayla's Dad and sister).

Lily didn't eat the nuggets and fries which were served with her in mind, since they are her favorite. Instead she ate a bowl of Lays chips for lunch.

Paisley, Avery, Trevor, Kathleen and Meridith

Ashley, Rhiannon and Carys in line for food. We had nuggets, taquitos, fries, onion rings, pizza, cheese sticks, fried mushrooms, lasagna, soup, chips, fruit and veggies! They get a lot of food samples from their supplier at the course and it is not enough for a large party, but was perfect for us!!

Paisely, Makayla, Lucy and Tyler J.

Matthew and Lily.

Matthew LOVES Lily! It is so cute, she has a little boyfriend. :)

Time for Pin the Princess in the Castle

Elise's turn.

Me helping Christie.

Notice Lily in the back on my Mom's lap. She did not want to play and be blindfolded. It was about this time she was getting fussy and only wanted to cut the cake. Looking back I think it was due to the fact that all she had eaten was chips.

Grace and her balloon.

Lily decided to play, but without the blindfold.

Jane, Carey and Courtney helping the kids with the parachute.

Pinata Time!

Originally, I thought all the kids could take a turn pulling a string. But it quickly became obvious that an orderly pinata would not happen as all the kids came charging for it! Lily got to pull the first string and then stood back as all her friends went to town on the pinata.

They actually make Disney Princess pinata filler with candy and princess toys. So we had that, Dum Dum suckers and Princess fruit snacks inside.

Finally, it was cake time!

Trent, Hannah, Christie, Lily and Sawyer.

Lily and Elise.

Lily was so lacking energy at this point . . . .

. . . but after her cupcake she was all ready to dance some more!

Grace, Makayla, Lily and Carys

Dancing with Hannah

It was a fantastic party and everyone had a great time! I had fun and I know Lily did too since she is asking to do it again.