Anabella's "Frozen" Princess Party

Once I realized we really couldn't avoid throwing a birthday party this year, having done the "destination" birthday at Great Wolf last year, it didn't take long to figure out what type of party we would have. Frozen. "I want a Frozen party, Mommy." I suggested making it a dress-up princess themed Frozen party, and just like that our party was formed!

Daniel wanted a superhero party, and since the kids are in different classes and have their own friends, I decided separate parties might be the best way to go this year. Five years is a pretty big birthday, and they were both warm to the idea of having their own party. While in some respects it might seem harder to do two parties, when it was all said and done two parties really wasn't so bad after all. It was less stressful actually. Because I only had to worry about making sure one person was the center of each event. It's very hard to divide attention equally between two 5 years olds at one party, especially when you're talking about a boy and a girl.

While I wanted to keep it low key, knowing that everything takes longer than I ever expect it to, and knowing that I had to do everything times two, I started planning in mid-January and sent invitations out via Smilebox, an online card company, towards the end of January.  For the invitations, I used pictures of the kids in their costumes (which we had taken last Halloween), and Smilebox did the rest. The invitations turned out really cute and when they were "opened" by the recipients they were set to music and animated, which meant on Anabella's that the snowflakes flew down. I could even see on my end who had viewed the invitation. It had a place for comments and everything. Super cute! ****I say this with a warning though: do be careful if you use the 7 day trial to cancel it before the 7 day mark if you do not wish to pay the $3.99 a month, charged in a lump sum of $47.88 for the entire year when the trial ends.

Once invitations were delivered via email to most, though I did print copies to give to grandparents for keepsakes, I did consult Pinterest for some party ideas, but most of the decorating came from things we had around the house. Nice thing about centering a party around something that interests them. Didn't have to buy much of anything except for paper products. Everything else came straight from their rooms.

Pinterest did give me some fun game ideas and cute templates for the food labels.

The centerpiece was an old IKEA mirror that I had from my condo days. Haven't used it since then, but held onto it for sentimental reasons. The felt flower in the middle came from none other than Dollar Tree, and the Elsa, Anna and Olaf figurines standing around the edges were borrowed from Anabella's dollhouse. All I did was buy some flowers, added her invitation, and the table pretty much decorated itself. The snowflakes I found in my craft box downstairs. I purchased them from Michaels at some point (no doubt on clearance) thinking I'd probably find a use for them someday. Love when that happens!   

The blue basket holding the cups- also courtesy of Dollar Tree.

I love the pink princess dress from Janie & Jack that Anabella wore for Easter two years ago so much that I just can't part with it. Yet again, my hoarding tendencies paid off, as I thought it looked pretty cute hanging as part of the princess themed decor.

Elsa & Anna's Sandwiches: heart shaped PB&J sprinkled with snow and chicken salad on Hawaiian rolls.

I didn't have a label for these because I added them at the last minute when I wasn't sure I had enough chicken salad. Pimento cheese on baguette. Pimento cheese was surprisingly easy to make, and I'll definitely keep this in mind for future parties/showers as it was a big hit. 

Burning Kristoff's meatballs was about the only mishap of the day.  I had set the crockpot on high to make sure they had time to cook, only we all go so busy we forgot to check on them and, well, instead of "swedish" the sign should have read "charred"....heeheee....actually it wasn't too bad. I was able to save more than enough, and I don't think anyone even knew (unless they were in the kitchen and saw the crockpot!) 

Dress up corner

Pin the nose on Olaf (idea from pinterest; drawn by PaPa)

Table for making marshmallow Olafs and Valentine bracelets (marshmallow Olafs from pinterest, but the Valentine bracelets were my idea, seemed fitting with it being Valentine's Day and all).

It wasn't until both parties were over that I realized that I forgot to blow up balloons to add on the sides of these banners! Completely slipped my mind. Never even made it to the "list." 

Princesses for "Pick the princess" game and CD for Frozen soundtrack.
George Washingtons and Danny the Dinosaurs courtesy of Daniel and Anabella.

The crowns Anabella painted lined the TV in the family room (pinterest idea as well, made from toilet paper holders, they were supposed to have elastic strung through the sides and the princesses could decorate them with gems and wear them as crowns, but we did Valentine bracelets instead. Anabella didn't like the idea of wearing them as crowns; she put it on her head and said it was too small. ha!

Cake from BJs

So that we would have more room in the family room, I took down the Frosty tree and put up our Valentine decorations. Given all the dancing that took place, it's a good thing I did! Otherwise we wouldn't have had any room at all. 

Solomon was watching us put out food hoping he might get a morsel or two!

Waiting for her guests to arrive....so cute!
Actually she was begging to go across the street so that Mrs. Timme could braid her hair like Elsa's!
Mommy really needs to watch a youtube video or something and learn to braid.

Aunt Cindy and her friend Debra were the first to arrive.

Cindy brought along a Clifford costume, which was a huge hit at both parties!

I put out some albums I've done over the years, and everyone enjoyed looking through them. 

Captain America was ready! 

Hadley Jayne was our first princess to arrive, and I love that she went straight to the dress up corner and got herself a crown and some wands. 

Anabella returned from getting her sideways braid from next door and was quick to give her favorite person a big ol' hug!

The Credles took a lot of pictures too, so some of these are theirs, which is why they might be a bit out of order....

Once everyone started arriving, we went to the table to make Olafs and bracelets.

I guess we were all too busy talking at this point because we had some super cute Olafs but I don't think any of us managed to get a picture of them! 

After we made Olafs and bracelets, we ate lunch! 

Lily is our friend from across the street. She turned 5 in September.

Ellie is my friend Jennie's daughter; I met Jennie through MOPS. Ellie will turn 6 years old this year. 

Spiderman is a little boy from Little Lambs whose real name is Michael. He played downstairs with Daniel during the first part of the party, but then they both came up to eat. Michael never quite warmed up during the party, not sure what was going on because he's usually a pretty happy-go-lucky kid. He and Anabella were in the same class at DTPT last year, so they've been friends for a while now. 

Ella, the little dark haired Elsa, is a friend of Anabella's from Little Lambs; while, Anna, the older looking Elsa, is one of the little girls I tutor. 

Following lunch, there was some dancing.....with an appearance by none other than Clifford...aka Cindy Bull:

Clifford was a huge hit....even though they pretended to be "scared."

After dancing with Clifford, it was time for Pin the Nose on Olaf:

Next up: Pick the princess. This was a game I made up....heeeheee. Everyone picked a princess and I would read a description, such as "this princess lost her glass slipper at the ball." And, the person who had that princess would say, "Cinderella." A bit cheesy, but the kids seemed to like it! ha.....I suppose I should add it to pinterest. haha

Oh, I forgot to mention that whoever had the correct princess got a Frozen sticker (this was the prize for Pin the Nose on Olaf too). Anabella was more than happy to be the one to pass out stickers. 

Next, time for cake:

By this time it was a little after our ending time of 12:30pm, and people started to leave. I tried to get pictures of Anabella with her all friends to use in thank you cards.

Mom, Granny, Lindsay, Sharon and the kids stayed a little longer so that we could open some gifts.

Anabella got some really nice gifts. Maw and Granddaddy got her a Nerf gun and Nerf bow. She loved them both! 

From her friends she got some Frozen apparel, a few Frozen games and some Frozen books.

From Hadley, Caleb & Reid, she got a Bible book, which she loves, and a water squirter, which I have a feeling will get lots of use this summer! 

Clifford returned, only this time they tried to give Aunt Sharon a turn.

Hadley is holding a Princess Sophia tree house set, which was a gift from NaNa (Aunt Sharon) and Anabella has enjoyed playing with in her dollhouse. 

Yes, Solomon was at the party too.

Granny got Anabella a Melissa & Doug waitress dress up set as well as a M &D ballerina magnetic doll set. 

Daniel loved his Nerf gun set from Maw & Granddaddy too- and I don't think he's put that or the bow down since he's gotten it. Carries it around in his backpack everywhere he goes in the house. Maw & Dee also gave Daniel and Anabella some money so that I can order them some new games for their LeapPads. LeapPad games are quite expensive! $20 for the Frozen one and likewise $20 for the one featuring superheroes. But, at least I know they're good wholesome games, and I can trust them playing them without me looking over their shoulder, which is not the case with iPad apps, even when the parental control is ON. 

Aunt Cindy got them large sized stuffed animals (Anabella's is pink and named Glamour, and Daniel's was a cute monkey with eyes like saucers). And, while they were BIG, they weren't nearly as big as this caterpillar Cindy got them a few months ago, which Anabella brought down from her room. Soon, we will have to move to a bigger house just so that we can house our Aunt Cindy animals! 

In between parties, Mom and Granny occupied Daniel and Anabella while the rest of us cleaned up and cleared away the princesses and brought out the superheroes!

Waitress Belle

Look, someone thought to take a picture of little ol' me! Princess Mommy preparing for her next party! 

By the time we finished gifts, it was probably a little after 1pm, and surprisingly, with all the help, by 2:15 or so I was ready for Party #2! Even had time to run the Swiffer (actually mom did that while I was changing...I might have cleverly left it at the steps when I went up) and change into Batgirl!

Allie and her family arrived about 3pm, which was nice because we had time to visit and open gifts before Daniel's friends arrived about a half hour later.

Aunt Allie got Daniel and Anabella Stretchkins, which they absolutely love! So funny, she didn't even know it, at least unless they told her and I didn't know it, but they actually mentioned wanting these at some point. One of those clever TV commercials...."oh, mommy, I want one of those!" But I have to say, everything I've gotten that they've seen on TV and wanted (DreamLites, Stuffies) and now these, are all things that have become favorites and are handled almost daily. 

Allie also got Daniel a Ninja Turtle mask which talks and Anabella a Frozen hope chest with a swimming mermaid inside. 

What a FUN party! Ready for the Superhero party?! Stay tuned!! Good thing I have a snow weekend to get caught up on this....February was truly a birthday extravaganza!