Thursday, June 12, 2014

Tangled Party!

So Claire and Ashlyn are 10 days shy of being exactly 2 years apart. So far, they love celebrating their birthdays together and, really, love doing just about anything together (Claire asks what pjs Ashlyn is wearing before going to bed so she can wear a similar or identical pair.  I'm sure this won't last but right now I'm enjoying it.)  So their birthday party date fell on the 24th (the weekend between their birthdays) which is also my dad's birthday, so he was a pretty good sport about attending a little girls' birthday party that day.  We are planning something for him the following weekend.
Ashlyn did not really have an opinion about the theme of the birthday party this year.  She likes lots of things- dogs, Life at the Pond, water, swimming, singing, stimulating converstion and fish. But Claire decided that she really wanted a "'Punzel Party" and Ashlyn didn't really seem to mind.  
There were a couple things I wanted to make sure I didn't do for the party.  #1. Make is so girly that the girls' friends who happen to be boys would feel uncomfortable. #2. Buy a bunch of plates and cups at Party City and call that a "Rapunzel Party."  I tend to want to be a big more creative -and kind of hate the dipictions of Disney Princesses on most of the items marketed for little girls (can me a whack-job but it is what it is).  I don't have the time or the creativity to go nuts with it but I decided to go with the Rapunzel colors (purple and yellow and a little pink) and then come up with games and activities around the characters.
So here was a few things we did for the party. Some took a bit of work but the girls LOVED their party.  I had a blast planning it, honestly.  It came at a pretty stressful time at work but it was something I wanted to do, so I made time for it.  Very little beats the girls' excitement over these things.

Super simple gift bags for the kids at the party.  Just cut out the Rapunzel royal flag and glued it to plain white bags.

Ordered the invitations from www.belleprints.com and printed them at Walmart.  The gal at BellePrints also sent me Thank You Cards and a banner so we put the banner on the front door of the house.


For dessert, I made cupcakes and Christian and I made a "donut tower" My dad was nice enough to create a little stand for the tower with a piece of wood an a dowel.  The only issue was that the donuts on the bottom started to crumble under the weight of the other donuts on top.  I have no idea how to remedy this problem.

I set up an art table where the kids could come and paint and draw like Rapunzel!  Most of our kids were pretty little, though, didn't take advantage of it due to the fact that most were more interested in the bounce house ;-)

We are so blessed by our church. They have allowed us to use the Bounce House every year! The kids LOVE it!


The girls wore Rapunzel shirts I found for $10 each at the Disney store and a sweet friend made their tutus for the day!






Claire's "Rapunzel Hair"



Gramma and Ashlyn


Lined up to play "Pin the Frying Pan on Flynn Ryder" 

Nathalie won! ;-)

Next game was "Maximus' Apple Toss"  I got a great "Mini Corn Hole" set on amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Mainstreet-Classics-Micro-Bag-Toss/dp/B00417V520





Ashlyn only lasted halfway though presents until it was time for a nap!





The girls had a fantastic day.  We are so blessed by our sweet girls!