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Magic Mirror Princess Party -3yr- The Mirror Talks!

September 2010

Sarah in Johannesburg, South Africa

Special Mention

Princess Party:  The Magic Mirror  For my daughter's third birthday she wanted a princess party.  We opted to go with a magic mirror take on the theme.

 INVITATIONS:  I cut out mirror shapes from craft foam and applied sticker jewels from OTC all around the outside.  I wrote the text Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?  At Neve's party I will reveal all. and details of the party and printed this out on self-adhesive mirror paper which I then cut into ovals and stuck on the invites.  I put each into a pink or lavender glassine envelope and labelled them Princess Madison, etc. 

DECORATIONS:  I bought sheets of cardboard and cut them into parapets and spray painted them silver.  We put these up around the roofs of the jungle gym and in the gutters of the house, so that both looked like castles.  We added pink flags to the jungle gym roofs and wrapped that and the front of the house with stone wall scene setters.  I added pink coats of arms to the house and voila, a castle!  On our front wall I hung a cardboard and construction paper mirror, a princess scene setter and tied pink ribbon and strings of pearls into our pedestrian gate (all houses here are surrounded by walls and have gates). 

Indoors, I tied pink organza bunting in an x across the ceiling and to the corners of the living room with a disco ball in the center, added a pink princess scene setter to the wall and made a cardboard surround for our flat screen TV which I spray painted gold and covered with 3D shapes I made from glitter scrapbook paper.  That was our magic mirror.  For the tables I had pink and lavender tablecloths and chair covers with pearl details, fresh pink flowers, doilies, plastic champagne glasses from last year's party, and plastic glass slippers filled with a few pink and lavender Jelly Bellies. 

COSTUMES:  As guests arrived, each was given a stain cape I had made (I had gold ones for the boys, who were meant to be knights; and the girls could choose pink, lavender, yellow or blue) and a pink wooden fold-out fan.  They then went to the activity table where a friend helped them make OTC foam tiaras and crowns.  My husband and I wore our king and queen costumes I'd made a few years ago for a different party. 

ACTIVITIES:  While we waited for everyone to arrive, the kids got to color ColorWonder pages or play on the castle.  Then it was time to begin!  I announced that the ball was starting and ushered the kids into the ballroom to dance.  I played some Disney princess music and the kids looked a little unsure of themselves, but then all of a sudden the TV came on and there was a man in it talking to them!  We had made a few short video recordings beforehand of a friend with a deep bass voice and a sound-effect machine so that his voice echoed.  He announced that a dragon wanted to capture Neve and that everyone had to help protect her.  The kids were amazed! 

The Mirror told them to go to the magic kitchen (a table outside) and to make magic potions to help them see with magical eyes and hear with magical ears.  Outside we had a table with these ingredients:  unicorn tears (pink grapefruit drink in glass bottles), wizard's brew (green KoolAid in small opaque white milk bottles), dragon's blood (red KoolAid in 500ml Coke bottles), fairy dust (edible gold glitter in tiny plastic cups), worms (gummies in small plastic containers) and frog's eyes (eyeball gumballs in bowls).  The kids mixed these up and had a sip, then went in for the Mirror. 

The Mirror told them that now that they had magic eyes they could go hunt for dragon eggs in the enchanted garden to learn the magic words.  Off to the back garden for the egg hunt (plastic Easter eggs with a few jelly beans inside).  When the kids finished eating their loot, I told them that I found the egg with the magic words of Bibbity Bobbity Boo and we went back to the Mirror.  The Mirror pointed out that on the way in the birthday girl had been stolen away, and asked the kids to shout the magic words to get her back.  They did, and then she appeared in an even more beautiful princess dress!  I handed out little wedding bubbles and the kids welcomed her back with bubbles, then sat down for the feast.  After the feast we had more dancing, and the kids went back to the potions and played on the castle jungle gym.

FOOD:  For the kids, I served salted popcorn in pink plastic sherbet bowls, covered in pink chocolate and edible glitter; peanut butter sandwiches cut out in the shape of tiaras and decorated, and fruit wands with pineapple stars, together with fruit dip served in a round bread made to look like Cinderella's carriage with cucumber wheels and plastic horses and taffy reins and cream cheese decorations.  For the grown-ups, everything was either pink (raspberry cheesecake, meringues, marshmallows) or a princess riddle:  apple and sausage tart (Snow White), pumpkin soup (Cinderella), snow pea salad (Princess and the Pea), tiger prawns (Little Mermaid) and Noodle salad (Rapunzel's hair. 

CAKE:  I made the Wilton pink princess cake, but didn't use any lavender, only pink. 

PARTY PACKS:  For the girls I filled pink satin bags with a jewel soap from Etsy, a princess mirror from a wedding favour shop, a tiny princess sticker book/paper doll, princess fruit snacks and a homemade chocolate princess lollipop I made from the Wilton moulds.  Boys got dinosaur egg soap (also Etsy), dragon stickers and homemade chocolate frogs. 

All in all it worked very well for the 3-5 year olds.  We did have a few big boys who felt compelled to end it by playing slay the dragon and taking turns at being the dragon.  Fair enough with so much pink around!  My daughter pronounced it Great! And said It was my best party ever!  Very funny from a three year old, but I am happy that she had a magical time.

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