Princess Ariella's Royal Celebration

Ariella had her heart set on a sleeping beauty birthday party 6 months before her birthday. After doing a good amount of homework online, searching many party sites and DIY boards, I was able to create a big pallet of ideas and saved it all in a power point presentation (lol yes, I went that far).

The bounce house castle was a huge hit for 4 year olds and also absorbed much of their energy :)

I spent a couple months searching Amazon for many of the party favors and created some of my own.

All decorations were DIY. From spray painted floral vases and frames, to table cloth back drops and banners.

My favorite part was the dessert table!!! I spent 3-4 days about 3 hours each day making it all. The sugar cookies were the best in my opinion, but the kids LOVED the fairy pretzel wands.

• Best Moment

  Bounce house castle

• Funniest Moment

  Pinata: Instead of the 4 year old children swinging a baseball bat, I wanted each mom to take a swing. First mom up to bat knocked it "out of the ball park". It lasted 30 seconds, lol

• Most Touching Moment

  After everyone sang happy birthday and Ariella was making her wish, she wished out loud "I wish that all my friends come to my party and have fun"

• Desserts

  Two layer cake. Bottom layer : Triple chocolate w/ vanilla buttercream & fondant. Top layer: Vanilla cake w/ vanilla buttercream & fondant.

• Party Favors

  Princesses: Scepters, tiaras, stick on earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, tattoos, stickers, silly straw. Princes: DIY Maleficent shields, nerf swords, knight stickers, silly straw

• Activities / Games

  Bounce house princess castle, outdoor sidewalk chalk, pinata

• Budget

  Invites $5, Bounce House $125/weekend, Food & Drinks $50, Party Favors right under $50, Decorations (gold metallic fringe curtain, plastic tablecloths, gold spray paint, frames, vases, flowers, gold wrapping paper, etc) $50

• What People Ate

  Sugar cookies, chocolate "eggs", oreo truffle balls, ring pops, chocolate dipped pretzels, peanut butter cookies with chocolate hearts, strawberries, mini vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing, taffy

• What People Drank

  Caprisuns, water, cheerwine, cola, sprite

• Overall Party Satisfaction Rating

  A+. Everything I had in my head for what I expected to make and see as a finished product, actually happened. The Birthday princess, party guest and moms enjoyed themselves and loved the effort that went behind it all.

• Advice

  I began planning and getting items 2 months in advanced. This did a couple things. 1) Allow me to clearly think things out and not run around in a panic. 2) Allow time to do a lot of DIY ideas. 3) Buy things spread out so it didn't hit the pocket book all at once.