It's Kinda The Biggest Day Of My Life

There are some people that just need to have a job to keep them from being ridiculous.  I am clearly one of those people. Although, I truly feel if I haven't hot-glued felt to something, it's not a proper party.

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When planning a child’s birthday party, it might be smart to ask that child what her favourite movie or TV show is right now.  Then you might think, hey, what is your favourite scene in the movie, because then you could maybe decorate or focus the activities of the party from that one scene.

I’m here to tell you that if you do things that way, you are making a lot more work for yourself.  Case in point: I asked my daughter what her favourite movie is.  I knew she’d say Tangled, but I asked her just in case.  Then I asked her what her favourite scene from the movie is. She said, “The end, with the floating lanterns when the lost princess finds her way home to her family.”

Fan-frickin-tastic. 

I knew I could get the invitations off Etsy.com. Vendors there make cute Tangled invitations (and Thank You notes) out of a digital file that they email you.  It's a fraction of the cost of ones from any store because you can take them to a photo lab and print as many as you need for pennies.  And, they look fantastic and took all of a few seconds to create.

But lanterns? Floating lanterns? Where would I even get those? And where would we even light them? And why the heck did I ask her what her favourite part is?

So, in the meantime, I set to work trying to find Tangled anything for party decorations.  Did you know, as of June 1^st , 2011, there is NOTHING you can buy in Canada with Disney’s Tangled themes on it, unless you mean roughly 5 toys (4 of which are Rapunzel dolls with slightly different dresses/hair)? No banners. No table cloths. No plates, cups, napkins. Rien.

Oh, but you can find all these things in America, Land Of Amazing Shopping. I know why everything on American TV looks so great. It's because you can go to any old store and find amazing decorations and pay next-to-nothing for them comparatively.  It's almost criminal.

So I filled up a shopping cart with a bunch of stuff, got through to the last page of the checkout process only to find out that no one ships to Canada. There must be some sort of Tangled no-fly-zone here, which didn’t help me in the least.

A friend of mine suggested having the stuff shipped to the ferry. I had no idea that ferries could receive shipments but I was eager to get my daughter’s birthday extravaganza started, so off I clicked.  Oh momma. What a dangerous thing it is to have things shipped to the ferry. It’s $5 a package (which if you score free shipping to the boat, is still cheaper than the $20 shipping to Canada) and you don’t even have to cross the border to get it. How frickin’ sweet is that?

Anyway, I got my stuff and set to work on the lantern issue. I looked up paper lanterns and for a brief moment I thought we could all light real lanterns and send them off into the air like the 'real' Rapunzel did. And then I remembered that was INSANE and ordered the hanging ones. They came out of Arizona, which was cool (I thought I'd be getting them direct from China, but I should've guessed that I'd find what I needed in AMERICA, LAND OF AMAZING SHOPPING.)

Once I’d ordered those, I headed to the local fabric store and got two shades of purple and one yellow of a discount broadcloth. I made my own pennant banners with the sun emblem on them (which, btw, is not as easy as folding fabric in two and cutting—it has 7 rays that curve, which makes it necessary to cut each sun out by hand. Unless you have a cricut machine or something else lovely and helpful like that.).

And don’t even start with how I attached it. It was Mod Podge and then I had to paint them yellow over top of the glued-down suns with acrylic paint because the glue showed through and looked awful.

I then started thinking about games. Pin the nose on Flynn Rider was a no-brainer, since the running gag from the film is that “They just can’t get [his] nose right,” on the various Wanted posters.  I realized that I’d have to draw him, laminate him and then draw some noses for the make-shift Wanted poster.  So I did, and it turned out pretty well, and I brought out a pack of sticky notes onto which I drew noses to eleviate the need for double sided tape during the game.  As the kids got their blindfold on, I drew their requested nose on the sticky note. It was kinda cute and fun, actually.

I also got the “life sized” cardboard cutout of Rapunzel. My intention was to have the kids all have their picture taken together with her, but I was too busy keeping kids happy and entertained to remember to do that. Oh well. I looks great in the playroom. 

As kids arrived, they were to draw their favourite food or animal on the coffee table we’d covered with Kraft paper.  I’d ask a kid’s name, s/he’d point to what s/he’d drawn and we’d all discuss how nice it was.  It got the shy kids feeling comfortable because most kids liked the same foods or animals (there were lots of bunnies, strawberries and giraffes drawn on the paper).

We played lots of games inside and out—What Time is It Mother Gothel/Mr. Wolf; Thug, Thug, Stabbington Brother (duck, duck, goose) and I even made these little medallions out of the ends of cans that I took off using my “no sharp edges” can opener.  I glued a picture of Pascal on one side and different coloured felt on the other and hid them in the playroom where the kids then had to find them.  The games were free, the Pascal thing cost all of $.83 in photo development at Walmart and about at much in felt and glue.  

Oh, and I took the actual cans, from the Pascal medallions activity, and covered them with felt to make Rapunzel’s tower/the cupcake tower which turned out really a lot cuter than I thought it might. How much fun is it to find props for a party in your recycling bin? A LOT!

We also made Fruit Loop bracelets or necklaces, which was a huge hit. I was actually shocked that all the kids wanted to string Fruit Loops on a bit of purple ribbon, although maybe I underestimated the power of little sugared 'o's?  Anyway, it was super cute and great for the fine motor skills they’re learning to use at this age.

What I learned with this hectic, hectic birthday party is that a)23 kids is just a few too many to invite if everyone comes, b) all those kids (and parents) can really heat up a house quickly, no matter how many fans you have going and how low your AC is set, and c) next party, Husband will be on “random kid” patrol so that when kids finish an activity early, or they don’t want to play one of the games or whatever, they won’t just walk out the front door and into traffic. Not that that happened, but afterwards I got a little worried that it could have.   

It was great that I had my older niece taking pictures of the activities of the day, and it was also great to have written out a list of possible games for us to play so that I could pick and choose based on kid participation. Reading a list instead of trying to remember on the spot worked wonderfully for me—because I no longer have any sort of short-term memory. I hear it has something to do with my having two kids.  At least I think I don’t. I can’t remember.

The favours were bottle cap necklaces with Tangled images on them (a local vendor made them up for me  https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_48617871883), a ring pop (princesses and thieves need bling) and a Rice Krispie treat that I’d cut out with cookie cutters and then iced (because Rice Krispie treats aren’t sugary enough to begin with) and then put on a skewer so they looked fun and decorative, too.  All in all, each ‘favour’ cost about $3.00 per kid, which is probably what you end up spending on random stuff from the Dollarstore when you have to make 20 grab bags.

The party happened.  It was glorious, Kiddo #1 thought it was magical.  In the week that followed the party, I was mildly disabled the next day (from fatigue) and delerious (from the Christmas-esque mess in the house). We got the house in working condition within three days.  Thank heaven I don't have a paying job, or it'd be months later and we'd still be getting rid of cupcake debris, I'm sure.

We've got most of the Thank You notes done and sent; it's important to me that my kids learn to thank people for their generosity. Plus it is a good reason to practice letter writing. As in, how to write letters of the alphabet, not full-fledged letters.

But you might be asking yourself, “Holy schnikes, how much did she spend on this party?” and to that I reply with another question: Do you have any idea how much it costs to take 20 kids bowling, or swimming or to the gymnastics place? I assure you, the entire party didn’t cost what THAT would cost, which is why I felt a little freer to decorate.

I figure after decorating, feeding, and organizing this party, it still came out cheaper to have it in my house.  Well, cheaper with money anyway.  It took a lot of my time to make the pennants, install the lanterns, make the Flynn poster, clean, make food for, and lead the activities.  Oh heck. When I write it that way, I surely was suckered. But I’m ok with that because I had so dang much fun making it happen. 

The lanterns and pennants are still up, mostly because they’re super cute and festive, and it’s summer so who gives a hoot?  In fact, it’s inspiring me to have another shindig this summer. Perhaps to celebrate the MBA designation on Husband’s business card now, or the completion of my Masters in Education.  Hmm. A Tangled Masters party?  Sounds fun.  Oh, and when I bought the paper lanterns I made sure to have one that actually does float shipped here. We’ll light it on her actual birthday (the party was a week early) as a special end to being 3.

What do you mean, “This was for a 4^th birthday??? What are you gonna do for 5?” That's a good question.  And now I have less than a year to plan it! 

Outta my way, I have to get some more glue sticks and felt!