A Frozen Princess Party at Pretend City!

Disclosure: Pretend City sponsored this party for Isabella. All opinions are my own.

I told you a few weeks ago that I was planning a birthday party for Isabella

at Pretend City and I wanted to share about our awesome experience!

It was honestly the easiest birthday party that I have ever thrown.

I was able to arrive at Pretend City a half hour before the party start time to get the room

setup and ready for the party guests to arrive.

However, there wasn't much for me to set up! The tables all had tablecloths on them,

the white board was decorated with a birthday message, and there were cute

beach themed decorations everywhere.

I put out Frozen coloring pages for the girls to color as they arrived,

as well as crayons for them to use.

Isabella insisted that the party was an Elsa Frozen party.

I was worried because Pretend City offers two packages - farm and beach.

I chose beach because that seemed more up Isabella's alley and it fit perfectly,

since Olaf dreams of the beach and summer.

Our party host was awesome and drew us a fabulous Olaf on the white board

and the Pretend City staff put music from Frozen on for the girls to sing along with.

The girls colored their pages as we waited for all the guests to arrive.

And they each made an Elsa crown with their mom to wear and celebrate in.

As the girls finished with their coloring pages, they moved to the craft table

and started making a summer themed craft with the party host.

It was so nice to have someone else lead the activities so that I could take pictures

and enjoy what was going on during the party.

When I've thrown parties on my own I have to be the game leader, the party host,

the food server, the candle lighter and picture taker.

It's quite overwhelming. This was laid back and fantastic!

The party room has an area for food, complete with a fridge and plenty

of counter space for your spread.

I love that you can bring your own food into Party City for birthdays.

So many places that host birthday parties make you use their vendors.

Since we had a Frozen beach theme, we went with Isabella's favorites.

She wanted cheese pizza, powdered donuts and marshmallows (snowman inspired),

carrots (Olaf's nose), strawberries, chips, and fun melted snow water bottles.

After the girls had their fill of the food, it was time for CAKE!!!!!!

Let me tell you that the cake was AMAZING.

It looked amazing and it tasted amazing. My husband is still talking about it.

Isabella chose white cake with strawberry mousse filling.

Um, yum!!!!!

And then the cake is decorated like Pretend City, complete with a map of the city!

I was truly amazed at what this bakery could do with sugar, frosting and cake!

The cake is an additional charge, 

but it is definitely wedding cake amazing in taste and appearance and amazingness.

Isabella loved the cake and it made for a gorgeous photo op with the candles all lit up.

And I was able to capture it because I didn't have to light the candles,

our party host got everything all set up for us - woohoo!!

We ended the party by finishing up giant pieces of cake - seriously, the cake could

probably feed 50+ guests, maybe more!

Then, we took a fun Princess Elsa group picture with all the cute party girls.

Isabella was thrilled with the day and had so much fun with her friends.

She was amazed by the cake and that her party host drew her a fantastic Olaf.

After our time in the party room had come to an end, 

the party host had the girls line up at the door, told them the Pretend City rules,

and gave them their goodie bags, and sent them out into the Museum

to enjoy as much time as they wanted with their adult.

We want to give Pretend City a HUMUNGOUS thank you for such a wonderful party.

It was stress free and enjoyable for all of the party guests.

The girls loved being able to play in the museum after the party room,

and most of them headed to the stage to sing and dance and be girly girls.

They were sad when they had to leave, but I told them the cool thing is that

every guest gets a ticket to return to Pretend City on another day!

You can find out more information about planning your own 

Pretend City Birthday Party on their website and be sure to check out

the 10% discount given to Pretend City Members!

Princess Baking Party

My little Isabella turned four at the end of 2012,

but because her birthday is at such an awkward time of year

for connecting with friends due to the Christmas holiday,

we've always held her friend birthday party sometime in January.

This year I chose the theme "Princess Baking Party".

Initially it was supposed to be one of my low key birthday playdates.

I was just going to have a few of her friends over, decorate some cookies,

and color some princess pictures.

Then I remembered the princess aprons that Vessel Handmade made for her

daughter's painting party.

And then once I got the idea in my head - I couldn't stop thinking about making them.

And so it began . . . .

I made 11 aprons in all (Tiana isn't pictured) - and it was so fun

to see them come together and to have Isabella give input and suggestions.

My super awesome inlaws made Isabella a fantastic dress up wardrobe

for her birthday, so I had to use it as the centerpiece of the party decor.

My mother-in-law hand painted symbols representing

some of Isabella's favorite princesses on the sides.

The aprons really were a labor of love and it was slightly

painful to watch them walk out the door with each of the party guests

at the end of the party.

But the girls were so excited to get them, that it made it all worth it.

I did some of the decor the weekend before the party,

and then JT stayed home that day because he wasn't feeling well,

so he helped me put the finishing touches up the day of the party.

I still have the puff balls up because they go so well with the

Valentine decor we currently have going on right now.

The food was easy peasy!

Since I wanted a bakeshop theme I definitely had to go with a donut cake.

My rad cousin of Lady Cupcake's Corner made adorable

princess faces toppers out of fondant.

She has MAD skills.

They were so cute and the girls went crazy for them.

I also served little girl friendly foods like Cuties, grapes, and string cheese.

The biggest hit was the the pink lemonade.

I opened the party with the girls coloring pictures of princesses.

I got them all from the Disney.com website.

This way I had an activity while we waited for everyone to arrive.

We also had Sophia the First showing to keep those quick colorers engaged.

Next, I read them the story Fanny's Dream.

Have you read it? You must!

It goes to show that every little girl can find her prince

and be treated like a princess.

After that we decorate the Baker's hats I got from Smart & Final

with a simple cupcake liner flower.

I had the girls pick the liners they wanted and then my trusty assistant

and I stapled them onto their hats.

Then it was on to cookie decorating!!!!
I got the trays from the Dollar Store.
I wanted to give them each an individual work space and try to
keep the mess somewhat contained.
I filled clear plastic cups with candies and got great sprinkles from Walmart.

Each girl got a plastic knife and a dollop of frosting and was told to go at it!
I made enough cookies for everyone to do four - most did one :)

It was such a great day and I hope Isabella remembers the fun we had.
When I was about her age my mom made all of my friends and I aprons
and we decorated cookies and I still remember how special it was.
If not, I can always remind her with this blog post.

Party Details:

Aprons -  Me!

Invitations - Designed by Me! using clipart by Zenware Designs

Princess Cupcake Toppers - Lady Cupcake's Corner

Baker's hats- Smart & Final

Party decor - Made by Me! 

(Ruffled Streamer from MADE and Tissue Pom Poms from Our Daily Obsession)

Candy & Sprinkles- Buy 'N Bulk and Walmart