A Princess Birthday Party

If you think that one day, when you are a parent, your little girl won't be into all that ridiculous princess paraphernalia when she grows up because you are going to parent her differently than all the other 

parents out there right now...then you are dead wrong.

We have learned over these last 4 years that you can control what colour is in their room, what they wear, what kind of toys they will have and things they will do, only for a short amount of time. 

Then they make friends and they will quickly like mostly the same things that their friends do. And there is basically nothing you could do about it unless you want them to grow up under a rock. 

And then you resign yourself to the fact that you have very little control over anything in the universe at all and you feel really small...

Okay not quite. 

But your kid is going to be who they are, fluffy skirts, bracelets, huge headbands and all. That is our Wren at age 4. And you know what? We are getting used to it, haha. 

Last weekend we had a family birthday party (which Wren thought was mostly for her, which is understandable), and this weekend we had a Princess Party just for her and 5 of her closest friends. Three of them from preschool, one is her neighbour and one is a family friend. Their parents dropped them off for 2 hours of party time at our house. And they did fantastic! They all played together really nicely and made hilarious 4 year old comments throughout the party.

 All of the girls had hilarious comments throughout the party. At one point while they were eating snacks and cupcakes, they all started to share what their food tasted like. They would say, "Mine tastes like butterflies!" or "Mine tastes like paper!" and then without fail one shouted "Mine tastes like POOP!" and they all died laughing. 

Ellie joined the girls after her nap, and loved every minute of it...

We sang Happy Birthday to Wren...

..who had the sweetest smile of happiness on her face because of it. She felt really special at that moment! 

We opened presents which all of the girls were quickly excited about. It didn't take long until they were crowded around Wren and Kenton to see what was coming next. 

And Wren had hugs for all of her friends to say 'thank you'.

In the spirit of keeping things extremely simple for the party, we cut string and had them string Fruit Loops onto them to make necklaces. 

Anika, on the right, had the brilliant idea of taping one end to the table so they didn't fall off. 4 year olds have genius ideas!

They came dressed up as princesses. Unfortunately Wren changed within 2 minutes of the girls arriving, I'm guessing because she thought her princess dress was much bigger than what they were showing up in. She eventually settled on just being Minnie Mouse.

Then they just played, and it turned into a big game of "Doctor".

While all of this was going on, Ellie walked around with a little bowl of Fruit Loops, laughing and watching the girls play...

...and then we looked over and she was doing stunts on the couch such as this...so flexible! 

The party fun factor verdict? We would definitely go this route again for a party for Wren in the future. 6 girls was a great number this year to mange between the two of us (plus Ellie!) and we kept it super simple with not a lot of fuss...okay the cupcakes were a bit of work but hey. In the past I would always feel anxious and unsure if I did it "right" or whatever. Our mission was to keep it easy because let's face it. They are 4! 

At one point Kenton and I looked at each other and said "It's so funny, but no one else is here to judge us on how good or bad this party is, ha!" Not that you would...but there was no pressure and we just let it happen as it did, and you know what? 

They all had a blast. And we had lots of laughs with the funny things they said and did and go to enjoy the party too :)

But now I'm going to kick back on the couch and do nothing the rest of the night. Phewf!