The Princess Lunch and "Tea" Party

For Emma's birthday party this year, the girls and I decided to go all out and have a princess lunch and "tea" (since we don't drink tea we served punch) party with some of our closest friends. It was a hard decision, especially since most of the kids we play with who are Emma's age are boys, but we couldn't pass up this last opportunity (remember I only do birthday parties until they are three) to have a princess party. Had I been blogging for Madison's third birthday, you would have seen that we went with a slightly different theme for her all girl party. Instead of doing a princess party, we had a pageant party and had all of the girls attend in their evening gowns. They decorated sashes, participated in a talent competition, and all went home with tiaras and roses.



It was a darling party; however, it wasn't the classic princess party. With two girly girls, it just didn't seem right to have them grow up without a classic princess party. After Emma's cousin Isabella had a tea party for her birthday; however, I got hooked on the idea of also doing a tea party and lunch for Emma's big day. So, we merged the tea party theme with the princess theme and came up with "Emma's Princess Tea Party and Luncheon." I made these adorable princess invitations: (the tri-fold pattern is a tradition of mine to produce a more fancy birthday invitation)



and after hand delivering them, we waited with anticipation for the big day.

Since Emma's real birthday was the day before her party, we actually managed two full days of celebrating. On Emma's actual birthday, we started the day with the usual breakfast in bed routine:





(Yes, that is my bed. Emma still sneaks up to our bed during the night quite frequently.)



This year Emma requested cinnamon rolls, and she promptly picked hers up and began eating it the minute her candle was blown out. The other kids are usually too preoccupied with the presents to think about eating their breakfast, but not Emma. She was going to eat her breakfast before opening presents. After eating, she did indeed get right to opening her presents though--a doll bed and doll vanity from her grandparents, and to her delight--her very own Belle dress-up dress.



This is Emma's very first princess dress-up dress of her very own and she loved it! She did let Maddi try it on for a few minutes though. (This is the dress on the reversible side. And just in case anyone is wondering--yes this is one of the European Disney dresses I bought way back when I bought Maddi's Lucy Costume!)



After presents and the rest of our breakfast, we all got ready for the day and headed up to the great Mall of America. It was kind of a crazy trip, but we let Emma guide our shopping spree and then had a low key dinner at Emma's favorite place--McDonalds! (She loves chicken nuggets!) On the drive home, Emma snoozed away while the other kids chatted. This left her wide awake to witness my late-night cake making adventures. As I have said in past posts, I have actually come to kind of detest making birthday cakes. In fact, when we arrived home at almost 9:30, and I still had the whole cake ahead of me, I almost lost heart. As silly as it is to admit, I actually had to take a little time out and pray about the cake. I simply prayed to have the energy and enthusiasm to make something magical for my little princess, a princess steeped in third-child syndrome and desperately needing to feel as special as her big brother and sister. Gratefully, the prayer was answered almost immediately. And create a magical cake I did. (If I don't say so myself!) I went all out for my little love and did my best to create a cake that was every bit as beautiful as my own little "Beauty".



Not only did I mold fondant to make gloves and hand craft over ten red fondant roses, but I even bought gold dusting powder to paint onto the fondant after it was done to give her doll cake's dress that extra shimmer and shine. She and I were both pleased with the results, and the doll cake looked quite stunning next to my two dozen yellow and red Valentine's Roses--a special request of mine as I knew we would need some flowers for the party. With the table set and the cake complete, a tired mommy and Emma turned in for the night.

The next morning, we set about with day two of celebrating. The day began with a nice breakfast, and then pampering, pampering, pampering. Emma wanted red fingernails and toe nails, and lots of mommy's shimmery make-up and lip gloss. And Maddi, who had recently informed me that she was too big to play princess dress-ups, (this in the conversation where she was trying to convince me to let her where her Hermoine dress to the party) was suddenly not too big anymore. She wanted painted nails and make-up as well. After nails and make-up were complete, the great task of doing hair was at hand. Maddi wanted her hair mostly down, with only a small bun on top. Emma, on the other hand, wanted her hair just like Belle's. And how do you tell a three year old who once lost most of her hair and now believes that her hair is "almost to her bum" that this isn't going to work? Well, you don't. You simply make her hair as beautiful as possible and then lie. Her hair actually turned out very beautiful, though not an exact replica of Belle's. Most importantly, she seemed pleased with it--and pleasing this little one is no small feat!



With my two little princesses ready for the party, I sent Nick to get balloons and quickly worked to prepare the lunch food so it would be fresh for the party. Here is a picture of Emma practically floating away with her balloons once they arrived.



And here is a picture of our lovely lunch. Emma chose the lunch menu: peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches--cut with our circle press and doubled up with a princess poked into each pair, assorted cubed cheese, and fruit kabobs.



Just as we finished preparations, the guests began to arrive. Emma greeted them and seated them at the princess craft table. There the princesses all strung candy necklaces and decorated jewelry boxes for their royal jewels.



Afterward we played a little pass-the-present game. It was played much like hot potato except if the music stopped on you while you had the present, you opened it. It contained box after box of wrapped gifts. The very last box revealed tiaras for all of the princess guests.



Now that the girls were properly adorned, it was finally time for the tea party and lunch. We sat them all at the table and talked about etiquette and manners as I passed out food and served drinks.





The girls were just darling as they ate and visited.



And before long it was time to sing and serve Emma's lovely cake. You can tell from the look on Emma's face that she was pretty excited to have me light her candles.



She blew them out while we were all still singing...



and was quite tickled with herself, to say the least. (She is so darn expressive!)



Then, she pulled a true Hoskins family move and licked off the frosting from the bottom of the cake before allowing me to serve it up to her guests.



Following cake, she opened the rest of her presents, and then played with the girls until they had to go home.



The party was really wonderful, and everything any little girl could have hoped for in a classic princess party. Emma glowed the entire time. Happy Birthday little Beauty!!