Princess Pajama Parties

  Growing up I was the kid who was never allowed to sleep over at a friend's house.  Slumber parties were no exception, and I couldn't understand why my Mom didn't let me stay the night.  It was completely unfair! 
Of course now that I'm a Mom I can understand where she was coming from... not that I enforce a complete ban on sleepovers, but I feel the most comfortable when I know my kids are safe at home in their beds.  Imagine my excitement then when a friend of mine started hosting Pajama Parties.  They have all the fun of a sleepover, except when the fun is over you go home and sleep in your own bed.

The Pajama Party: 
Plan you party on a night the kids can stay up late, but be considerate of bedtimes for various ages.  If they are under 8-years-old the party should be wrapping up before 10pm. 
In your invite encourage all of the attendees to come dressed in their favorite pajamas and bring their favorite pillow and blanket.

Activity Ideas: 

DECORATE A PILLOW - Make a small pillow in the shape of a crown for each girl.  Pillows are easy to make, but you may want to make them in advance unless you have an extra sewing machine and extra help.    Pick up plastic gems, ribbon, beads and charms from your local craft store.  Let the girls tie the ribbon into bows or hang charms with it.  Have an adult attach the girls designs of ribbon, gems and beads to the pillows.  The girls can take the decorative pillows home to accessories their own room.

KID SIZE PILLOW FIGHTS - A pillow fight, where no one gets injured, can be so much fun.  For the injury free pillow fight make your own miniature pillows.  The ones I make are the size of a bean bag (about 4x6 inches) and are filled with soft polyester pillow stuffing.  You will probably want at least 2 pillows per child.  Take the children to a safe running area free of sharp corners and let the pillow fight begin.  The children will throw the pillows across the room at each other and try to dodge incoming pillows.  The pillows have to leave your hand before they hit someone, and we have a no throwing at the face rule.  The pillows are so small and soft that they have little speed and do not hurt on impact.  This is a Parents Can Participate activity.  In fact, the kids love targeting the adults.

SOCK PUPPETS - Buy packages of long tube socks, swatches of felt fabric in various colors, craft eyes, yarn and other craft supplies.  You will also need a hot glue gun and glue sticks.  Place the children in groups and let them plan a puppet show to present to everyone.  Then using the socks and provided supplies they can create their own puppets to use in the show.  An adult will need to be in charge of the glue gun.  Do cake and presents while the puppets dry and then have all of the girls sit on their blankets and pillows to watch the groups present their shows.  You can provide popcorn and treats to make it theater like.

QUIET TIME - After the fun activities, the food and the gifts gather everyone together on the floor with their pillows and blankets for quiet time.  We recommend the following stories or movies:

Movie:  Sleeping Beauty (This one may scare little princesses.)

Stories:  The Princess and the Pea, Sleeping Beauty or Puppet Shows
          

Fantasy Photos

Do you have posters or pictures of your daughters favorite princess or fairy on the wall?  Why not make her the star of the wall and still keep in the princess or fairy theme?

There are different options out there for fantasy photos.  I recently saw a studio where you could pay for a shoot on an elaborate set with your daughter dressed up in a $1000 costume from France.  The costumes were dreamy and the pictures were amazing but the cost was quite high.

Another Mom told me that her photographer had a smaller scale fairyland studio.  They brought their own costumes and got to be photographed as they played with the magical toadstools.  This would be a fun photo session, and while this option was a more economical than the first, the upkeep of the permanent fantasy props meant that the price was more than normal.

If you like the idea and are looking for a lower cost option we recommend a photographer who can take the picture on their background and photoshop your daughter into her magical world like the ones pictured.  If you find a good photographer they can make it nearly impossible to tell the difference, and you get all kinds of options at an affordable price.


A huge thanks to Livingston Photography who sent us these photos they took with one of our dresses.  If you love them and want to find out how to get yours you can find them at alivingstonphoto.com.

Easy Tutu Craft

Tutus are such a multipurpose dress-up because they can be used for a princess costume, a fairy costume or a ballerina costume.  This tutu is fast and easy to make, and it does not require a sewing machine.

You will need:
5 yards of tulle (I used 2.5 yards each of pink and green.)
1 yard 1- 1 1/2 inch wide ribbon
5 yards of 1/4 inch ribbon (optional)

 Take your tulle and lay it out with the folded edge nearest you.  Roll from the folded edge to the opposite edge of the fabric.  Then take the roll and cut every 2-3 inches to make 2-3 inch strips.  For a longer tutu leave the strips at that length.  For the length pictured cut each of the strips on the fold.  Take your 1-1 1/2 inch ribbon and measure it around the waist of the child you are making the tutu for.  Mark the ribbon on each side where they meet on the child's waist and then add enough on either side to tie a bow and cut the ribbon.

You are going to tie the pieces of tulle around the ribbon.  To do this, take a folded piece of tulle (if you cut the tulle then fold the cut piece), just below the folded edge and place it next to the ribbon.  Wrap the rest of the strip around the ribbon and then pull the cut ends through the center of the folded end and pull tight around the ribbon.  Make sure that you are between the 2 marks that you made leaving the rest of the ribbon free to tie.

Alternate your tulle colors as you are tying the strips.  For the tutu pictured I switched colors every 4 strips.

  If you chose to add the 1/4 inch ribbon you will need to cut the ribbon at twice the length of the tutu and fold the ribbon.  Then tie it to the waist ribbon just as you did the tulle strips.  I tied the ribbon every eight strips, so after 4 of each color.


Continue tying until all of the space between the 2 marks is full.  Tie a knot in the waist ribbon at each mark so that the knotted tulle strips do not slip out of place.  Your tutu is finished!  Just tie it in a bow around your child's waist.

Conical Princess Hat Craft

Are you looking for a fun project to do with your princess or a party craft idea?  This project is does not require a sewing machine and is a fun party craft and dress up for your princesses.

You will need:
1 large piece of Card Stock
1/2 yard fabric
3-4 yards of ribbon
and a Glue gun.

 Choose cardstock that is at least 24 inches tall.  Roll the cardstock into a cone shape that fits comfortably on the girls head.  The shape at the bottom will not be even yet.


Take a pencil and mark the spot on the had where the corner will be attached to the wall of the hat.  Then take the pencil and draw an even cutting line from that spot all the way around the bottom of the hat.  Unroll the cardstock and cut around the line.

Lay the cardstock on the fabric of your choice, and cut the fabric about 3/4 inch bigger than the paper all the way around.



Fold the 3/4 inch fabric over the cardstock and glue into place with a hot glue gun.  Pull the fabric tight so that you don't have any wrinkles on the front of your hat.

Take your ribbon and cut it 1 1/2 inches longer than the length you want your streamers to be.  You can also cut long, thin strips of fabric to tie into the streamers as well.  Put all of the ribbon and fabric pieces together and tie a large knot at one end. 

Then roll the hat into the conical shape with the streamers tucked into the small end.  Glue the edge of the hat securely into place.  Take another piece of ribbon and glue it over the seam. Take 2 20 inch pieces of ribbon and tie a knot on one end.  Poke a hole in each side of the hat about 1/2 to 1 inch above the bottom edge and string a ribbon through each side that can tie under the chin.

Cute Ice Cubes

These reusable ice cubes are party makers.  All of the little princesses will love them at your princess party, and then impress all of your girlfriends by adding them to their drinks at the next grown up girl party you host.  These cute cubes would add flair to a bridal shower or just be a fun topic of conversation at a house or card party.  The cubes come in a pack of 6 and are available at amazon.com or at http://www.kitchenkapers.com/tipsy-toes-high-heel-ice-cubes.html. 

Throne Chase Game

You will need Thrones (chairs), for all but 2 of your princesses, set in a circle with space between each to run.  Choose 2 princesses to start the chase and the other princesses all sit on their thrones.  One of the two standing princesses will be chased by the other standing princess.  The princess who is running away is trying to get a throne before she is tagged. 
To get a throne she will run to and stand by or hold on to one of the thrones, and then she is safe.  The princess who was sitting on that throne has to quickly climb off and run from the chasing princess.  She will try to find another throne before being tagged, and so on. 
The chaser is trying to tag the princesses before they can get to a throne.  If she succeeds and tags a princess, then roles reverse and she is chased while she tries to find a throne before being tagged.
This game works best outside with 7+ players.
We recommend a limit on how long each princess can be it, so that no feelings are hurt.

Duck Duck Goose - The Princess Version

Try this spin on Duck, Duck, Goose for your little princess guests.  There are a couple of different ways to do this. 
Simple Version:  The child who is it first goes around the circle calling Princess, Princess, Princess, Witch.  She then runs from the witch.
Advanced Version: The child who is it goes around calling the name(s) of one or more of her favorite Disney princesses.  When she is ready to be chased she calls the name of a villain.  If she is calling only one princess name chose the villain that matches the princess.  Otherwise choose a villain from her favorite princess story.