Whose party is it anyway?

Tonight’s post is as a direct result of spending the last few days planning for my daughter’s first ‘proper’ party. She is having a Disney extravaganza complete with fancy dress, ‘Frozen’ themed cake, princesses and Mickey Mouse everywhere ; and as always it is beginning to spiral into madness.

When my son had his first extravaganza (A pirate party complete with treasure hunt, gold coins, ‘real’ pirates – myself and hubby- bouncy castle and a pirate ship cake) the cost, with the exception of cake and castle, was relatively low. The reason for this was simply because a) you can pick up pirate paraphernalia anywhere – including pound land; b) fancy dress consists of a white shirt, baggy trousers and an eye patch and c) his birthday is before Christmas so there was an abundance of chocolate coins in every shop, which gave me my prizes and filled the party bags. It was the same deal when he had his ‘cowboy’ party a few years ago – again gold coins work with cowboys !!! With Disney everything is just that little more expensive!

I know I don’t need to do this , and to be honest my daughter just wants to wear her handmade (not by me, but by a lovely friend of mine) ‘Elsa’ dress and eat cake. But I want to. I love spoiling my kids. Plus I’m 35, it’s not often that I get to play party games and stuff my face with cake, so using my children as an excuse to do this seems to me to be one of the many perks of parenthood ( that, and being able to go to the cinema to watch kids films / wander round Disney stores / play with Lego / visit theme parks etc etc ).

I love throwing parties , and even though he complains , I know my husband secretly enjoys them too. We are used to having rowdy boys crashing around – last year we had 10 boys rampaging though the house after spending a mad hour playing ‘Lazer Tag’. My son is the first of 9 boys in our family so my husband and I are just used to boys, and they are easy to plan for. Boys arrive at an event, zone in on the nearest ball / toy gun/ bouncy thing or open space and off they go, stopping only to shovel in food, and maybe shout ‘happy birthday’ before crashing off again. Sure when my son’s friends leave my cupboards and fridge are empty and I feel like I need to gut my house and just start again, but I know they’ve had fun.

But even though boys are fun I am, at heart, a girlie girl. Since having my daughter I’ve been desperate for the moment when she is old enough to allow me to relive my youth. That time has come, and I just can’t get enough of the singing, dancing, make-believe, pink, princesses, romance and just all the yummy girlie things I’ve missed since growing up and becoming a ‘woman’!

So this is the first girlie party we’ve thrown and I’m starting to worry that I’ve forgotten who the party is for. I’ve got carried away, Disney has always been my favourite, and the fact my daughter is in love with them too is just awesome. But I think I’ve taken it too far.

I’ve trawled the internet, craft shops, Disney stores and anywhere I can get hold of Disney stuff to fill party bags and entertain all her little friends for an hour and half. I’m quite proud of myself. The party bags have lots of little treats in them – I’ve picked up ‘Mickey’ themed lolly pops, Minnie/Mickey ears, stickers and bubbles from the internet. I’ve come up with some fun games (including Snow White’s bobbing for red apples, and a craft table to ‘make your own princess crown’ ) and the obligatory bouncy castle – with some football outside for the older boys (my son and his ‘crew’). A friend has offered to bake some cupcakes for the party bags and I’ve bought the Disney style cake topper to keep the theme running, and of course I’ve organised her ‘Frozen’ cake.

The problem is that while doing this I’ve also got even more carried away! You see I had a little chat with my daughter about her party and ‘casually’ dropped into the conversation that maybe it might be fun if mummy dressed up too. She told me that I was ‘pretty like a princess’ and my heart melted. My husband and I dressed up for my son’s parties so I thought – why not?

So I’ve got myself a Snow White costume! And it’s so beautiful. I don’t wear dresses normally, and haven’t worn a dress really since my wedding day – so this princess dress is just so lovely and special and beautiful and….. See what I mean ?

Naturally my husband and son are amused and rolling their eyes, but for the moment I am planning on hosting my daughter’s first party dressed as Snow White. I’m trying to convince my husband that he and our son need to come as Sneezy and Doc but at present they are not entertaining my insanity.

I suppose it is one thing to wear an eye patch or cowboy hat, and a totally different one to greet people dressed as the most iconic Disney princess of all time. (Albeit a little older and weather worn version – but still – I’m a princess damn it !!)

This will also be the first time I’ve introduced myself to her friends’ parents, and I’m not sure what sort of impression this will make. Maybe they’ll think I’m crazy / eccentric / awesome / or just a little strange, or maybe they’ll be secretly jealous because they are not a princess !

But I’m having some doubts.

Whatever I decide to do in a few weeks, I know my daughter and her new friends will have a lovely time, and she will spend the entire party in her lovely ‘Elsa’ dress positively glowing in all the attention. She won’t even really remember the party bags or the cake, or any of the party games. What she will remember was that she got to be her heroine for the day with all her friends and family around her. That’s obviously the most important thing.

And if I don’t decide to wear my outfit, I have a very beautiful dress hanging in my wardrobe which I can fish out whenever I need to feel beautiful and ‘like a princess’.

Anyway there is always Halloween right ?

#parties #disney #kids #family #fun #snowwhite