"If the Shoe Fits..." Cinderella Birthday Party!

I know Blogland is all over Christmas right now, but I had to take a break to show you how Natalie's 5th birthday party went on Saturday, namely because of the cute castle!

T brought home a giant white mattress box and created a castle-front for the girls to walk through when they came up our sidewalk. I have to say that all the parents were good sports...every single one went through the castle "door," streamers and all!

T cut the cardboard for me and engineered some system to keep it from blowing away down the street in the December cold. I was in charge of hastily drawing on the "stones" and decorating the doorway and tower with jewels and balloons.

The Birthday Girl was impressed, as were her guests, who took great delight in fighting over who got to go through the doorway first.

I swear I hadn't been drinking when I drew the stones around the doorway...but it was around 11:30 pm the night before the party, and I was tired!

I used some of the decorations from Michaela Byrd's January Princess Party on a Budget. I've said before that I've realized I can't "keep up with the Joneses" when it comes to spending money on birthday parties. So I don't try. My goal is to create a fun and memorable day for my girls without spending money we don't have to impress other people.

My fabulous friend Tracy is a party queen, and was willing to let us borrow her beautiful Cinderella carriage to use as a centerpiece. I stuck one of the girls' tutus underneath, and we were good to go!

I made the cupcakes myself again this year. I was a little worried about the blue icing tasting right, but this crowd was easy to please. I topped the guests' cupcakes with "glass" slippers, and I used another tutu to dress up the cupcake stand, literally.

The girls played a rousing game of Freeze Dance, Pin Cinderella on the Castle, and Pass the Slipper--which sounded suspiciously like Hot Potato, but I received no complaints.

Then it was on to presents, where an Easy Bake Oven from Natalie's Aunt SuSu and Uncle Bud was the hit of the morning.

We finished cake and ice cream so early that I didn't have anything else planned! Lucky for me, we have about 56 dollhouses and the girls went to town in the Addition.

And you know what? I didn't even mind that the room looked like that because they played so nicely for 45 + minutes that you wouldn't have even known they were there. All 12 girls! And it pretty much looks like that all the time anyways, if we're being honest here.

I shop year round for goodie bag stuff. The girls colored their own goodie bags (white lunch sacks from the Target Dollar Spot with princesses outlined on the front). Each bag had a Cinderella chapstick, Cinderella pencil, princess stickers, candy, and a sheet of those stick-on Princess earrings. They also each won a little "pearl" bead bracelet for showing off their dancing skills during Freeze Dance.

My oldest girl is 5 today!

"Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through."

Happy Birthday, Natalie! I think you're smarter than me already, and you drive me nuts regularly with the sass, but I sure do love you lots! I hope all your dreams come true, baby duck!

Happy Monday to you, readers! I have a little Christmas crafty gift to share with you tomorrow.