My firstborn is a princess. She loves reading about them, talking about them, pretending to be one-- you name it. I think we currently have more pink items in our house than I had previously seen in my entire life. This does not necessarily please me.
I know girls dressed up as princesses when I was a kid. I know many of the Disney princess movies came out when I was a kid. But I'm offended by the marketing machine. Because of all the toys and books-- some of them aimed at infants-- little girls now know all the Disney princesses before they've ever even had a chance to see the movies. I find their appearance hyper-sexualized, and many of the messages are counter to those we teach our girls. Appearance and size are overvalued, strength of character and independence (except in the most recent of characters), hardly seem to matter at all.
For these reasons, we've tried to limit the princesses-- particularly the Disney princesses. We try to find a balance between what she loves and what we are trying to teach her. We have been only modestly successful at this.
I know girls dressed up as princesses when I was a kid. I know many of the Disney princess movies came out when I was a kid. But I'm offended by the marketing machine. Because of all the toys and books-- some of them aimed at infants-- little girls now know all the Disney princesses before they've ever even had a chance to see the movies. I find their appearance hyper-sexualized, and many of the messages are counter to those we teach our girls. Appearance and size are overvalued, strength of character and independence (except in the most recent of characters), hardly seem to matter at all.
For these reasons, we've tried to limit the princesses-- particularly the Disney princesses. We try to find a balance between what she loves and what we are trying to teach her. We have been only modestly successful at this.
This was the first year we decided to host a birthday party at home, as opposed to a place with a built-in activity, like a gym or bowling alley. Mirabella wanted a "princess party." We decided to make it a Dress-Up Tea Party. We talked about princesses and how, while dressing up as a princess is fun, real princesses (I use Kate Middleton as an example) don't walk around in fancy dresses all the time.They have a responsibility to help others.
So we decided to collect baby care items for a local non profit and asked our guests not to bring gifts. Mirabella was surprisingly excited about choosing baby clothing for our donation and about our overflowing basket at the end of the party.
So we decided to collect baby care items for a local non profit and asked our guests not to bring gifts. Mirabella was surprisingly excited about choosing baby clothing for our donation and about our overflowing basket at the end of the party.
My visiting mother-in-law helped me make tiaras and wands out of felt for the girls to personalize, based on these Pinterest finds and made from dollar store headbands.
The girls loved adding sticker jewels to their tiaras and wands and coloring with glittery crayons
We also talked with Mirabella about what makes her friends unique, and Daniel suggested, "They're sort of like superheroes, huh?"
"Yes! Let's make it a Princess Superhero party!" Mirabella cried.
The girls loved adding sticker jewels to their tiaras and wands and coloring with glittery crayons
We also talked with Mirabella about what makes her friends unique, and Daniel suggested, "They're sort of like superheroes, huh?"
"Yes! Let's make it a Princess Superhero party!" Mirabella cried.
I found this great tutorial and used it as a guide to recycle large t-shirts into superhero capes. At the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby, Mirabella poured over iron-on transfers for "super powers" to suit her friends: a guitar for the always-performing daughter of a musician, a cupcake for a particularly sweet friend, a ladybug for a nature lover, and a flamingo for a bird lover.
The girls wore their capes and tiaras to the tea party, where they were served strawberry lemonade, a variety of tea sandwiches (homemade apple butter and cream cheese, roasted red pepper pesto and mozzarella), fruit salad and double chocolate zucchini-carrot muffins that they gobbled without knowing they were healthy. For dessert they enjoyed strawberry mini cakes (based on this fantastic from-scratch recipe) with cream cheese frosting (complete with our first attempt at homemade natural food coloring).
Daniel set up a castle tent in our playroom, where we scattered unconventional princess stories like The Paper Bag Princess, Princess Smartypants, Anook the Snow Princess, The Princess Knight, and Grace for President. We also set out dress-up clothes and accessories and played music for a dance party.
Being unaccustomed to being in charge of entertainment for a party, we weren't sure how it would go. But after an initial few moments of just looking around at each other and asking several questions like, "Mirabella's Mom, what do we do now?" our little guests seemed to settle in and enjoy playing freely.
So the homemade, at-home princess party was quite an undertaking. Maybe we over thought the character aspects of princesses. Maybe the princess' mama is a bit of a feminist, even when it comes to child's play. But all things considered, based on feedback from our little princess, I think it was a success!
Being unaccustomed to being in charge of entertainment for a party, we weren't sure how it would go. But after an initial few moments of just looking around at each other and asking several questions like, "Mirabella's Mom, what do we do now?" our little guests seemed to settle in and enjoy playing freely.
So the homemade, at-home princess party was quite an undertaking. Maybe we over thought the character aspects of princesses. Maybe the princess' mama is a bit of a feminist, even when it comes to child's play. But all things considered, based on feedback from our little princess, I think it was a success!
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