The Ultimate Cinderella Party

My sweet girl turned five this past August. How did that happen? I honestly cannot believe how incredibly fast these past 5 years have flown by.This birthday of Ashley’s was especially emotional for me. This was the first full year that Ash wasn’t an only child and she really amazes me with how great of a big sister she is. She is so gentle and loving with her brothers and is always willing to help me out. I thank God for her every single day and I feel like the luckiest woman in the world that He chose me to be her mommy.

When we went to Disney World in April and we had a really fun experience with Cinderella. Adam and Collin were eight months old when we went and understandably there wasn’t a whole lot they were able to participate in. One night we went to dinner at Cinderella Castle. Before your reservation you are escorted into a beautiful room to meet, chat with and take a picture with none other than Cinderella herself. Earlier in the day Ashley had gone to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and was dressed up like Cinderella so she was beyond excited to meet her. When we walked in, it was picture perfect. Cinderella gave Ashley the biggest hug and Ashley was just in awe of her. Bill and I were each holding one of the boys as we watched Ashley have an adorable conversation with the princess and all of a sudden Cinderella turned to us and excitedly said “are they twins!?” I told her yes and she rushed over to them! Collin smiled ear to ear and reached out to her. Now, normally the characters aren’t really supposed to hold babies but Cinderella absolutely insisted. She exclaimed “give me those boys!” I said to her “are you sure?!” and she replied ‘Yes of course! Give them to me!” I couldn’t believe it. I was unable to stop the tears as Cinderella sat down, held each baby on her lap and Ashley to her side. The boys just loved her and she was incredible with them. It was such an amazing experience and a memory I will treasure forever. The next night we had dinner at a restaurant called 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian Hotel. It was called “Cinderella’s Happily Ever After Dinner” and while you’re dining Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Evil Step-Mother and the Ugly Stepsisters visit at your table for pictures and autographs! So we sat down to eat and beautiful music started playing. Cinderella and her Prince waltzed into the room and started visiting tables. Cinderella spotted us and I realized it was the SAME Cinderella from the night before! She rushed over to us and squealed “My boys Adam and Collin! And my princess Ashley!” I could not believe it. She remembered the boys and they certainly remembered her. Ashley was speechless. I felt so honored that someone who sees thousands of kids a day remembered us. It was true Disney magic and these interactions literally made our entire trip.

Needless to say, since then Ashley has been enamored with Cinderella so I wasn’t at all surprised when she told me she want to have a Cinderella birthday party. I was so excited because I had already anticipated that is what she would want and my wheels had been turning thinking of invitations, centerpieces, games and desserts! Everything turned out beautifully and it certainly was a party fit for a princess!

I loved everything about this invitation. I loved the glitter and the gold scrolling around the party details. It felt very regal to me and that was exactly the look I was going for. We used the picture of her dressed up as Cinderella from Disney!

For the centerpieces I couldn’t find a picture of exactly what I wanted so I improvised. I printed out pictures of Ashley in her Cinderella dress from Disney, and a picture of Cinderella herself (the same one that was on the invitation). I printed out a big 5 in the font I wanted on card stock and used that as a stencil. I bought some scrapbook paper in a package that came in different shades of blue and I traced and cut out the 5 on some light blue paper. I then cut out a frame in a darker blue and glued the 5 to it. To finish I outlined the 5 in blue glitter and hot glued everything onto very small wooden dowels. I stuck some floral foam into fancy small buckets I got from Party City for .99 and stuck the dowels into it. I completed the look with some shredded light blue crinkle paper. I adore how they turned out!

Our friends actually own a bounce house so we like to borrow that for Ashley’s parties. The kids LOVE it and they burn off so much energy so it’s an excellent addition to the party.

I love this picture of Ashley, mid jump!

As a surprise for Ash, we hired Cinderella to come to her party! This woman is so great and we have had her before for Ashley’s 3rd “Rapunzel”birthday. She is so sweet, does a parade with the kids, reads a story, does face painting and sticks around to sing to the birthday girl. Ashley was beside herself when Cinderella appeared in the yard. My heart practically burst wide open when Ash ran to her and gave her the biggest hug. Bill even got a little chocked up!

After Cinderella greeted everyone, it was time to get down to business! Cinderella led everyone in a princess parade!

Ashley had such a great time with her.

My beautiful baby with her face painted.

After they sang, danced,heard a story and had some face painting, it was time for dessert! I envisioned a beautiful blue and pink dessert table set with the most princess-y desserts I could think of. I printed out a beautiful personalized Cinderella banner from an Etsy shop and I think it added the perfect touch.

I added some Cinderella toys we had to the table for a little extra theming. For dessert we had:

Fairy Godmother’s wands

The wands were pretzel sticks dipped into light blue candy melts with white sprinkles. These are SO easy to make and always such a huge hit. We never have any left. The great thing about them is they can be made a few days in advance which is huge for me. Anything I can get done ahead of time is a big help. I make them and store them in an airtight container in the fridge. The candy melts are really easy to work with and dry quickly. I love these and try to incorporate them in every dessert table I do!

Next we had pumpkin cake pops!

These were also so easy. I made the cake pops and dipped them into orange candy melts and used some sparkly green gel icing for the leaf and stem. These can also be made in advance!

Rice Krispie treats are an absolute favorite among our guests and I couldn’t think of a cute way to tie them into our theme. All of a sudden it popped into my head! Glass slippers!

I used a shoe cookie cutter and pressed them into the pan of Rice Krispies and voila! I added some blue sparkle gel icing around the edge to define the shape. They were cute and tasted delicious. These flew off the tray almost as fast as I put them out.

I like to have symmetry on the table so I knew I needed one more dessert. I really couldn’t find anything I loved so I began wracking my brain. I then found a blog on that made Cinderella Princess popcorn and I KNEW that’s what I wanted to do. I made the popcorn according to the directions on the package then stirred in some blue candy melts, sprinkles and mini marshmallows! Everyone LOVED it. My brother-in-law kept coming up for more! I was thrilled.

I poured it into a blue bowl I purchased from Party City and set it on the table. I think it really completed the desserts and I loved how we had a variety of things to choose from.

Last but certainly not least was the cake!

My good friend Dani has made cakes for every special occasion I’ve ever had. I started working with her for Ashley’s first birthday party and will continue to work with her as long as she is baking! Her cakes are not only SO beautiful, but SOOOO delicious. I’ve seen a ton of cakes where they look gorgeous but aren’t very tasty. Her’s are both and I love the work she does. I have a vision and I usually send her some crazy sketch I make and she 100% delivers. I can’t say enough great things about her! I just love the bows and ribbons on this cake. It was exactly what I wanted and I love how it turned out.

We sang and my sweet girl blew out her candles. I CANNOT believe she is 5!

After the cake and dessert we had one more activity for the kids- a pull-string piñata!

Ashley was so excited about this and was seriously waiting all day for it. I was happy no one was waving around a huge dangerous stick to break it, but still got the whole piñata experience. The kids had a great time and that made all of the hard work beyond worth it!