Aurora Birthday Party

Kaitlyn's request for her party this year (5 years old!) was "an Aurora party with a horse pinata." So that's what I gave her.

Invitations - posted previously (link)

Decorations:
-Exterior decorations included a "pink carpet" (plastic tablecloths cut in half lengthwise and taped to the driveway), a tulle arch, and a picture of Aurora on the door (scene setter from Oriental Trading)
-topiaries - these were supposed to be outside too but the wind was too strong so they were put in the entry
-flying fairies - made with a Cricut and hung from the ceiling with fishing wire)
-castle - this was my scaled down version of Sleeping Beauty's castle, made out cardboard boxes. It was intended to be just part of the decor but when we brought it in we decided to cut the door out and let the kids play in it.
-another scene setter inside
-tablescape - white sheet (I really need to invest in some white tablecloths!) covered with a pink plastic tablecloth and gathered at the corners with big pink bows. Floral centerpieces - pink of course. Goblets that I found at Walmart then decorated with rhinestones. Simple pink paper plates topped with the napkin and fork that had been tied together with silver curling ribbon. And silver star confetti sprinkled around everything

The food:

-Aurora cake - used for decoration at the kid party to be eaten later with the grandparents. I used the Wilton doll cake pan and made her skirt and everything else out of fondant.
-cupcakes - ok these I am not happy with mostly because I had intended to do these really cute faux cupcakes (circles cute out of sheet cake, smooth pink icing, white polka dots) but when it came right down to it I wasn't talented enough to make them look good. So I ended up cutting the sheet cake into squares, frosting the squares and topping them with toothpicks that I decorated with stickers and circles of scrapbook paper.
-pink lemonade (another compromise on this one because I was going to do the Sprite and raspberry sherbet party punch but it was a busy day and I didn't get home in time to make it)
-I also offered them grapes but no one wanted them. At a party it's all about the cake right?!

The party:
-The guests were asked to wear they "royal attire." As you can see in the very first photo, Katy's friend Tyler didn't want to dress up as a prince or knight and instead came as the Lion King :) When each child arrived they were given a crown. (I found some really cute ones on Oriental Trading but they were too girly for the boys so I made the ones for the boys out of poster board - painted silver and added a few rhinestones.) Then they sat down to color some Sleeping Beauty themed pictures until everyone arrived.
-Kiss the Frog game - didn't want to do the typical frog/princess thing but did want to include the kisses and this game just sounded so cute. How it's played - choose one child to be the princess, blindfold her and give her Hershey Kiss. The rest of the guests choose little pieces of paper, one of which has a picture of a frog on it. When you say go, the person with the frog says "ribbit" and everyone else makes different animal sounds. The princess has to then follow the sound of the frog and give him/her the "kiss." It was then the frog's turn to be the princess until everyone had a turn. Sounds fun right? The older kids, the ones that were more outgoing got it and had a blast. But the younger ones or the ones that were to shy to ribbit...well, let's just say I caution you to keep in mind what children will be playing this in order to get the best response. Everyone still had fun with this but I felt like I was directing them too much throughout the whole game.
-Making Hydro-bracelets - instructions below
-Balloon Sword fights - instructions for making the swords can be found here For those of you that haven't tried to blow up those long balloons - you really do need a balloon pump. You should have seen us trying to do it by hand! But in a pinch (as we were) you can use a bicycle pump if you have the correct attachment.
-eat cupcakes then open presents
-pinata - was filled with candy, jewelry, and bouncy balls. The kids each took one turn with the blindfold but didn't seem to make a dent in the pinata so we let them hit it without the blindfold - over and over. I think they could have kept taking turns all day they were having so much fun. It was a very stubborn pinata. So finally the adults stepped in for a turn. And when that didn't work I cut it open and dumped the prizes on the floor :)

-then they got to play in the castle until the parents arrived, which wasn't long. The party went very smoothly and the activities perfectly filled the allotted hour and a half - and everyone seemed to have a fantastic time.
-other ideas I wanted to use: asking someone to dress up as Aurora and surprise their guests. I would have had her take photos with all the guests (printed and framed them during the party to send home as part of the favor or send afterward as a thank you) and either read the kids her story or help out with the party in some way. But buying the costume was out of the budget and I didn't have the energy to track down a rental.
I also found a cute game idea called cross the moat. You mark off 2lines about 20' apart.
Pick one player to be the "dragon" of the "moat," and have this player stand in the middle of the play area. The other players are "princes" and "princesses," and they should stand behind one of the lines marking the play area.To start the game, the dragon yells, "Try and cross!" All of the princes and princesses must then try to run across the moat, past the opposite line without being tagged by the dragon.Any prince or princess the dragon tags must become part of the dragon's tail by joining hands with the dragon or any other players in the dragon's tail. All players that have become part of the tail must run with the dragon to catch the remaining players. The last player to be caught is the winner and can be the next dragon. Obviously this is an outdoor game and it was too cold to play it at the party.

Favors:
-I made these favor bags for each child and attached a tag with their names. They were able to use the bag to collect their pinata prizes. The children also got to take their crowns, hydro-bracelets and their swords home with them.

Hydro-Bracelets
-you need 1/4" clear plastic tubing, 3/8" clear plastic tubing (I found this at Home Depot in the plumbing section), some sort of strong glue (I used Loctite Stik'n Seal because it was clear and waterproof. Found it at WalMart in the hardware section.), and very tiny things to go inside (glitter, microbeads).
-cut the 1/4" tubing to the size you want the bracelet to be
-cut the 3/8" tubing in 1" lengths - this is the connector
-glue one side of the 1/4" tubing halfway into the 3/8" connector and let dry. I also added a piece of tape to the other end (over a circle of paper I punched with a hole punch so the tape wouldn't end up sticking to the glitter inside and be easy to remove after ward) so that when the kids add the beads/glitter they don't fall out. (Older children could just hold the end with their thumb).
-at the party, each child was given a piece of the prepared tubing and added glitter and beads themselves.
-you then fill the tubing with water (leave a little bit for an air bubble), take off the tape holding the end closed and glue the end into the connector. Let glue dry during the party and don't forget to send the bracelet home with the kids.