Invitations Sent

If I could be granted with one skill it would be hands down creativity. It's the one thing that I can feel jealous about. There definitely is creativity in my family, thank goodness, but I possess the least amount of it. I have the desire, strong desire and therefore, I can come up with some decent ideas. My sister is a genius when it comes to coming up with really cool and fun ideas. I ALWAYS bounce off my ideas on her as she usually can give me new and better ones. My brother is the artist. I usually go to him if I need anything drawn or painted.

Anyway, since I refuse to give in to my lack of creativity I still try to plan grandioso theme birthday parties. Like I said, I can come up with a generic idea of what I want but may have trouble coming up with the visionary details. Plus, I have two other things working against me, money and not wanting to be wasteful. Sure, I could throw lavish birthday parties with real characters, rentals, etc. but one, I don't have that kind of money and two, I actually like the challenge of trying to pull off the same type of party without spending a ton of money. The other part is being wasteful...I hate spending money on something I will only use once. So, knowing this, I still put myself through the stress of planning theme parties....at home....with little money and little creative skills. Fun!!

This year for Seena's 5 year b-day party I've decided on a "Save the Princess" theme. It will be an obstacle course with 6 challenges, one for each villain of the 6 princess stories. I have to say, I did come up with this on my own and I even got approval from my sis. I'm a bit nervous about pulling it off but I've done a lot of research on other "princess parties" and obstacle courses that I think I've got a good plan in place. Now, I just need to put it all together.

I'm going to document my attempts at pulling this off just in case it doesn't go well. Later when Seena blames me for ruing her "ruining her life" she can look back and see that I really did have good intentions :)

The Plan

The six challenges are:
1. kids must crawl through the "tunnels" of the Cave of Wonders and avoid Jafar
2. Ursula's Cave - kids must crawl under a table covered in balloons (can't take credit for this---this was a Martha Stewart thing.) This is also the one station that is proving to be the most challenging. I want an Ursula sitting on top of the table for the "effect". I was going to try to make it somehow but I may have acquired a "volunteer" to dress up as Ursula. We'll see.
3. Cinderella - kids must find the glass slipper and put it on the princess
4. Snow White - kids must find the poison apple before Snow White does
5. Kids must "rescue" Ms. Potts from Gaston (running across a beam while holding a tray)
6. Knocking off the tip of the spindle before Sleeping Beauty pricks her finger.

While each kid is running through the obstacle course, the other kids will either be decorating foam crowns or cardboard shields (I've been saving cereal boxes). And of course there will be a pinata. The food and the goody bags will be inspired by the 6 princesses too. I'm still working on that.

The invitations were made on the computer using Disney Clipart and I tried to be as creative as I could be using Old English terminology. Seena and I rolled them up like scrolls, tied them up with pink ribbon and labeled them Sir Knight and Princess so and so. They've been delivered.

No turning back now...