When I woke up yesterday morning, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck.  Or maybe been out all night partying until 4am.  Yet I'd gone to bed by 9pm.  Why was I so exhausted?  Two words:  Princess Party.

Yes, I elected to have a princess party for my four year old, but I was determined to make it a low-maintenance birthday party.  There were going to be no bounce houses or rented ladies dressed up as princesses at our party (Not that there is anything wrong with that.  In fact, I felt certain my party wouldn't measure up to others who truly went all out, so I didn't even want to try.)  The only problem is that it turns out there is no such thing as a low-maintenance birthday party because you can't get around the fact that at a bare minimum, you still have to provide cake, food, gift bags, entertainment, and presents.  

First, the kids "helped" me get ready for the party.  I blew up the balloons and they stole them and batted them around the house.  Then they insisted on putting the crowns on and decorating pieces of paper, but that did keep them very busy while I got everything ready.  And I will admit that I enjoyed watching them play with the balloons so I even put on music for them and helped them bat the balloons around.

Everything  was finally ready.  We had 7 little crowns and 7 little wands all ready to be decorated with jewels, glittery letters, and stickers

Seven little girls arrived at 4:00, all decked out in their favorite princess dress and I have to say that my little Munchkin Girl was in her element.  She was the quintessential hostess to her friends, making sure they each had a crown and a wand to decorate.  Keep in mind this was a "drop-off party" so all parents were gone and the seven little girls were left in our care.  My daughter grinned from ear to ear while her little friends used the glue, glittery letters, jewels and stickers that she helped me organize.  

Since I wanted this party to be low-maintenance, I planned on all this part taking quite awhile and I didn't plan much else, other than the cake and stuff.  I had set out a bunch of bowls with plenty of supplies so when they were all done by 4:20 with this project, we were a bit baffled.  Now what?  The party was scheduled to last until 5:30.  I started to feel a bit panicky, but luckily my Mom is an elementary PE teacher, so she stepped in.  Between 4:20 and 5:00, we played:

• Hide and Go Seek
• Favorite Animal Game: Each kid got to take a turn saying what their favorite animal was.  Then they demonstrated what that animal did, such as hopping (bunny), crawling on all fours (horses), etc. and then all the little girls had to follow.  They loved having turns with this!
• Freeze Dancing (Play music until it stops and then everyone FREEZES!)
• Fall down dancing (Similar to freeze dance, but when the music stops, they all fall down)

There is just nothing cuter than 7 little sweet girls running around in princess dresses, pretending to be unicorns.  My favorite part was when all six of them would hide in the same room, all in plain sight, and all giggling and waiting to be found.

Then we decided it was time for pizza and cookie cake, and luckily we killed time by also having them decorate the cookies.

Then we did the presents and voila!  It was 5:30!  Each little girl went home with a personalized crown on their head, a decorated wand, and a bag full of princess stickers.  Hubby and I were exhausted, and Munchkin Girl had never felt so special in all her life.  The problem was that I couldn't believe that I had to face this year after year.  Not only that, the following morning we had two birthday parties to attend, and they were both also princess parties and I didn't know how I would have the energy.

We arrived at the first one and I couldn't believe my eyes.  This woman had made a Barbie cake, something I've only ever seen in magazines...it had a real Barbie inside, and an intricate web of icing for Barbie's dress.  Not only that, a tent was outside, filled with balloons and decorated with streamers and what appeared to be wedding veils and they had stations set up for the girls to have their nails done, faces painted, and even make-up done.   The Mom seemed cool as a cucumber and I suddenly felt ashamed and embarrassed.  I was still completely exhausted from my own party the day before and I hadn't done any of this fancy stuff!  I commented to the grandmother how impressed I was with everything and she replied, "Well, she about kills herself doing it and everyone around her too!"  The Grandma rolled her eyes. 

"Really?"  I replied.  "She looks so calm!"

"Don't let her fool you honey.  It's all an act!" She winked at me and I felt much better because I felt certain that she would be just as tired as I was and I realized that there are no Super-Moms.  We're all just trying to do our best to make our little girls feel special but it isn't easy no matter how talented you are. 

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