Tangled Party

Disney's Tangled movie. What a wealth of material for a birthday party theme.
Creating this party was fun, no doubt about it.
Miss Fab's Seventh Birthday Tangled party was a great success.

It was fun turning the living room into a forest glade. Sawing some branches off a tree. Glue-gunning blossoms on to create a feeling of spring. Cost: $2.00. Effect: Priceless. (One fake-flower garland from the dollar shop was enough to deck out two large trees.).

And the coolest part? Seeing the look on hubby's face when he said, "You'd better take those trees outside, they'll start wilting soon..." and I told him, "but the flowers are fake! What did you think they were real???" Yep, he did.

A swathe of pale green tulle in the window, a string of lilac bunting, a revamped Christmas garland and fairy lights adorning the fireplace. Those paper doily lanterns flickering...

Beautiful and magical. The girls gasped when they walked in. It was like a fairy forest (the pictures really don't do it justice, trust me.)

Also fun was creating "Rapunzel's Hair Salon" in the birthday girl's bedroom.

Flowers, bunting, hair accessories and mirrors galore.

What little girl doesn't love doing hair?

And you know, Rapunzel is all about the Hair.

I found some balls of golden-coloured raffia at my local dollar store and turned them into Rapunzel-braids for each of the girls. They were a huge hit... and don't they look cute?

We told all the girls to come dressed up in their Princess Best (but bring warm clothes to wear later - you'll soon see why.) Just six little girls. I like to keep the numbers small.

Look at the birthday girl. Doesn't she look happy? Oh yes. My little extrovert was in her element. A captive audience and she is the queen for the day. The laughter was loud and raucous. The antics were epic.

After all that beautifying, the little Rapunzels were hungry and it was time for afternoon tea...

Simple party food in the forest glade; a picnic, if you will.

Pretty cupcakes, with roses lovingly crafted by me myself and Miss Fab. I am so proud.

And look at those lacy cupcake papers? Look expensive, yes? Pretty? Would you be surprised to know that I simply used the leftover paper doilies? I used the lacy edges of the doilies, half a doily per cupcake wrapped around the plain supermarket cupcake paper once the icing had been applied. Use a hot glue gun to join and trim off the excess. Too easy. Too pretty. I am feeling like a cupcake genius.

Pink lemonade to drink from beautiful bottles... {4-pack of  Pams Lemonade bottles for $2.99. Soak off the labels, wrap pretty lace ribbon around and secure with jute twine. Poke a pretty fake rosebud in. Just before serving dip the straw into some pink food colouring - just a tiny drop - and then stir it into the lemonade. Lovely.

And then comes the cake. A tower cake of course. Made from a stack of mini donuts, ice-cream cones dipped in white chocolate and decorated with more beautiful roses made by me.

(Again, that feeling of pride and accomplishment)

"....Happy Birthday Miss Faaaaabbb! Happy birthday to you...!"

Then it was movie-watching time. With popcorn. Love those little boxes (found here: $4.95 for eight)

While the movie was going super-daddy was busy outside. Turning on Christmas lights. Firing up the brazier. Lighting lanterns. By the time the movie was finished it was dark.
The girls changed into their warm clothes and headed out under the hibernating grapevine. There were gasps of "oooh! and "ahhhh!" not to mention "wow" when the saw all the pretty lights.

They snuggled up around the fire, cosy under blankets. We poked a stick into some pre-cooked sausages and placed them on a rack over the brazier. While we waited for them to sizzle, Mr G entertained the girls with his made-up stories. There was lots of giggling. Hot sausages dipped in sauce, eaten from sticks, washed down with hot cocoa and marshmallows.

Surely this party must be ending now?
Just one more thing. To top it all off.
Lanterns.
Sky lanterns.

Brought over from England by grandma. Saved for this moment.

Eyes wide. We hold the lantern as it fills with hot air.

Hands hold the edges as the lantern strains to fly away...

Up up it goes, away into the night sky. We watch it until we can see it no longer.
And now, finally its time to go home.
Another party over.
Another group of giggling girlies who don't want to leave.
Another batch of magical memories stored in my camera.

We send them home with a goodie bag full of sweets and a Tower Bookmark memento. Now when they read, they will be reminded of the fun time they had at Miss Fab's Tangled party.


{PS dear Miss Marvellous. We missed you so much at the party. The first one of Miss Fab's birthdays you haven't been at. We want you to know that we kept a party bag specially for you. We will send it over with your Aunty Ange when she comes to see you in China. We love you heaps! from Simoney & Miss Fab ♥ }

• Tangled Party How To's
• Rapunzel's Tower Cake