Siena's Big 5 Cinderella Birthday Party Ball

Wow! Where do I begin? I know that I will have to get this post done in several days. There is so much to tell about here. But 1st we have had to get Baba & Aunt Betty here which we did all on the same day. Baba came in on the plane to Richmond then we ran over to the train station to pick up Aunt Betty. Timing was perfect.
Aunt Betty & Siena
Baba & Siena
Siena's party has really been a production that's taken me months to get together. (But don't get me wrong....It was all a labor of Love.) I've been shopping for different things on line & in stores to be well prepared & to help save money by using coupon after coupon but even then we still had times of running to Target & craft stores to get all the things we needed to make the cake or get something together at the last minute. I can't go much further right now until I say a little "Thank you" to the ones that I got a lot of my ideas & party suppliers info from-Ellen, for Cinderella, the pinata idea & table rentals. Evan's Mom, Sara for the Donation gift idea, & Julie for the The Hope House idea as our Charity. Yes, we had a donation drive at the party. In lieu of giving Siena gifts this year we opted for donations to a local charity. I just felt like this would be a good time to start teaching Siena about giving rather than receiving & besides, she has plenty of toys. She still got gifts from a few people & from family. Thank goodness there really hasn't been a shortage of anything in her life.

With all that said....The party was a big hit with Cinderella as the main attraction. She was planned originally & Siena knew about it but then I pretended to cancel her when Siena got into trouble one day. Therefore she was quite surprised to open the door at the party & there stood Cinderella. I guess you may say the cake was a main attraction too. It was a main construction to say the least. Aunt Betty & I were the team for this one. It took a good 2 days to complete. I was determined to make it once I had bought the kit & we did. I didn't think Aunt Betty really knew what she was in for when I told her that we were going to make a castle cake over the phone. So once she got here, she saw the cake kit box & WOW...I have never seen her eyes grow so big! LOL! But she pulled through & got to work with me in the kitchen for the whole ordeal. I know I could not have pulled it all off without the help of Aunt Betty & Baba! Oh....and of course my sweet gopher, Mark.

The Castle Cake Construction

Cinderella came in the door singing songs & continued on & danced a little with the kids. During her stay she declared every girl a Princess & every boy a Prince with the help of the birthday girl. Finally after taking pictures with everyone...yes even Daddy as you can see, she helped serve tea (pink lemonade) to the kids. The tables were set with mixed fruit, Princess slipper & tiara cut cookies, chocolate dipped strawberries, tea sandwiches, carrots & dip & party mints. After lunch it was time to cut the cake....and oh it was a hard thing to do, after assembling & decorating it for 2 days...but I had the duty & I did it. Everyone thought it was too pretty to eat but at least it did taste really good. Probably due to the fact that Aunt Betty had added her secret ingredients to the boxed cake mixes. After cake we wrapped things up with the pinata. It was a Princess Castle pinata & Mark held it while the kids pulled the ribbons for all the treats to fall out. I didn't make treat bags up for the kids but instead opted for pretty handmade cookies made by a local cookie lady. She did a great job so I just wanted to show them off in the slide. I forgot to get a picture of the frog one before they were gone but the boys got a frog with a crown on it.

The Decorated Castle & The Royal Ball

All of the kids had a great time as I've been told...even the boys. I think a few got into Cinderella a little more than their sisters did. But that's all good.

So all the great items that we collected for the Hope House, Siena & I dropped them off the other day. They were very happy to get them. Siena wanted to see the house & we took some pictures of her & the director at the house. I hope this all helps to teach her about giving & of course it's most important to just be with your friends at your birthday party.

Siena gave the Donations to the Hope House