disney's tangled birthday party

yesterday was our daughter, ella's, sixth birthday party. they have a rule at ella's elementary school that if you invite one student from the class you must invite them all. this led to a crazy party of around 20 six year olds.

it was themed around the disney animated feature film TANGLED. here is what we did for the party.

{ the invites }

we had both boys and girls attending our party and i didn't want the invites to be too feminine.  i started out with a wanted poster from the movie, which i blanked out using photoshop and then added my own text.  download a free blank copy to add your text to by clicking here.

other ideas:

- free printable invites on disneyfamily.com

- make these adorable ones from supermommoments.com

{ the decorations }

i used the free printable banner found here via supermommoments.com.  i used cotton twine to string these along the front of the party table and across our mantle.  it was so cute!  i purchased lanterns from Dollar Tree in different colors and strung them above the party table. 

other ideas: 

- mix store bought lanterns with handmade lanterns that are exactly like the ones from the movie using the free templates and video tutorial found here.

- use long strands of yellow thread tied at the end with purple ribbon to create Rapunzel's hair and drape around party as seen here.  so cute!

{ the activities } 

we started with free printable coloring pages from the film, making sure i had plenty of the flynn rider pages for the boys.  then we headed down to the basement where we had two activities. 

1. pin the frying pan on flynn rider.  we used the printable frying pans from here.  i had each child write their name on their frying pan first so we could assess a winner, who got a small prize.  then i took this image to a copy center and paid under $3 for them to blow it up to poster size....no drawing skills required.  the child who got flynn right on the nose won!

2. make a foam pascal  grab the free template to trace pascal's head from the disney website.



( image via disneyfamily.com )



i was able to find 8 packs of pink blowers in the party section of our local Dollar Tree.  I purchased foam sheets which already have sticker backing so i could avoid a glue catastrophe with the kids (purchased at Michael's).  i cut 1 inch circles and grouped them in pairs for eyes (i didn't bother with the yellow).  the kids used black markers to add pupils and then added them to the foam head pieces.  they used the same marker to draw the moth on pascal.  then they just peeled and stuck onto the blower and voila!  a big hit!

( a party guest with her finished pascal blower )



other ideas:

- set up artist easels and lay down floor covering and let kids paint a masterpiece.

- tug of war with a yellow rope tied with purple bows on each end (best for outdoor parties)

{ the food }

we had our party at 1:00pm as to not have to serve food.  all we had was the main cake and cupcakes.  the cake idea is by Bakerella and can be found (with full instructions) here on the disney website here.  may i mention that i am an accomplished baker and i wish i had not taken it on.  buying craft foam, wooden dowels, pecan rolls, leaf tips, yadda, yadda, yadda was just not worth it to me.  the finished cake is not very tall (12 inches) and I could not find brown cupcake liners for anything in my area.  for me it became too much hassle...not enough pay off.

the cupcakes were easy and beautiful. i borrowed this idea to use green frosting and add fake flowers on top.  it looks amazing and the kids licked the frosting off their flower buds and kept them as a favor (not my intention, but hey! whatever makes them happy!)

i snagged these super cool new cupcake liners at the local A.C. Moore made by Wilton.  I like the additional floral element it added. caution: any little drip of cupcake batter that touches the raised edges will turn a hideous brown and look awful. i used a 1/4 cup measure to make measuring and pouring easy, but still lost a few due to splattered batter.

other ideas:

- find loads of amazing ideas for a full dinner or snacks here.

{ the favors }

i made these small paint kits.  i got the idea from another blogger who used full water color paint sets for each guest, but i was not prepared to spend $20 on favors....so i made a scaled down version.  This pack of 18 paints was $2.24 at Wal*Mart and I got six favors out of each package.  then i grabbed a $1 pack of colorful paint brushes.  total cost was about $0.50 per child.

i hope you got some good ideas!
next stop: Despicable Me party in two weeks for Evangeline.