FROZEN BIRTHDAY PARTY PLAN

The time has come. After seeing about three other friends have their Frozen Birthday parties, it was our daughter's turn. She invited just her girlie friends. They arrived in their dress ups, half were Elsa. They played together so well and got to make a craft, we had it late in the day so I planned for treats only. We also hired a local Elsa and Anna to come and play with them for a half our and take photos. That was a highlight for these girls. They were sold! They kept touching their dresses to be sure they were real.

When I throw a party, I always start with a party plan. I have a color palette, some decor ideas, a menu and activities. For my girls, that usually involves a craft. The weather was beautiful so they were able to play outside and really spread out.

ACTIVITES
Play - The girls had about 20 minutes to play together before crafts.

Craft - Making bracelets. This consisted of stringing beads (here, here, here, and here) onto a stretch string and adults helping them knot and cut the string. Easy! Set up a craft area with tables, chairs, a tablecloth, and plates to contain the beads. I also opted to put their party favors on this table.

Anna & Elsa - They told the girls the Frozen story from their point of view, played a little game and took photos with each guest.

FOOD
Donut HoleTree - I got a stirofoam cone at Michaels, wrapped it in tinfoil, inserted toothpicks, then a donut, one at a time, one row at a time. I filled in the holes with little sprigs of tissue/wax paper sticks.

Cupcakes - This is something I order in advance and pick up morning of. I've learned from past experience to order mini cupcakes to cut down on mess.

Hot Pies - I made these a couple days in advance with this recipe, and the morning of, reheated at 350˚ Then frosted them. This was the last thing I did to keep them fresh. Some learning points, I would roll this out to 1/8" instead of 1/4" so they're not too thick, but rather thin and flaky. I also did mine in a circle with a snowflake cut in the center of the top layer so that the blueberry jam could ooze through a bit. Yum.

Popcorn Balls - I learned a popcorn trick here. Microwave four bags of popcorn, then melt 2 sticks of butter in a large pot on medium heat, add 1 1/2 bags of marshmallows, stir until melted and looks white and creamy, not buttery. Then transfer that to a separate bowl. Next put the popped popcorn (without seeds) two bags first, into the large pot, pour some marshmallow sauce on and stir. Keep adding popcorn one bag at a time and then sauce until all is blended well. Let that cool for a few minutes. Next start making balls (use vegetable oil on your hands to keep them lubed). Place finished balls on a sheet of wax paper then insert sticks. Completed balls then go into baggies and tie off with ribbon or a string.

Milk Jugs & Straws - I found these cute mini jugs here, with colored lids and straws to coordinate. I also had a pitcher of water and cups for the adults.

Snow Cones - My Father-In-Law is a huge snow cone connoisseur so I let him man the machine. He found one to borrow and even brought two flavors of syrup. I bought two bags of ice, cups and spoons. I opted for cups instead of the pointed cones, just so kids could set them down easily.

Candy Bowls - I had some colored gum balls and rock "ice" candy in bowls. I also put these in their party favor boxes.

DECORATION
This is where I tend to go a little nuts and spend too many weeks preparing. You can do all or non if you wish. You can also find more fun ideas I've researched or made on my Pinterest  pages: Party Plans and Victorious Blog are both loaded.

Crepe Paper Swags - I bought white crepe paper sheets here. First I dyed the edges while it was still folded, making sure to keep them flat so the dye wouldn't drip into the middle. Let it dry well, then unroll them and fringe cut the edges. Three of them made a good swooping ceiling backdrop for behind the banner.

Flowers - I cut branches from our trees and added a few yard flowers in the color palette. Not a lot of flowers because it's a frozen theme but I wanted a little bit of color.

Banner - I made a pennant banner in Illustrator, printed, cut, put it together and glitter glued the edges.

Art Wall - My daughter wanted to showcase her own art so I used one wall to put up our favorites of her her Elsa/Anna/Olaf drawings. Above that I strung two 4' strands of tassels made from tissue paper and iridescent wrap.

Food Table - I arranged gifts in the back with a tall vase of flowers and then food in front of all that. If the food is low for the kids they can come and take easily. If it's high on a countertop, I always have too many leftovers.

Countertop Decor - We have a wall that is straight in from our entryway that always needs some sort of decoration at partytime. I usually do something with levels of snacks and drop things from the ceiling. To mix it up, I didn't want this to be the main focus. Instead I made the craft and food tables the main focus. I used some of our Christmas decorations, white flocked and feather trees, glass drops and added some gem and ribbon garlands. I also dropped a few tissue poms and balloons from the ceiling.

PARTY FAVORS
I purchased clear boxes here, filled them with iridescent filler, pearly gumballs and rock "ice" candy from Zurchers. I found some cute snowflake ring toppers and photo snow globes and inserted up Elsa and Anna photos. I also hotglued some ribbon to the base of them snow globes and added more glitter before adding the distilled water. Each box was wrapped with curly ribbon and topped with a sparkle pencil and balloon.

Party photos and DIY Tutorials to come this week!