We have always been the relatives who lived out of town until this past year. The great part about living out of town is you are a local celebrity every time you are in town. Everyone rearranges their schedules just so they can have more time with you. Also you are the fun road trip adventure that everyone is looking forward to visiting. That has changed since we moved in town this year. We are no longer local celebrities and we have many more everyday opportunities to see each other.
That has created a desire with me to connect better to my nieces. I haven’t spent a lot of time with them over the years so quality and quantity time is something I thought I should make the effort to step up. I had wanted to do a princess day with them for a while but I allowed life and schedules to cause me to procrastinate putting it together for most of the school year. I am a deadline person so I finally inked it in with their moms and the theme idea researching began. I thought since we don’t spend a lot of time together, the best way would be to really make them feel special by creating a theme princess party. I guess my love language is acts of service and quality time. So the devil is in the details. I love doing the little touches that most people would never notice. This can be to a fault. While working on the “authentic burnt paper look” I literally caught the paper on fire to the point I could not blow it out and had to stomp it out in my garage before other objects were lit up too.
I had 3 hrs of sleep the night before the big day. Part procrastination/part creativity. Basically I put together all of the elements of an elaborate birthday party without the birthday. Over the top food, games, and activities.
My nieces came and appreciated all of the activities and special food. One of them kept saying, “This is the best day ever” several times that day. They wore me out but I think they felt special and I think that was the start.
Need inspiration?
Check out www.birthdaypartyideas.com for some great ideas