If you remember, I saw Tangled as a pre-release. And loved it. Loved it. At Thanksgiving we ended up seeing it again with family. That night I must have dreamed about Rapunzel and her golden hair because I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about how it would be a perfect theme for Lydia’s GOLDEN Birthday Party! In fact, I had to get up to write down all the great ideas I had! I say that to say, I clearly have an inappropriate relationship with birthday parties.
Anywhoo. Let’s get on with it, shall we? Here are my…
Top Ten (or so) Best Moments from The Golden Hair Party
1. Painting
Rapunzel spent her life locked in a tower, but she was by no means bored. She baked, she made candles, she did ballet, sewing, reading and even ventriloquism. But her favorite past time? Painting! She painted every wall of her tower. So, I decided we were going to paint.
I bought 11×14 canvases from Michael’s (with a 40% off coupon!) and borrowed easels from my friends and family. Then we decoratively threw a drop cloth on the ground and voila–instant gallery!
Now, the problem is, how to get the kids to paint something without making it look like a big globby mess? Well, I went back to my Jesus Storybook Bible Fingerpaint Canvas and used stickers! I used my mom’s Cricut to cut shapes and all the kids’ names out of Contact Paper. Then, the kids put their Contact-Paper-stickers on the canvas, painted over them, let them dry and peeled them off! I can’t believe I don’t have pictures of any final masterpieces, but I promise they were stunning!
I had great plans to do a big canvas with a “5” sticker on it–then let all the kids do a handprint on it (get it? 5 fingers?). Then it could be a souvenir for Lydia. Alas, I didn’t get it together in time.
2. Lanterns
In my middle-of-the-night dreaming about this movie and party, I had this great idea to set off lanterns for Lydia’s birthday. It’s exactly what the king and queen did for their daughter. And in the movie, they continued to do so for 18 years hoping their lost daughter would see them and come home to them. (*sob*) This visual is absolutely stunning and I wanted Lydia to see the same thing for herself. To know that no matter how far away she is from us, we will always always put a lantern out for her. We will always be loving and praying for her. (*sniff*)
I ordered the lanterns
So we went with Plan B…
3. Balloons with LED Lights
I ran to Party City at 8:30 the morning of the party. I was so early I had to call the store and say, “Uhm, I’m standing outside. Can you let me in?” I bought 40 balloons (enough for everyone to let one go) and then bought LED lights to go inside. Great idea right? Well, they only last 8 hours. The party wasn’t until 4pm. And I wasn’t going to release the balloons until 6pm. *sigh*
So, I placed an order and my husband had to pick them up at noon. Lovely. Like we didn’t have mopping and cooking to do.
Once I saw the lights in the gold balloons I got over my despair at not doing lanterns. They were quite pretty. But the sun would NOT go down. And the natives were getting restless. Oh, and it was like 17 degrees outside. So, we went outside at quarter till 6 and let them go anyway.
We sang “Happy Birthday” and let the balloons fly into the sky! I was still envisioning a Tangled-like lift-off….but the wind was definitely blowing. And the exact opposite direction I was hoping. So, about 5 balloons got stuck in our tree and the other ones slowly went over the house. Not exactly what I wanted, but it was still kinda fun to see everyone chattering, singing and holding balloons on our driveway.
{Also. This was a complete waste of money. The LEDs were $10 for a dozen. I don’t even want to tell you how much the balloons cost. If I was going to do this again, I’d buy or rent a helium tank and buy a bag of balloons with a coupon. And maybe try to throw a light-up bracelet from the dollar store inside the balloon.}
4. Crazy Hair
A few weeks ago, I went to a bloggy-Candyland party with the Mommy Insider and saw this fun idea–crazy hair with pipe cleaners and other decorations. I figured this was perfect for a party focused on HAIR. So, I showed the pictures to my sisters-in-law and they said it looked like no problem at all…well, Catie said she could do it. Micah wasn’t so sure. (I feel you, Micah!)
The basic idea is to make several different pony tails, wrap them in pipe cleaners until they stand up by themselves. Then we added sticky glitter foam flowers, bobby pins with toole or silk flowers on them and LOOK HOW CUTE:
The pipe cleaners were the only investment here–we used about 5 or more per kid. The flowers were just a dollar store bunch I pulled apart and the toole was left over from a costume.
Thank you, Aunt Catie!
5. Cupcakes
What little girl wishes of having scary Pub Thugs on the cupcakes at her birthday party? Well, Lydia was absolutely giddy over them! One of the Pub Thug’s dream was to make cupcakes. And when I remembered I had a Groupon for cupcakes–it was the perfect food!
I just printed off a picture of the Pub Thugs from the website and used my circle-cutter to make those pretty perfect circles. Cute, right?
6. The Food
I am so incredibly happy with the food. First of all–do you see the mountains of frying pans we had?! HOW AWESOME IS THAT? Rapunzel and Flynn’s weapon of choice was the iron skillet, so I knew I wanted those on my food table.
I decided to forego the cake and we had pies instead. (Remember, Rapunzel liked to bake.) I made a Swedish Apple Pie and a Cherry Pie. Daddy made a Peach Pie.
Then I made a BRAIDED loaf of bread. BRAID? Get it? Huh? Huh?
We also had a bowl of apples for Maximus, the brave dog-horse.
The main entree was the soup–Mother Gothel’s Hazelnut Soup. I found several recipes online. The one I used was from Family Fun and…well, it didn’t look that appetizing. But it turned out ok–even when I had to use carrots instead of parsnips. But I did make Taco Soup, too. Just in case the Hazelnut Soup was scary.
But my favorite food was the Make Your Own Tower Kabobs. Those cute little frying pans are filled with grapes, blueberries, deli meat, cheese and more. Everyone got to fill up a skewer and eat their tower o’food. Fun, right?
7. Lanterns
I found these cute lanterns on Oriental Trading Company. The kids colored them with markers and stuck foam stickers on them to decorate. They turned out cuter than I thought. And it was an easy craft with no set-up!
8. Cat’s Cradle
This is Asa before the party (in his pirate pajamas) showing off the Cat’s Cradle station. I thought it was appropriate since it is a kind of tangly game. I just put out a Cat’s Cradle book I had and some yarn tied in a circle. The kids seemed to like it—even though I don’t think anyone actually did the actual Cat’s Cradle games. Oh well, at least you can see my cute station signs–I printed off some pictures and put them in some old frames. To go with the whole painting-gallery-theme.
9. Shrinky Dink Necklaces
Family Fun had some great ideas for Tangled party ideas. My favorite was the printable shrink charms. You just get Inkjet Shrink Film (Michael’s was clearancing theirs out!) and print off their pre-colored charms. Then cut them out, punch a hole and bake. I just set them aside with little strings and let the kids make their own necklaces. It was fun to see which charms they picked. (For the record, I got a lantern, a frying pan and a paintbrush.)
10. My Rapunzel
Lydia wanted to dress like Rapunzel. So, my mom made the dress—from a made up pattern because there aren’t any Tangled costumes out yet. Then we had her hair french braided and put in fresh flowers. She was a beautiful golden princess to be sure! Happy 5th Birthday, sweet girl!
You had her hair french braided… oh, if only I lived closer. THAT I can do!!!!!! 😉 What an awesome party!
I can’t even put a pony tail in straight. I’m not kidding. My mom was going to try but she had it hard enough making the dress!
Love it! We went to see Tangled while we were on vacation and absolutely loved it. This is such a fun party idea.
Oh my goodness. You are the birthday party QUEEN! Did you need a vacation after all that? I mean seriously. But it looks like it was an incredible party and I LOVE the idea about the paintings and the crazy hair…actually I kinda like all the ideas 😉
Something that is really popular over here in Germany is for people to attach a postcard to the balloons before they release them that has a wish or a special something written on each card from each guest. It might be another gift (like a movie night or sleepover) or just another something special. But they are addressed to the birthday person (or wedding couple — really popular at weddings) and if those cards are mailed back to them because the balloons land somewhere that they are found by people, they usually get a fun note from the person who found it as well as a neat surprise gift. 🙂
How fun is THAT?!!
wow! You must be the BEST MOM EVER! AWESOME!
Mhhhmmm…”best mom ever”…I’ll take it!
What a fun party! And, even though it was extra work, I love the balloon idea! Seriously, I need you to plan my girls’ birthday parties, because I’m the worst when it comes to thinking up awesome kid parties.
WOW. You do such a fantastic job with party themes.
what a cute party! you did such a good job with that.
What a fantastically fun party! I did notice all those iron skillets on the table. Great idea, but where did you get them all?
They were my grandmother’s!
OH MY WORD! You outdid yourself again. SO amazing. Lydia had an awesome time. She told me so herself!
You rock SO HARD at party planning. Amazing!
I aspire to be just like you one day. I have boys, so this kind of party fun is not up their alley, but once, just once I wish they would let me go all out like you did here! Great job Amanda. I am sure it will be a party that will never be forgotten!
Looks like it was a lot of fun, Amanda! Party planning is definitely YOUR thing! You should go into business. ;o) One day when I decide to throw the girls a big party, I’ll have to pick your brain!
Happy birthday, Lydia!!!
1. You are the birthday party QUEEN.
2. Juliet has already requested a Tangled party for her 5th birthday…
3. The Tangled thank you note sits in Juliet’s window, she wears the charm necklace every day (it’s her favorite necklace), she wakes up and brushes her hair with the hairbrush, the painting is hanging in our living room, the lantern goes to sleep with her at night….
4. I totally missed the frying pans, even though I ate lots of food! Love that detail.
5. My favorite thing–the yarn hair hanging down from the balcony! Did you get a picture of that?!
I couldn’t get a pic of the hair! I tried. But it just looks like a weird thing of yarn.
Also. Lydia is contemplating giving Juliet one of her Tangled blankets on Saturday. I tried to talk her out of re-gifting. We’ll see how it goes…
So, I was trying to read this post real quick, when my kids BOTH decided they needed a detailed explanation of every picture in the post. LOL. Now they both want to say hi: “jenny” and “yffurrxdl” {Jenny and David, as typed by them}!
LOL! So cute! Hi to Jenny and David!
Oh Amandaki…once again, you’ve outdone yourself. One of your friends (blonde hair…i forgot her name!) said we should go into business together!
Thinking about it.
Stephanie? She’s an event planner by day anyway. Maybe we should ALL go in!
I LOVE this! Oh, I wish I lived inside your head! 😉 My fav? The bendy hair! Those hair styles are AWESOME!
Awesome. As usual. 🙂
I confess, I am a little exhausted reading this – it must have been an AWESOME party! 😀 That, and I want to be 5 years old again.
Karen – The photos are just too eitsiuxqe for words Paula!!! Thanks for your great work you made their day even more special now!!Marilyn
Awesome party!!! We’re having a barbie party on Saturday (if the ice melts). I’m so doing the Rapunzel party later this year. The girls would love it!
What an amazing, memorable party! I hope I can come up with stuff half this good when it comes time for kid-parties at our house!
LOL! “Decoratively threw a dropcloth on the ground” Hehe! I’m sure it was VERY decorative by the time they were done! 🙂
So can you come to my house and do my kids’ birthdays? Cuz I really stink at birthdays. I’m more like, “Oh wait, his birthday is TOMORROW?!” Yeah, that’s me. 🙂
LOVE THAT PARTY! I haven’t seen Tangled yet but I might need to do that soon.
Cute! I love this. I’m already starting to plan out Simon’s 2nd birthday party, 5 months in advance!
Love it! We took the kids to see Tangled and they enjoyed it so much. I think I see a Tangled birthday party in our near future! You did such a great job with all the ideas. =)
Oh my goodness – it’s cuteness, perfection! I love it!! It makes me want to see Tangled now! Will you do my next party??!! 🙂
You must see Tangled! Your boys would love it, too. There was lots of fighting and crazy guy-stuff!
Amanda, you are totally missing your calling as a party planner! LOVE it!!!
The frying pan idea is GENIUS and I love the hairstyles.
This may be the only post ever that gives me a twinge about not having a girl. Just a twinge, mind you, lol!
Such a cute idea! Love the crazy hair!! 🙂
I loved the balloons but the painting on easels was by far my favorite part. Can’t believe you were able to come up with so many. What a special memory this party will be for Lydia!
What fun ideas! My favorite was the setting off of the balloon lanterns into the sky!
Yay! That was an awesome party once more! In fact, I think that it may have been my favorite. I might request a station again in the future. And I was so happy that the hair turned out well.
What a fantastic birthday party! Awesome! My kids would love all that stuff. Of course, it would take a month for us to do it all…
Awesome party! I love all your creative ideas. I better start thinking about Evan’s party this year. Since he’ll be 4 I can actually start doing “fun” things at the party b/c he’ll be old enough. If only he was a girl, I could steal some of these ideas!
Question…so it was just contact paper that you used to make the letters for the paintings? It seemed to come off so easily and work so well! Why haven’t I thought of that before?
Yes, contact paper!
Oh wow, I was considering a Tangled theme birthday for my little girl next month. I could never have dreamed up half the ideas you have listed here. Amazing!!! I love that you didn’t go overboard, yet you covered EVERYTHING. Thanks
Thanks! Well, feel free to steal all my ideas for your party! 🙂
Oh I LOVE this idea! My daughter won’t be 5 until August. She absolutely loved the movie and so did I. I am hoping that the movie will be out on DVD by her birthday. My favorite idea was the frying pans:)
Thanks! We had such a great time. I wanna do it again! 🙂
Ohhh, man! Can we be neighbors? Thanks for the nice comment on my under the sea party… your Rapunzel party totally rocked it! The frying pans on the table and build your own tower kabobs are genius.
Thanks! I love me a good party! 🙂
I haven’t seen the movie yet (I really want to)! But I LOVE the lantern idea! Looks like a little girl’s dream party! Thanks for linkin up to my Party Party!
love the pictures of the crazy hair! too cute!
it looks like you guys just had loads of fun i bet the girls just loved the silly hairdos! and yummy cupcakes, mmmmmm
Wow !!! What a wonderful party =) Everything was absolutely fantastic.
I’m actually getting ready to have my little girl her 4th birhday party. And of coarse her choice of theme for this year is tangled. Now, i had a question? Where did you find the wooden frying pans used for fruits & berries?
HEY! I love your party. I am planning my very own Tangled party for my little girl and LOVE the idea with the balloons….Where did you get the LED’s??
Thanks for sharing your WONDERFUL ideas!
That was awesome! I’m from Puerto Rico and my dauhter is goign me crazy with Rapunzel… and I decided to make a special birthday party to celebrate her 4 years in a tropical forest. Thanks for sharing the ideas!
Question: Where did you found the frying pans?
OMG! Women, YOU are a party genius!!! I love it! Thank you for sharing all of your fantastic ideas!