For my daughter’s last birthday, she asked for a “Fancy Nancy” birthday party. If you have young daughters and haven’t read Fancy Nancy, there is still time to repent and get the books immediately.
This was the first real birthday party I’d ever thrown for a little girl. I couldn’t use my Star Wars or Superhero parties my son had requested in previous hears as a reference since they’re just not fancy. We needed fancy!
In the end, the party was a huge success without spending a ton of money or working myself to exhaustion.
First off; the invitation. We worded the invitation the way Fancy Nancy would and made sure to let the girls know they should wear their “fancy” clothes. Some came in dress-up clothes, some in regular dresses and one came in her fancy nightgown. They all looked beautiful.
The party started with favors. Rather than give each girl a bag of stuff at the end, we made the favors part of the party. We laid out a table with all the fancy dress-up things the dollar store had to offer. We had rings, glasses, crowns, necklaces, bracelets, hair clips and even wands.
After the girls dressed up, they had a photo shoot in front of our homemade backdrop. This is just a bit of art paper dressed up with streamers and print-outs from the computer.
Next was game time. I got a cheap “Pin the tail on the Donkey” game and fancied it up. Instead of pinning the tail on the donkey, the girls had to make the donkey fancy with bows, jewels, flowers, a tutu, etc. This worked out well because there was no wrong place to put many of the accessories.
Next came the favorite part of the party; dancing. Let a bunch of 4-year-old girls loose in a room and tell them to dance and you have a fabulous party. We threw balloons into the room and turned on a Disney Pandora station.
After the dance party, the girls got the chance to decorate the table. Instead of a pre-made tablecloth, we covered our table with butcher paper and let the girls cover it with crayons, markers and stickers.
While they decorated, I put together the food. We made a basic lunch “fancy” by cutting turkey sandwiches into shapes with cookie cutters, putting fruit and cheese on skewers and slicing peppers to add color.
Instead of place mats, each girl had a silver doily and we put dollar-store vases with fake flowers on the table.
Dessert was a splurge. We went with bright pink cupcakes with yellow frosting covered in “fancy” pearls and set in flower cupcake wrappers.
After lunch the girls read a Fancy Nancy book before present time.
We turned the music back on and let the girls dance while we waited for the parents to come.
I certainly felt fancy. So fancy in fact that as soon as the girls left, I had to put on my pajamas to restore balance to the universe.
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