In 2020, Georgia’s birthday party was the last time we really had people over before the first Covid-19 shutdown, I was in shock that it had already come around again! This year we couldn’t have any friends or family come in the house with the current restrictions, so when she chose a Cinderella theme for her 7th birthday I was excited to flex my creative muscles by planning ways to make it feel just as special as always.
My favourite thing about birthday parties is how they serve as a memorable marker for each year of our lives, especially for children. I love how each year, the theme my kids choose for their party reflects so well who they are at that time of their life, what they’re interested in and what matters to them, and incorporate those things all throughout the decorations, food and games. It’s a celebration of their life after all!
Georgia wanted to help with the planning and decorating this time, and she saw a scroll invitation on Pinterest she loved! She was disappointed that she wouldn’t need an invitation because she would have no guests coming over, so I glued some wood beads and dowel together and painted them gold, then Curtis surprised her with this royal decree on the day of her birthday, inviting her to a ball!
I tried to use just what we had around the house (and what I could borrow from my parents), it’s a habit I’ve gotten back into since Covid-19 began when stores were shut down. It’s one of those lifestyle changes Coronavirus brought about that I am grateful for, living a more sustainable and creative life.
To represent the pink dress the animals make for the Disney version of Cinderella, I dressed my Mom’s sewing manikin with a pink dress of mine and an old crinoline (from my prom dress I still had around) underneath it. We printed and cut out little birds and mice to use and I borrowed some big spools of thread.
We decorated the table with cut out mice, fabric, pearls, beads and thread we had around the house. It was simple but so cute! Georgia really wanted a number 7 balloon, so I wrapped some pink streamers around it and set it up to look like the birds were holding it. I just pinned it to the curtains so we didn’t have to get it filled with helium, a trick I’ve been fond of lately!
The kids are obsessed with the “pin the tail” game, they laugh so hard when people get spun about and can’t find their way. I always just find a free colouring sheet online, print it as an engineer print at Staples for a few dollars, then colour it in. It works so great!
Georgia had her idea for her birthday cake set in stone months before her actual birthday. She had seen a bell shaped cake pan and a Barbie in my Mom’s collection of cake pans and asked her Grandma what it was for. My Mom explained that the cake is like a dress, then you put the Barbie on top, like she had done for my older sister’s 4th birthday. Georgia was enraptured with this idea and borrowed the pan and the Barbie so she could turn her into Cinderella for her cake.
I baked the cake and made the icing and Georgia had a blast decorating most of it by herself, I love seeing her take experience new things, bring her ideas to life and take pride in her workmanship, I think it’s my favourite cake she’s had just because of that.
I also love the Disney Castle centrepiece Curtis and I made from this tutorial and printable and surprised Georgia with. It was finicky and took a lot of time and glue and patience, but we were working our way through the extended Lord of the Rings movies, so we just did it while we watched the Fellowship over a few evenings.
For Halloween of 2017, Georgia wanted all of us to dress up as Cinderella characters, and I made everyone costumes. She loved her dress to death, unfortunately, but the rest of the costumes were still good, so we pulled them out of storage and I was excited to get to use them again, they were so much work! Here’s a picture of Halloween 2017 and of us all at Georgia’s 2021 birthday with our newest baby mouse. We absolutely had to re-create the father-daughter photos too!
I always set aside a large space for the children’s parties in our family albums, it’s such a great way to remember who they were that year. This theme was a favourite of mine for sure, it was so much fun to create Cinderella decorations.
