Life In The Brady House: Charley Turned 3

Yes, I do realize her birthday was in January, but I have had more important things to do than write a post. Ok,I can't expect that you'll actually buy that line. I will just be honest and admit I am a lazy bum. Not that we have the measure of my character lets see if the party was a success.

Guess the theme?

Yes, it was a princess theme. Charley wanted everything her favorite color which is red. Oh my God, my first thought was how was I going to make it less bordello? I convinced her pink was a natural accent.

Instead of sending out Christmas cards, I made the invites, then we all came down with the flu. But the day after Christmas, still a little sick, I dove into the party prep. I had about a week and a half to do everything, less the cake and cookie favors. Thank God for Aunt Lee. She got the cake and the cookies for me.

Lest you think Charley is not a full fledged member of the princess party, I offer you this picture (because, seriously, look at her):

The first thing I did was paint the magic mirror on the wall (see the first photo in the post). That took longer than necessary, but it was fun! I used a mirror of my moms and it was perfect. Next, I wanted a tulle skirt for the dining room table. Damn Pinterest! The pin I found was a little round table, not the 10 foot table we have. But, I figured how hard could it be? I did some mental figuring and bought 25 yards of red tulle and whatever pink fancy material Joann's had on sale to cover the top. I went home, cut a manageable piece of tulle and gathered it on my machine.

See that above? All 25 yards. Yeah, I was in trouble. That was doubled over too. So, I went back to Joann's bought them out. Then Hobby Lobby (on New Years Day) then Mike went to another Hobby Lobby and bought what they had. I had just enough left to cover the holes the electrician made in the ceiling when he fianlly hung the lights we bought before Christmas - Christmas 2011, that is.

I actually gathered almost 200 yards of tulle (if anyone needs some red tulle, I will pay you to take some), but it looked pretty cool. I went to Party City to get some fun stuff to hang and to Michaels for some red glitter to make hanging lanterns even more fun. Bought some stuff on Amazon. Had a sugar Cinderella carriage made, set up a vignette and oh, most importantly, hired some princesses.

Ok, this seems like a gross thing, but candy melt dipped match allows with sanding sugar are really good. They went like hot cakes.

So, this fantastic cake. Well, Lee brought it in, set it on the table, we walked out, came back in two seconds later, and Layla was eating a tower! We turned the cake a bit and no one noticed. That was one part we didn't offer anyone. This cake was so good, I had to throw away what was left the next day. Every time I walked by, I had a fork in hand to take another bite.

Charley was do excited. She wanted all the princesses to come. I explained some had prior commitments. She did not want a pirate to come or boys for that matter. Our sweet little brat actually hid under the dining table when our friend Torin came. Marci had to crawl under their and coax the birthday girl to come out.

Cha Cha was really excited.

This is Pirate Pete.

Belle and Aurora read books, played games, decorated a crown - they were fabulous! I couldn't have asked for better entertainment. Pirate Pete had some music and games for the boys as well.