A Princess Party for Baker’s 3rd Birthday

Before we headed to Rwanda a few weeks ago, we celebrated Baker’s 3rd birthday with a princess party fit for the princess she is. Just like last year, her birthday fell the same week we left for Rwanda so I kept her party even simpler than her Bubble Guppie 2nd birthday with a royal celebration at our house. It was a crazy week and I’ve made a mental note to do Baker’s party after we get home from Rwanda, if we go at the same time next year. I’ve had many people (ie: Cory) talk about how our definitions of “simple” are clearly different, but what most people don’t understand is the visions I have in my head–so when I say simple, I mean approximately 1/32 of the decorations I want to do. Ha! Almost everything was DIY or I already had it from previous parties. See…simple.

We had the best day celebrating our girl with friends and family and the pure excitement Baker had all morning as we prepared for the party was the sweetest thing. She would shriek and squeal with excitement and then say “Is dis por mee?” It brought me so much joy to see her not only excited about the party but to understand we were celebrating her and her beautiful life. I have a love/hate relationship with this getting older business, but her princess party sure was fun!

I ordered her Disney princess invitations from BInvitedDesigns and thought they turned out so cute. For the past two years, I haven’t mailed invitations mostly because I wait until the last minute, but it makes my life so much easier to send them electronically.

The cupcakes came from Publix and I ordered cupcake toppers from Ava Scharlize Shop. Once I printed and cut out the characters, I hot glued tooth picks to them and popped them in the cupcakes.

I kept the menu super simple with princess popcorn, princess fruit wands, crown sandwiches, and pink punch.

I found a crown sandwich cutter at the grocery store and it made the little sandwiches a breeze!

Cory made all of the castles out of cardboard boxes I had been collecting all summer. He used a box cutter and tape to get the size right and then I painted them and added glitter card stock for the doors and tops.

This fabric banner was left over from our gender reveal over three years ago (cue all the tears!) and I took out the blue strips and added purple. Although once I started decorating, I wish I had left the blue in for Cinderella.

I found the honeycomb princesses at Party City and we used Baker’s Princess wardrobe from Christmas as entertainment. I made party favor bags for the girls that had a crown, tiara, princess ring from the Dollar Tree, and a princess hair clip from Party City. They also had princess stickers and ring pops.  The boys got a foam sword from the Dollar Tree with a ring pop tied around it. The party favors were a big hit!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Baker this excited. I wish I could have bottled that excitement up to save forever.

Last minute, I remembered that I didn’t have any kind of birthday shirt for her and found this one at Walmart a few days before her party. A while back, a friend of mine shared all the birthday shirts for her son over the years. She’s had one made each year and it was so sweet to see each year and size laid out. It made me wish I had done something like that each year for Baker. I just thought I’d share in case if any of your new mamas would like to do the same!

Life with our sweet Baker is such a blessing. She is pure joy to everyone she meets and her presence can brighten any room. What an honor it was to celebrate her 3rd birthday.

Our friends and family started arriving and the kids went straight to playing!

Last year, I had Baker’s pool set up, a sprinkler, a bubble station (all kinds of stuff!) but we just didn’t have the time to do all that this year. The kids had a ball playing in the water table and the sand box, which was proof I didn’t need all that last year.

I found this princess background and Disney princess balloons at the Dollar Tree. They had a surprising amount of Disney Princess party supplies for a fraction of the cost of other party supply stores like Party City.

Baker isn’t really shy but when she gets around a crowd and the attention is on her, she freezes up sometimes (like most 3 year olds, I assume). She ate up everyone singing Happy Birthday to her though!

But when it came time to blow out the candle, she got embarrassed and Daddy had to help her!

I debated on not having Baker open her gifts at the party. The kids were having fun playing and I like the idea of not making everyone watch her open the gifts but the kids and most of the adults seemed to enjoy it. Do you have your kids open the gifts at the party or wait until everyone is gone?

She was really in to opening her gifts this year. Even since last Christmas, she didn’t lose stamina half way through even though there was a lot to open (way TOO much!).

She got all kinds of good stuff! She loves Word Party on Netflix and Gigi and Pop found the characters. These went with us to Rwanda and they are now her “babies.”

She also got a really special gift from Aunt Alee and Uncle Caleb…Alee’s own American Girl doll from when she was little, and Uncle Caleb sent more princess dresses and clothes for the doll.

Gammy got Baker a fairy garden and when we got home from Rwanda, she helped her get it set up. Baker loves checking it each day for new flowers!

I’m all about practical gifts and since Baker’s birthday has fallen right before we left for Rwanda the past two years, I’ve told people she needed supplies for our trip. She has a ridiculous amount of toys so I would much rather her get stuff she needs hence the veggie straws and probably the gift she was most excited to open. She also got some goldfish, a backpack, and snacks for the trip.

Grandparents seem to always come in hot with big gifts that Baker loves and Mom and Dad are like “gee, thanks.” I guess that’s what grandparents are for! Cory’s dad and stepmom got her a massive bowling set. She has one at their house and loves it! My parents got her this piano and it actually plays. We are gonna have to get a bigger house to store all these toys!

After the gifts were open, the kids went back to playing dress up and in the water table!

I’m so thankful for these children and their parents. Their friendships are more like family and they’re my favorite kind.

We ended her princess party day watching fireworks in our driveway eating leftover ice cream and cake.

We are very thankful for the friends and family who love our girl and shower her with their time and wonderful gifts. It was a near perfect day celebrating our girl’s 3rd birthday!