Tangled Birthday Party for a Princess

Let me just say, that I LOVE Disney’s movie Tangled!  I have long awaited a version of Rapunzel and was certainly not disappointed. The story line is classic but fresh, the scenarios run the gamut between heart sighing and hilarity and, my favorite, Rapunzel is a princess with spunk!  In case I have any readers who have yet to see it, I won’t put any spoilers in here, I will just say, “SEE IT!”

When my youngest daughter decided that she wanted a Tangled themed birthday party this year I was thrilled!  We started thinking and planning and came up with an itinerary for a party fit for a princess!  Ok…I was kind of going a little overboard.  You see, this is my baby, and she was turning TEN!  Suddenly the thought occurred to me that this just might be my last themed birthday party.  I needed to go out with a BANG! 

The Invitations:

We had a fun crafty, cut and paste and yarn evening creating these unique invitations.  If you want to recreate them, a hint is to make sure they will fit in envelopes before you spend hours making them!  I just might know this from experience...maybe.  I made the first one, and before I glued all the pieces together I used it to trace the remaining invites.  Basically, it was one long rectangle of white construction paper, a black "balcony" to which I added "wooden" details in brown construction paper.  Then a purple paper roof completed the design.  I added the printed invitation particulars (when and where, etc.) and a few decorative touches, including the yarn braids.

Tangled Invitations

The tower:

 I had a very tall box that was used to hang a wardrobe inside when we moved.  I cut a hole for the balcony and put a stool inside for each girl to stand on.  The idea behind it was to have every girl get her picture taken inside it with the long yarn braid flowing out.  Well, that didn’t happen for me, but my daughters had a fabulous time making and decorating the tower with tissue paper flowers and yarn.  I apologize for not having any pictures...it was, um, well-loved by the time I got my camera ready.

The cake:

I love baking.  I looove desserts, and I really do take pride in the ones I make.  However, any time I have ever attempted a decorative cake it has ended in disaster! Most of the time with me in tears, frantically asking my husband to run to the store to buy a not-made-by-mommy one! Which always proves to make me sad for some reason.  So why did I take on the challenge of the Tangled Tower?  I really don’t know. It's kind of like giving birth-- your brain clouds and you forget just how painful it was and suddenly you're saying, "Yeah!  Let's have another baby!" until the time you are yelling, "Don't ever do this to me again!"  Aside from that, the only thing babies have in common with cakes is that afterward, you can bask in the beauty (and sweetness) of your creation! It was a learning experience (the cake, not the baby), and I am excited for my next one (again, the cake, not the baby).  I think (hope) it will be even better!  This cake was vanilla with cream cheese frosting.  Nothing exceptional there-  BUT I covered it in decorative fondant and sugar flowers.  The tower I shaped using warm, homemade rice crispy treats.  I covered that in fondant, made a window and extra long blonde hair.  Notice the frying pan on the ground?  The only part of the cake that was not edible were the arrows.  They were made out of toothpicks and fondant "feathers."

"Tangled" tower cake

Craft:

I ordered lantern craft kits from Oriental Trading.  The lanterns were more of a “Country” style, than the floating lanterns from the movie, but they were cute and enjoyable for the kids to make!  Since this party, I have seen some that would have been more appropriate.  Like these from Toys R Us, for example.

Backyard Safari Outfitters Camp Lantern

Another fun option for outdoor adventure is a kid-friendly lantern like this.  Lighting up the night is magical on so many levels!


Of course, no Tangled Party would be complete without ACTUAL floating lanterns!  Yes, they do exist!  They require real fire and can be dangerous, though, so PLEASE exercise caution when using them.  The results are exquisitely magical!

I purchased these for $1 a piece from http://www.justartifacts.net/

Party favors:

I don’t usually do traditional gift bags.  I’m not really sure why, I don’t have anything against them, I just typically do something different.  My incongruous personality at play, perhaps.  So, I bought Tangled plates from the Disney store.  The girl’s used them during the party, then I washed them and sent them home with the party-goers in the morning.  Disney Store no longer carries this kind, but they do have an alternative. 

Thank you notes:

We decided that if the invitations had the long blonde hair, then the thank you notes needed to have the cute short hair cut.  This is what we came up with:

Tangled Thank You Notes


Happy, magical partying!

XO, Ami

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