Summer Projects and Plans

Happy Memorial Day!

As most of you are off from work today with your kids, you are probably getting a small taste of what you can look forward to this summer.  Perhaps "looking forward to" doesn't apply to everyone at this point -- no matter how much you may love your children, the prospect of having your kids home for a couple of months can seem daunting to any parent. However, by busying your kids with activities and projects, you can help make this time an enjoyable one for your kids as well as yourself.

With this in mind, we've been really busy on Pinterest lately!  We've continued to add to our Party Activities and Games board and our Kids' Crafts board, as well as our newest Parenting a Princess board, including as many summer-friendly ideas as we can find.  Of course, we'd love for you to swing by the page and take a look, but in the mean time, we've  brought a few ideas to share today.  Just like with our Rapunzel round-up, these ideas are not NYPP originals; instead, they have been pinned from Pinterest and the Internet and have been given proper credit where credit is due.  Please refer to the caption for more info about each idea (you may even find some helpful tutorials).

Enjoy!

Touchable BubblesSource: Little Austinite

Source: Lil' Luna

Liquid Sidewalk Chalk
Source: Domestic Charm

Source: I Can Teach My Child

Dancing Oobleck: a mixture of cornstarch, water, and food coloring and you have a substance that moves with sound.  A great way to make soundwaves a more tangible concept!
Source: Housing a Forest

Balloon Ping Pong
Source: Weekend Homemaker

Fort/reading nook made from a hula hoop!
Source: Craftify It

Salt + Glue + Paint = Squeals of Delight (the paint spreads across the sand/glue before your eyes)
Source: One Perfect Day

A great round-up of ideas, many of which are free!
Source: That's So Cuegly

A great project for the whole family
Source: Pinterest user, Kylie Hill

Screem-Free week has past, but this great round-up of ideas never lose their excitement
Source: Nurture Store

Pencil Eraser Stamps
Source: Unknown, via Pinterest

Whew!  That outta keep you and your kids busy, at least for a little while!  As we continue to add to our boards, please check back or better yet, subscribe by clicking on this handy dandy button:

And keep in mind: a visit from one of your friends at New York Princess Party can help liven up any summer -- it doesn't even have to be just for a birthday.  Invite one or more of our characters, pick from our list of kid-friendly crafts and activities, and we'll do the rest!

Visit our website to book us today!

Whimsical Locations: Belvedere Castle in Central Park

Source

With the weather finally warming up, an outdoor party is a great idea for anyone making birthday plans.  And what better place to have a picnic for a young prince or princess than by an actual castle?  Fortunately, New Yorkers are in luck because our very own Central Park has just that!  

Located mid-park at 79th Street, accessible from both the East and West Side of Manhattan, Belvedere Castle is a gorgeous 19th century structure designed by Calvert Vaux (who also co-designed Central Park with Olmsted). Although it was originally built to be merely decorative, it's now used by the National Weather Service as a place to collect data. It's also host to many free activities throughout the year including "On A Wing" birding events, astronomy talks, storytelling, and even a haunted castle event every Halloween!

Source

Of course you must obtain a permit to have a party or picnic here, but these are surprisingly inexpensive and can be obtained here.  But first things first: swing by our website or call us at (646) 504-9824 to book your entertainment with NY Princess Party.  We offer many characters, including princes and princesses, and we're familiar with the area since we've done parties here before (just last week, Cinderella and Rapunzel paid a surprised birthday girl a visit).  

So... Check out Belvedere Castle, pick a date, contact us, and let us help you make your child's birthday a magical and memorable one!

Subscribe to our blog today and you'll be notified when we put up new posts, including more on whimsical party locations and inclusive packages!  What are you waiting for?

Rapunzel Round-up

Nowadays, one of the biggest crazes for young girls is Rapunzel -- and it just so happens, we also love the lady with the long locks and have our own fairy tale-inspired version -- available for your next event!

Since our very own Rapunzel has been invited to so many birthday parties lately, we thought we would present a round-up of fun, Rapunzel-inspired party ideas.  We searched the Internet and found all kinds of great tips and tricks, including decor, favors, invitations, cakes, food, activities, games, and more!

To check out the original source of the image or idea, just click on the link below the picture (definitely check some of these out for their easy tutorials).

Tablescape (source unknown)

Rapunzel Craft

Rapunzel Cake

Party Invitation

A collection of Rapunzel party ideas

Tablescape

Tower cake

Braid party favors

                             

Tablescape

Tower cupcakes in ice cream cones

Rapunzel Party Ideas

Royal Bunting

Hope you enjoyed that round-up!  All of this (and even more) can be found on our newly re-vamped Pinterest page.  Not only do we have themed party boards, we also have crafts for kids, ideas for cakes, and our newest board (that we're especially excited about), "Parenting a Princess."

Go check it out, then subscribe to our page to catch a sneak pick of our newest pins!

NY Princess Party on Pinterest

As you may remember, we started a Pinterest page back in February.  We've loved being able to pin ideas and put it all in one accessible place, as well as picking up inspiration from the rest of the Pinterest community.

However, this past week we overhauled our page, got to organizing, and then got to Pinning (again).  The end result is a more streamlined page with different boards for some of our more popular categories, including cakes, party favors, tablescapes, party decor, activities, games, and themed parties.  Within our themes, we have boards for Rapunzel, Cinderella, mermaid, and pirate parties (so it's not just for princesses!).

We hope that as our page grows, it can become a source for you party planning parents out there who don't have the extra time to do the research, but still want to throw a fabulous birthday party for your children.  By doing all of this legwork for you ahead of time, our Pinterest page will not only be a source of inspiration, but a timesaver as well!

The page is an ever-evolving project for us, so over time we will continue to Pin more ideas and make more boards. If you want to stay up to date, you can follow us:  New York Princess Party.  (And if you don't already have a Pinterest account, you should join -- It's easy, fun, and free!)

Go check it out, then tell us what you think!  We'd love the feedback, especially if you have ideas for boards you'd like to see or themes you'd like us to explore!

Craft Corner: Pipe Cleaner Crowns

Today we begin what (we hope) will be an exciting new, ongoing series: Craft Corner!  With this series, we hope to post monthly tutorials for crafty ideas that you can do with your kids.  Of course we'll have our share of princess projects, but we also plan to do some prince projects (and pirate projects, too -- for all the swashbuckling boys and girls out there). 

For today's tutorial, we have a very kid-friendly (and budget-friendly) craft: Pipe Cleaner Crowns. 

You Will Need:

•        2 pipe cleaners (any color, though metallics look great!)

•        4 bobby pins

•        Five minutes of free time!

1.   First, take one pipe cleaner and make a ring.  Do this by gently bending the pipe cleaner into a circular shape, then wrapping the ends around the ring.

2.   Next, the actual decorative crown part:  You can do this a lot of ways, but my favorite way is three loops.  Make a loop on the center by finding the middle of the second pipe cleaner and twisting around twice. 

3.   Then take one end and make a slightly smaller loop.

4.   Repeat this on the other side.  You should end up with three loops -- the one in the enter being the biggest.

5.   Once you're happy with your shapes, attach it to the first pipe cleaner ring by wrapping both ends around the ring.

For the princes out there, you can use this same method, but maybe instead of the loops, you could do a few points -- Something more reminiscent of a prince's crown.

Once your crown is complete, you can attach it to the top of your child's head using bobby pins on either side (I recommend making an "x" with the bobby pins that way it is locked into place).

These are great for dress-up, but they'd also make wonderful, cost-effective party favors.  You could have a "coronation ceremony" of sorts at your party, giving each boy or girl a crown -- and maybe even a special title!  Duchess Dance-a-lot... Lady Silly-Nilly, Countess Cartwheel... the possibilities are endless!

Don't miss a minute of the crafty goodness!  Subscribe today and get our newest posts directly to your inbox... Or subscribe via Reader: just find us under "NY Princess Party."

NY Princess Party now accepts SquareCard!

NY Princess Party is pleased to announce our recent partnership with SquareSpot. SquareSpot is a new online marketplace dedicated to meeting the needs of discerning moms and families. It’s where you’ll find great offers and discounts on high quality, family-centric products and services.

Now all you SquareSpot members can receive 10% off your booking with NY Princess Party by providing your SquareSpot Card Member ID Number at checkout. Find us on their site, and while you're there take a look around!

Spotlight on Costumer Liz Samuels

NY Princess Party strives to attract the best people for our team and that even applies to the person clothing our lovely ladies. Today we are pleased to brag all about Liz Samuels, our talented costumer!

Liz's love of costumes goes way back to her childhood when playing dress up was her favorite activity. Her mom always made Liz's Halloween costumes, and as soon as she was old enough she started sewing pillows and little stuffed animals. She has loved sewing ever since, moving on to patterns, fashion design, and period costuming.  Liz graduated from NYU in 2009 with a BA in Italian with a focus in Medieval and Renaissance History. Her love of history combined with her passion for clothing, color, and form are the backbone for Liz's intricate costume work. In addition to working with NY Princess Party she regularly works in the world of film designing imaginative costumes.


Of course with all this talk of fashion and costuming we wouldn't leave you in the dark about what we have in the works right now....

Liz was able to give us a sneak peek of the progress on our new Cinderella gown currently being hand made. Take a look at the photos below! We hope you get as giddy as we did to see it start to come together!!