Happy Grandparent's Day!!

"If nothing is going well, call your grandmother." - Italian Proverb

Talk about the most ooey gooey warm your heart thing of the day... today is National Grandparent's Day 2012. We must admit that this is the first year we're officially celebrating this day around princess headquarters. So in the name of all things grandparents, we went on a research mission to get our creative juices flowing. Take a look at all the great things we found! Now invite the grandparents over and tell them just what makes them so very grand :)

Funny Poems
Advantage: Grandma

The grandparent advantage
As some of you may know
Is when a tantrum starts
You can just get up and go.

Allergic Reaction

Grandkids have lots of allergies
To eggs, to cats, our pup
But their severest allergy
Appears to be to cleaning up

Texting With Grandpa Coloring Page

Get Crafty

ACCORDION PHOTO CARD
A cheerful, multifaceted display.

Materials:

• Two sheets 8 1/2-inch x 11-inch card stock, 1 dark pink, 1 magenta
• 1 sheet of light pink construction paper
• Drinking glass with 2 1/2-inch diameter for tracing circles
• Family photographs
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Ruler
• White craft glue

Instructions:

1. Trim the sheets of card stock by 3 1/4 inches lengthwise so that each measures 11 inches x 5 1/4 inches.
2. Trim 1/2 inch from the end of each piece so that each measures 10 1/2 inches x 5 1/4 inches.
3. Lay the pieces out horizontally and mark each piece of card stock at 3 1/2-inch intervals so that you have two light pencil marks separating three equal sections of cardstock.
4. Fold the card stock along the lines in the opposite directions so that the folded pieces are 3 1/2 inches x 5 1/4 inches and form a Z shape.
5. Overlap the end pieces of the two different folded card stocks and glue them together so that you have 5 faces on each side.
6. From the light pink construction paper, trace five circles, cut them out and glue them onto the faces of the card.
7. Select an array of family photos and trim them to fit within the circles.
8. Inside each light pink shape attach a snapshot with adhesive glue dots.
9. Display your photos on the nearest table or mantle.

Grandparents Day Book

Source:  http://larremoreteachertips.blogspot.ca/ 

Interview your Grandparents
Sample questions to learn more about your grandparents (For grade school age)

1. Where were you born?  What year?2. What are the names and birthdates of your brothers and sisters? 3. Did you have a pet when you were growing up? 4. Did you get an allowance? 5. Who was more strict, your mom or dad? 6. What were your favorite games and activities? 7. What chores were assigned to you? 8. What did your house look like?  Is it still the same? 9. Did your house have electricity when you were young? 10. What traditions did your family have? 11. Did your family have big reunions? 12. Did you like school?  What kinds of grades did you get? 13. What were your favorite subjects? 14. When you were a teenager, what time did you have to be home at night? 15. How old were you when you met grandma/grandpa? 16. How old were you when you got married? 17. What was your first job? 18. Tell me about my mom/dad when he/she was growing up. 19. What makes you proud of my mom/dad? 20. Have you accomplished what you wanted in life? 21. What do you think the President should do for the country now? 22. What advice would you like to give me? **Source material found at www.grandparents.com and www.grandparents-day.com** SUBSCRIBE to our blog and stay up to date on all the latest and greatest princess news. Party ideas, great deals, recommendations and more! Click SUBSCRIBE at the bottom of the page.

New Boards On Pinterest!

We've been pinning away over on our Pinterest page adding all sorts of creative boards for your party (P)insperation. Some of the most recent include:

Mary Poppins Party

2012 Olympian Party

London Calling

Tea Time Recipes

Obviously we got inspired by all the attention on London this summer. How could we not?! Now that we're getting ready for fall and back to school we'll be letting our imaginations run wild with some crafty learning. What are you planning for your next themed party? Stay tuned for more boards and blogs :)

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A Tea Time Recipe

Traditional Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

INGREDIENTS

• 4 pieces of bread (your choice)
• Cream cheese (softened)
• 1 Cucumber

PREPARATION 

1. Remove the crust from all pieces of bread. This is a good task for little ones 5+ who can use a butter knife. 
2. Spread cream cheese on 2 of the pieces of bread.
3. Peel cucumber (kid job if you have a safe peeler). Slice cucumber thinly and lay slices on top of bread with cream cheese. 
4. Top with remaining bread slice and cut each sandwich into quarters. 

Fun fact about cucumber sandwiches: During the victorian era, authors would typically include a detail like the eating of cucumber sandwiches to let readers know the character was upper class. For an example, just take a look at Oscar Wilde's use of them in Scene 1 of The Importance of Being Earnest. 

Algernon: Please don’t touch the cucumber sandwiches.  They are ordered specially for Aunt Augusta.  [Takes one and eats it.]

Jack: Well, you have been eating them all the time.

Algernon:  That is quite a different matter.  She is my aunt. (Wilde 2224)

Throughout the entire scene with Jack, Algy is sitting there eating cucumber sandwiches.  He ends up eating all of them. So when Aunt Augusta finally arrives and inquires after the cucumber sandwiches Algy had promised her, Algernon and his servant, Lane, pretend that there had never been any in the first place.

Algernon: [picking up empty plate in horror]   Good heavens!  Lane!  Why are there no cucumber sandwiches?  I ordered them specially.

Lane: [gravely]  There were no cucumbers in the market this morning, sir.  I went down twice.

Algernon: No cucumbers!

Lane: No, sir.  Not even for ready money.

Algernon: That will do, Lane, thank you.

Lane: Thank you, sir.

Algernon:  I am greatly distressed, Aunt Augusta, about there being no cucumbers, not even for ready money. (2228)

Good gracious! No cucumbers  you say?!?

Now grab your fanciest hat, dust off the tea set and see who can do the better British accent for an afternoon of tea with your little one. If you're in need of additional inspiration, visit our Pinterest page for more Tea Time Recipes!

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Mary Poppins Party

Earlier this week we brought you to a magical party location that whirled and twirled with beautifully decorated animals and music. Le Carrousel in Bryant Park that is! I know when we think of carousels Mary Poppins is one of the first characters who come to mind. Our Mary Poppins has been lucky enough to get quite a few invitations to parties this year. Which makes her pretty popular over here at Princess Headquarters. So we put together an inspiring pin board to help you pull together your very own Mary Poppins party! Of course no party would be complete without a visit from Mary herself :) But before for we get ahead of ourselves....here's some highlights from the board.

PARTY SET UP

Most Mary Poppins parties can be broken down into two themes. Jolly Holiday with the carousel, light pastel colors, and some supercalifragilistic on the side. The other theme we noticed was the "all the other time Mary Poppins." With a more traditional black and red London color theme, kites, chimney sweeps and a giant Mary Poppins bag. We've compiled a little of everything. Who says you can't have it all?!

Cute themed invitation.

Non-Jolly Holiday color theme. LOVE the wall decal decorations. 

Pretty carousel inspired sweets stand.

"Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down"

Sweets and treats inspired by a day at the races.

ACTIVITIES!!

NYPP sincerely believes that no party is complete without some inspired activities. These are just a few examples below. The best part is that these activities can be adjusted to fit an age range of 3-10. So great options for mixed gender and mixed age parties!!

Create your own kite! Or for little ones under 5 provide the kites pre-constructed and ready for them to decorate with stickers and crayons. 

A music station with instruments lets anyone become a one man band. Or become a group band and let Mary lead a sing along!

Remember the amazing chalk art that Mary, Bert and the kids jump into  to go to the races?  Hand out some chalk and let your guests go to town on the drive way or sidewalk. 

Dressing for a party is almost as fun as attending the party. Encourage your guests to come in their afternoon English best. Hats and white gloves? Oh why yes please!

In other Mary news...our very own Mary Poppins will be at Pier 1, Riverside Park on August 18th for FlyNY Kite Festival. She'll be there beginning at 11am and providing FREE face painting!! See you there :)

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Calling All Olympians!

With the 2012 Olympics well underway in London and the fantastic summer weather here in NYC, it could not be a better time for an outdoor Olympian themed party! We searched our memories for our favorite field day activities growing up, as well as did some Pinterest scouring to put together an amazing new board for your party inspiration. Let's take a look at some of the highlights!

SET THE STAGE

Greet your guests at an athlete's registration table and provide any materials for the party. (Team jersey, favors etc.)

Cupcakes are an easy way to serve guests quickly and don't require extra tableware. 

This is an adorable and creative themed table.



ACTIVITIES!

A relay race gets pretty silly when each contestant must relay in the style of card selected.

3 legged race is the ultimate team work!

This looks hilarious and fun! Shower caps are put on and topped with shaving cream or whip cream. Then the team mate must see how many cheetos they can get to stick a landing.

A small balance beam is an easy DIY with a couple blocks and a 2x4.

Kids can get crafty with a medal decoration craft.

Lucky for you we have characters AND party coordinators who can lead children through games at your Olympian party! Better yet, book your party before the end of August and your birthday child will receive a free gift at the time of our visit!!

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Princess Hair Styles

Is your little one all about princess glamour? Well we have found THE ULTIMATE resource for learning how to do easy but impressive princess hair braiding and other styles. Princesshairstyles.com is the best for princess glamour.

Adorable right!? And this blog is full of ideas and how to's. A few minutes of watching an easy video tutorial and we were impressing ourselves! So grab some supplies and have some fun one on one time with your princess. But first, let's see some other great styles to get your creative juices flowing :)

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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!

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!

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