2011 Princess Party

Last night was the Second Annual McCarty Princess Party. There were 21 girls (plus 8 college ladies) who spent the entire night learning about being Princesses with God as our King, playing games, coloring, decorating cookies and watching princess movies. We got started at 8:00 last night (after setting up all day) and left at 9:30 am (after breakfast with Moms and clean up). It was exhausting. It was trying on my patience. It was, at points, frustrating. Most importantly, it was OH so worth it!

Last year, we did a lot of crepe paper streamers, hung a few sheets, made it look girly and princess-y. This year - thank you Pinterest - we were much more prepared!

Here are a couple of our decorations:

Castle entryway with the red carpet...I'm searching for the post that inspired this, but can't find it anywhere. I'm pretty sure it was found on Pinterest...

We also did individual pictures of each girl in front of the castle.

This was originally going to be in the living room / TV room area so that it formed a canopy area for watching the movies in. But I couldn't figure out how to make that work well because of the shape and size of the room. So it became the snack area instead - if it was in the canopy, you could eat it. If not, hands off!

We had a return of Pin the Kiss on the Frog - which the girls were excited about!

We also did a make-up relay. Each girl had to come and put the make-up on one cheek, eye, lips, etc. and then run back to their team for the next girl. It was a lot of fun...and the end result was, um, beautiful?

But that tied perfectly into our lesson: the goal should be for us to be pretty on the inside - not just on the outside. The lesson was based off of 1 Samuel 16:7 and 1 Peter 3: 3-4 - If God places priority on the way we are on the inside, and views a quiet and gentle spirit as very precious, then that's where our focus should be.

I love working with young girls - particularly those of our local congregation. We've got some great families who have done a marvelous job with their girls and I always look forward to those opportunities that I get to interact with them!