Review: Captain Fantastic Princess Party
As part of D’s fifth birthday party, Captain Fantastic asked if she would be interested in having a real life Princess come along, bringing some real life magic with her too.
Of course D was!
‘I had a telephone call from a Princess today’ I said to her ‘and she asked if it might be possible to come to your party, she heard it is going to be a lot of fun’
‘PLEASE did you tell her yes she can come?’ pleaded D.
Well, I was fairly sure that was going to be her reaction so yes, I had definitely said she could come (and sorted out all the associated details with Captain Fantastic, which was actually remarkably easy. I was left wondering what I had forgotten, it actually all seemed a little bit too easy in a way… ).
‘And what Princess is she?’ wondered D, her eyes alight with excitement. Well, that’s one thing I had forgotten to clarify as it turns out.
‘I think she is called Princess Aria’ I said, which of course D promptly misheard. ‘Princess Tiara! I LOVE Princess Tiara!’
And that was that – there was no convincing her otherwise. So D counted down the days, and asked endless questions about Princess Tiara – would she do REAL magic? Does she have a wand? What colour is her dress? Does she like unicorns and rainbows? Has she phoned again, and is she definitely coming? (she did phone again, a couple of days before the party to make sure everything would run smoothly which was great as it set my mind at ease a bit) – and then – finally – the day of the party arrived.
The fun started with a bubble machine, which is always a winner with kids and this time was no exception. Within minutes they were all running around with big grins on their faces.
Once they all had the idea that something interesting was going on, Princess Tiara got them all sitting down to help her out with a bit of magic. There were a range of ages at the party, between 2 months old and 7 years, and I was impressed with how well the magic was pitched to appeal to all of them (well, apart from D’s little 2 month old cousin who actually slept through most of it and was therefore not bothered at all).
Following a bit of slapstick (misidentification of the ‘birthday girl’) Princess Tiara lost her wand, had a bendy wand, got in a bit of bother with an inflatable mallet, and did some magic painting too. As the birthday girl, D was so thrilled to be the ‘special helper’ and the smile literally never left her face. Some of her guests were a bit more reticent, and took a little while to get the confidence to come and join in, but Princess Tiara was gently encouraging and made everything look like so much fun that by the end of the show, all the kids were up and bouncing around.
Then there was a bit of a talent show, and every single child was invited to come and do a dance, sing a song or tell a joke. Which they all did, and I really liked that they all got the opportunity to have some attention. And then there was a quiz, with the kids having to be first to shout out when they recognised TV theme tunes. That got a really good reaction and I quite liked it too – its clear I don’t watch as much kids TV as they do though!
I was beginning to marvel at how stress free everything was, and how it was nice to actually sit down at a party I’d organised and be able to chat to some of the other parents.
At that point, Princess Tiara suggested that the kids grab their parents… so the sitting was short lived…
Luckily, it wasn’t parent-grabbing for the purposes of some kind of magical humiliation, but actually for a really fun session of the Hokey Cokey. I can’t remember the last time I did the Hokey Cokey on dry land (probably when I was a kid myself) and it actually is a lot more fun than I remembered. The perfect way to finish everything off!
D was presented with a balloon flower, and then Princess Tiara announced it was time for her to go – along to the accompaniment of Let It Go from Frozen…
As quickly as the set had gone up, it was taken down, whilst the kids tucked in to a well earned birthday tea.
We have never had an entertainer at a party for the kids before – I usually just rope in all the family and do some DIY party games. I think I have definitely been converted though, the ease of getting everything arranged and the stress being taken out of making sure everyone was entertained and happy meant that I felt a lot less frazzled than usual by the end of the afternoon – and I actually got to spend some time watching D enjoy herself, as well as joining in with the fun too. It’s obviously not as cheap as a very frugal DIY party but with parties starting from £155, it’s actually very reasonably priced for the hassle-free fun you get in exchange.
Captain Fantastic do a whole range of parties including Pirate Parties, Science Parties and Interactive Discos – with lots to choose from I’m steering all the kids* towards a Captain Fantastic Party next year too 🙂
*not very much steering is involved, they are all already planning which Captain Fantastic party to have next!
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