Princess And The Pea

My youngest daughter, Emma, was given the nickname "Princess Emma" when she was very young, this was inspired by a very imaginative book trilogy that we read called "The Frog Princess" by E.D. Baker (highly recommend it). The star in these cute books is... Princess Emma. The character in the book had red hair that was the same shade as my daughters when she was about 9 months old, so the nickname has stuck through the past several years.

When Emma turned 2 I really wanted to run with the princess theme, we had decided to get her a big girl bed for her birthday and so the wheels in my brain started to turn and I came up with a fun theme for her party: The Princess And The Pea

Princess Paper products, decorations and favor boxes were purchased from Celebrate express.
Cake:

Games:
*Read the Princess and the Pea story to your guests, included below.
*After reading the story lay several blankets and pillows on the floor like a bed. Put a large rock under the stack and let each of your guests lay down and see if she can feel the "pea." If she can then she is a real princess. Help the princess up and give her a crown to wear.
*Celebrate the wedding with a balloon drop. My husband made a net using crepe paper and taped it to the ceiling, we lined all the princesses up and on the count of three they ripped down the net releasing all the balloons.

Refreshments:
Peas and Potato soup: make a white sauce and add purchased frozen meatballs and frozen peas, salt and pepper to taste.

The Princess And The Pea

Once upon a time there lived a prince, and this prince wanted more than anything to marry a real princess.

He went everywhere in his search for his real princess but alas he found none that lived up to his expectations.

Then one day he returned home to his castle with his mother and father, the King and Queen, and gave up on his hopes of ever marrying a real princess.

That very night a terrible storm swelled around the castle walls. The night was black as pitch. The rain pounded relentlessly on the tiled roof. As lightening sliced through the darkness a knock sounded at the door.

The old king opened the door and was shocked to find a young woman drenched from head to toe. Rain ran from her soaked cloak and seeped out from her dainty slipper shoes. She asked in a small but musical voice that she was a real princess that was lost and wondered if she could please impose upon them for a warm bed and dry clothes for the night.

The prince heard her emphasis on the "real princess" and was enthralled, the old queen on the other hand was less convinced. She decided to give the princess a test to see if she was indeed a real princess. She knew that if she was a real princess that she would of course be very sensitive, so she decided to set up a bed for her. She had her servants pull up the mattress on her bed and she placed a single pea underneath, then had the mattress replaced.
Then on top of that mattress she had the servants place 20 mattresses, then topped those with 20 eider down mattresses, and 20 quilts on top of those. The old queen smiled to herself as she helped the princess into her night dress and climb into the towering bed. The Queen thought "Now we shall see if she is a real princess."


The next morning the Queen went to awaken the princess and to see how she slept. When she climbed to the top of the bed she found the princess looking disheveled and miserable. The Queen asked the princess how she slept.

In her sing song voice the princess answered sadly, "Horribly, I don't know what was so hard in this bed but I was so uncomfortable all night that I didn't get a wink of sleep!"

At this the Queen and the Prince rejoiced, for she knew that the princess was a real princess because she was so sensitive.

And so the Prince and the Princess were married and lived happily ever after.

And as for the pea, well they put it on display in a museum for all to see.