Tomboy Mom in Search of Girly Party Ideas

I had a "Tea Party" for my daughter! :) It was fun for them and cheap to accomplish! You can make the sandwiches and just get the beverages and if they want, can be dressed up! I had the girls dress up in whatever princess dress they had (Halloween costumes!), and I got crowns, and got a few activities together. Go to the Doller Store and pick up accessories - they have plenty to choose from. We had at a place that had a park so after eating, they were able to play! :) I dressed up my daughter as Alice (as in Wonderland), and all the girls and the parents who came, had a great time! :) Hope this helps!

Libby Lu is about as girly-girl as it gets. I don't know if they have one near you or not, but we've been to a few parties there and it is GIRLY! Makeup, hair, fashion show, etc.

Well, the girliest thing I can think of is a tea party.
Let her invite 4 girls (one guest per her age.)
Get a plastic tea set, set up the table real nice, make cup cakes, get chocolates, make some tea (light colored as to not stain if it gets spilled.) Put some relaxing music on and let the girls "play tea party." They can bring their stuffed animals and pretend they have babies. Get a book on tea etiquette and you can be the hostess and teach the kids proper tea behavior. Talk in a funny voice - the kids will love it.

Tea party. It is awesome. Go to thrift stores for the table setting or grandma's linen closet. Buy a cheap teas set at toys r us. The invitations can be printed on paper lacy doilies" which you can find at your local BBQ or western store or cute paper with a tea bag attached. Have it in your back yard.]

lynn

When my daughter was that age I went to Target or Rite-Aid and bought lots of inexpensive make-up and nail polish. Then, I let the girls go crazy putting it on like "big girls". The photos from that party are really fun. Also, I let the girls decorate the birthday cake. Give each kid a section of cake and provide them with sprinkles, chocolate chips, tubes of frosting, whipped cream, etc. Lots of fun for any age!

Invite the girls to the park, dressed as their favorite princess, and paint nails, blow bubbles, build sand castles, and eat princess party food (little frosted cakes, finger sandwiches cut in party shapes, long pretzel wands, carrot sticks). Put girly girl lip gloss on and have a scavenger hunt for the girls!

Take them for an afternoon tea party?

There's Lovejoy's in SF Noe Valley or a number of others in the East Bay and South Bay listed here: http://parents.berkeley.edu/recommend/places/tea.html

Hi Cecilia

My daughter is a true girly-girl as well. Last year we had some family issues around my kid's storm for her
party, I pulled out a huuuuuge tub of dress ups I had onto the front lawn. I set up three different tables at different points all around the yard. One table had their big cousin putting on make up and nail polish, the next was a decorate your own cupcakes station with all sorts of frostings, icing, candies and sprinkles. The other was a craft station where the girls could make bracelets and necklaces. I got all sorts of great photos of all the girls individually as well as acting out impromptu skits together according to their costume. It was simple but the girls loved it. Guess what sort of party she wanted this year? Repeat!!

4 is pretty little so at that age you might want to do a teddy bear tea party. This can be very inexpensive. You do tea or hot chocolate, cookies and little peanut butter and jelly or honey sandwhiches... (honey for the bears!) Invite all the girls to dress up and bring their favorite bear. Then you can read a couple of books about bears. Then just let them play.
Other fun party ideas we have had are a luau, you can spend as much or as little as you want. A chocolate party! We had all things chocolate (my daughters favorite thing on earth) and a jump house. Even the parents enjoyed this as we had a chocolate fountain! We also had a polka dot party where we did all those old fashioned games like 3 legged race, gunny sack race, egg toss etc. Martha Stewart sells a "mini" kit where everything is mini, mini hats, mini plates mini forks, mini banner, mini goody bags. (Michaels sell this)
But my advice is at 4 keep it simple, the girls really just want to play with a few things to make it special. Go with what she loves... my girls like the planning as much as the party.

a princess picnic party at a park in your area. Make foam crowns with kit from party city. Paint fingernails or toes with quick-dry nail polish. tell girls to dress up in dress-up clothes and jewelry. Serve finger sandwiches and decaf iced tea on (tea partyish) they'll love it. good luck!

you already have a lot of great responses and I haven't read through them all so I'm sorry if this is duplicative...Michael's Arts and Crafts hosts great parties (and are very reasobaly priced (bet $4 and $10 per kid depending on the craft you choose). the girls can make different kinds of jewlery, paint/decorate something for their rooms, my daughter had her 3rd birthday their and the kids painted t-shirts. It was a lot of fun!

Have a tea party! Have small finger sandwitches and have the girls decorate their own cupcakes. Use lemonaid as "tea" and put flowers and a fancy table cloth on the table. Also head off to a thrift store and look for mismatched cups and saucers and have the girls take them home as there special gift. They can play dress up too....ect....

Cecilia,

I am known as the Mom who was scared to have a girly-girl, I had two boys before I was ready for my little princess, and although she is only 16 months to celebrate her 1st birthday we had a BBQ/Princess Party, and I went to the dollar store and found some cute decorations in pink (they have everything! Plates, cups, silverware, table clothes, napkins, streamers, balloons, happy birthday signs, I went over to the toy section and they have boas, sometimes they have tierras, and wands!) Then I headed over to Michaels and for about $30 I was able to get enough foam crowns (about a dollar a piece), rhinestones (depending on the ones you want they can be $2 a bag or $7-8 for a variety pack), and glue (about $2 a bottle and 2 bottles was more than enough for my crowd) for 18 people to make thier own princess and prince crowns, it was fun for kids and grown-ups a like and easy to clean up afterwards. This is also something that is very do-able at a park and once you are done you can just roll everything up in the dollar store table cloth and throw it away! The girls get to take home thier own self made crowns and everyone is happy!!

Good luck! Have fun! And remember some of the best parties are the cheapest ones!

You can take them to a nail salon and ask to have their toenails painted...not a pedicure, just painted which is much easier for them to sit through and less expensive as well. Then take them out for ice-cream. That is little girly girl heaven!

My girls are 4 (almost 5) and 7 and they are girly-girls. If you are only planning to a small party. Call a local nail shop and see if they can set up a small party for girls getting pedicures. It won't take that long, and sometimes they will allow you to serve snacks while some of the girls are getting their toes done. just bring a few cup cakes and call it a day! It won't like more than an hour and a half. just give little bottles of nail polish or pedicure kits (target has cute stuff in the make up section that are already put together)and you are all done.

There are so many different inexspensive things that you can do, go to wal-mart and buy their dress up trunk and the girls can dress up, have a run-way show,model for pictures (that you can take and send them as thank you cards with lil notes on the back of the pic) and then your daughter can keep the trunk and enjoy after the party. There is lots of fun girly party stuff at the 1.25 stores. You can have a princess party where the girls can make crowns, they have foam crowns at Michaels that they can decorate (there is a party craft and a lil goodie to take home)and just get princess plates and stuff like that. ask your daughter what she might like and find lil ways to simplify. Good luck and no matter what have fun!

Cecilia, I am a tomboy mom with a 4 year old girly girl! Fortunately, at age 4, you can do something very simple and she will enjoy it. 4-5 of her little friends are a lot of company for a 4 year old. Have a "princess tea party". You can do it in your house, or a neighborhood park with a picnic table. With a small group, even if your apartment is small, you may find it easier to do at home because you won't have to cart things around. In the invitation, ask the attendees to dress up as a princess. Set a pretty table with real tea cups and saucers, if you can. Kids really feel special when they get to use the real thing. Serve little peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut into small squares and little pieces of cut up fruit. You can put the fruit on toothpick skewers if you want to be fancy. Princess theme birthday cakes are widely available but kids always prefer cupcakes, probably because everyone gets their own. Get the little miniature cupcakes that every grocerystore bakery sells. Little girls will love them. As an activity, maybe you could have the girls decorate a chair as a throne and then when it's done, take a picture of each little princess sitting in it. Find inexpensive rhinestone tiaras to give as favors. Have fun.

Well when I was little my mom threw all of my parties, still does at 18. It's something we both can enjoy. I remember a birthday party that I did again when I turned 17. We had a princess party. You make all of your daughter's favorite treats or bbq and have drinks. A good drink item is Capri Sun, freeze half of the two flavors you buy and keep the other for drinking or make punch with them. And have the girls and/or boys dress up like princesses and princes, they wear their favorite party dress. You can bring a friend of yours to help you. At my younger party I had a make up station with glitter and lipstick and blush. This is perfect for doing in the park. Depending on how many kids you have you can think of something cool as party favors. You can get t-shirts from your local craft store, and all the kids can write on them and it's something that they will treasure for ever, and they can keep them. And if you wanted you could iron on the back "Daughter's Name 4th Birthday Party" "Princesses and Princeses are best friends!"
I hope this helped, if you have any more questions let me know I love planning parties.

Good Morning Cecilia,

I'm not sure what your budget is but "Libby Lu" inside Arden mall is "GREAT". I took my daughter there when she was about 5yrs old and she loved it and they have party packs for small groups. They do hair, nails, light glitter make up and they also get party backpacks with gifts inside of them that they get to pick out of a certain section of gifts. Hope your party turns out great:-)

Hi Cecilia-

I've got to agree with most other responses...a princess party. Have each little girl dress up as a 'princess' and have the party at a local park. Maybe a friend (or another mom) can help you out a bit and paint each girls nails. Check with local discount stores (Big Lots, Dollar/99 cent stores, etc.) and you should be able to find nail polish, lip gloss, princess wands, tiarras (sp), pink table clothes, etc. As a craft project, you could have each girl make a card with a drawing of themself dressed up in their princess outfit. Collect the cards, and later your daughter can use each card as a thank you letter and send it back to each girl. Make the food simple! You don't want to be stressed out trying to make all different kinds of food. Have a great time...I am sure your daughter and her friends will! :)

You could take the girls for manis and pedis at the local beauty college.

I did a princess party for my girly-girl's 4th bday last year. I hired a "princess", Snow White(cost about $160), it was totally worth it. She entertained the kids for 1.5 hours. Did a magic show, face painting & ballon animals. Even the little boys loved it. And all the little girls came to the party in princess costumes . . . very cute!!Here's thier website:

http://www.magicprincess.com/tips.html

A friend of mine just did a very fun party for girls. They had a garden tea party. She went to several good will stores for dress up clothes, shoes, hats, jewelry and gloves and various china tea cups and tea pots and table cloths. The girls had a blast.

When my daughter turned 4 we had a princess party. We put a blanket in one corner and a pile of her dress up clothes. The kids came in their own dress up clothes if they wanted to. I went to a department store and got several lipstick samples (for free) and made a large frog face on poster board. We played kiss the frog. The girls were blindfolded and each had their own sample lipstick so their were less germs. One at a time (like pin the tail on the donkey) the little ones spun and tried to kiss the frog. They loved the game. We served little sandwiches and made it like a tea party. Hope this helps,
We have great memories of it.
M

Hi Cecilia-!

Go to a local park. Brink pink balloons and princess hats for everyone. Get a princess cake from Safeway and little bags with stickers and a small toy. Have a treasure hunt at the park with a treat at the end. Make or buy a special 'princess' cape or crown for your daughter. The kids will have a ball just playing on the playground. Eat cake/ice cream, open gifts and you are done -!

I have 3 girls - two of them are tomboys, but my 6 year old is a total girly girl. Have fun with it - !!!

I can offer a few ideas, depending on what your budget is and since your not thinking about alot of kids (smart by the way). Roller Skating at San Jose Skate is about 8-10 dollars a child, or even miniature golfing is about 7-10 dollars a child, or something real simple as a park or maybe even a friends house (if they don't mind). I have twin boys and have their party at my mother's house every year, have minimum of 20 kids, with cake, snacky type foods, pinata, bounce house and gift bags I usually spend about 300 dollars.

If your only going to have a few children you could probably keep your budget to under 100 dollars. For gift bags, decorations, plates and silverware the dollar store, make the cake yourself or maybe ask a friend.

Hope this helps, good luck

B.

Hi Cecilia.
Build a Bear Workshop is always fun. Most shopping malls have them. The kids get to pick out their own outfits for their new stuffed animals and they get to see it stuffed right in front of them. Not sure of the cost but I know several people who have had little parties there and then go for ice cream.

Your party does not need a theme or anything fancy. Have it in a local park or your backyard, have a craft project (which serves as a memento or party favor), pizza, and cake. If you feel your daughter needs something to make it more girly, offer her a few choices in invitations/thank-you cards and let her pick one. The craft project can be something like painting treasure boxes, decorating fairy wings, gluing foam shapes on foam visors, etc. Glitter glue goes a long way to making any craft project cool for 4-year-olds! Don't break the bank, don't sweat it - just have some fun!

I'm not sure where you live but, there is a great little place in Alameda called Julie's Tea House. It's on Park St and it has a great back patio for gatherings. You could call them to see if they do tea parties for girls birthdays. You could also have the girls dress up and they could have a REAL tea party and bring gifts. I know they have goodies to eat but maybe you could bring a small cake for dessert.

Hope this helps,
N.

Girls girls love manicures. Find a place nearby that will just do the polish. They will love it!

Cecilia,

A tea party would be perfect, especially for a small group of 5-7. If you prefer to do something outside of your home and not worry about coordinating or buying a bunch of items, check out Lisa's Tea Treasures. They are in Campbell and San Jose.

Cecilia, Build a Bear was a great hit for a small group of girls - They have alot to choose from and keep the dollar amount for each bear to the amount you agree upon up front.
Then you do not have to worry about party bags etc... The only problem I had...(and maybe it has changed) there is no party room for cake or anything - Good luck!
Regards,
D.

hi
my sister in law always takes her girls and their friends to get pedicures and have lunch! They love it.... lunch can be carls jr and the pedicures can get done for $15 a peice at certain places. :)'
good luck!

Hi Cecilia,

I'm with you. I'm NOT a girly-girl either. But I have twin girls who are. YIKES! Anyway, try having a dress-up party. Lots of fancy dresses, big hats, boas & scarves, high heel shoes, sun glasses, etc. Let them paint finger nails or decorate newspaper hats. My girls had a blast at their party that year! Hope it works out nicely for yours.

Hey Cecilia,
You know you could always have the girls go to Build-A-Bear workshop. I think they do small parties for like $10 a child.

How about a picnic tea party? Read her the Angelina ballerina birthday book first (Angelina has a picnic birthday party). They'll love it! We did this for my daughter's sixth. It was fun, easy and not too expensive.

You can turn anything to girly girl with a little creativity. Since you don't have much room how about an outdoor tea party. You can pick up real tea cups at thrift stores and make it special and have each of the girls dress up. The menu could include finger sandwiches, juice in the tea cups, tea cakes etc.
You could do the same thing with a McDonalds party by adding the fru fru eliments yourself with dishes and so forth
Good luck

How about a English-style tea party in the park? You can get some tea cups at the thrift store and let each girl take her cup and saucer home as a party favor. Just make little finger sandwiches and cupcakes and put a little bunch of flowers on a card table. Tell the guests to wear a dress with flowers on it and a fancy hat. I went actually went to a bridal shower where were supposed to where a "garden party hat" and it was a kick to see everyone in theirs. Have fun!

I believe having a party at your house or go out to pizza. I have boys, and they rather go to Funworks, and to a movie. I have no idea how this started. I am not into celebrating birthdays that much, or order a large pizza and have it at home. Rent a movie, play charades, something like that.Some people like to buy mini bags and hand out candy. I can't think of anything other than that.

You could take them to a park & have a picnic. You could also take them to a movie & bring your own snacks/drinks to help keep the cost down.

When my daughter was little we attended a Barbie Party, all the girls brought their Barbies and each girl dressed up. When the girls arrived they got their hair done, make up and nails done. And the girls just played with their Barbies.

I like the Disney Princess Party that would be nice. My daughter gave her daughter one of those. She also invited Cinderella to come and Cinderella painted the faces and brought other costumes especially for the boys. But all the girls was dressed up like a Disney Princess. Even the jumper was a Disney Princess.

Definately find out what is your daughters favorite cartoon. You never know she might like Transformers.

Invite the girls to the park where you can have a table set up with Pink & White or barbie plates etc. and have a tea party. Have Tea in the middle with tea cups and have finger sandwiches and little mini cupcakes etc. Or they can decorate their own cupcakes with the frosting. They can all bring a white T-shirt and make puffy paint T-Shirts and have a girly pinata and play telephone.

Try to go with something your daughter is into...her favorite show/character, Disney Princess party.
Here is a web site that has some great ideas and even whole party kits at reasonable prices.
http://www.celebrateexpress.com/celebration/default.aspx?...

How about an at-home party with a Princess theme. My granddaughter (age 5) went to one a couple of weeks ago and had a ball. they had a clown who made balloon animals and princess gift bags. You can get a ton of princess stuff to fill goody bags at the .98 cent store.

hello,
check out fairyland- www.fairyland.org

There's this place called Libby Lu's...it's a VERY girly salon for little girls! I just took my daughter for her 4th b-day to get her hair done. They, do make up, nails, hair and they get a bag to shop. There are different packages and my daughter loved it! here's the site to see if there's one near you:

http://www.clublibbylu.com/

good luck!

I have one of those too...gymnastics party, ceramics, ice skating, chuck e cheese, pizza & a movie, there is lots of options !

I don't know if you can get help or not, but my friend and I did a princess party for my little sister, and what we did was split the girls in two groups. One group was getting Princess "makeovers" (lots of cheap glittery make-up and glitter hairspray), while the other half made fairy princess wands. You can get ideas for crafts at crayola.com, then just do cake and punch. Since it's such a small group, it wouldbe fun to go to the thrift store and get them there own princess cup and suacer, they could even take it home. If youa re going for the princess theme, I would see if you can get a friend or another parent to help.
Also, they would probably have a blast just going to the movies or haveing a movie "night" at your house. Paint nails, watch movies, sing in the hairbrush, and have all kinds of munchies. From like 5-7. They just like to feel grown up :-)

Good Luck! Us girly girls are a handful!

Hi Cecilia,
How about inviting the girls to a park? Give your daughter of several books, you can borrow at the library, and have her select one for her party theme. Then offer paper, pencils, crayons, modeling wax and other goodies, so the childen can recreate the book. Another idea is to have your daughter select a book and have her and her guests dress up like the charactes from the book, or you can have everything in her favorite color (pink, purple???) and call it a purple/pink people party at the park. You can even use food color to make the rereshments her chosen color, cookies and cake batter can be colored, so can bread.
You can find party favors and such at the dollar store and God and the weather willing the park is a great place for parties.
Happy birthday to her and fun to everybody.

If it is coming up soon (i.e. good weather)-hit the Dollar Store and have a "Princess" tea party in the park

Try this web site http://www.buildabear.com/party/default.aspx?sc_hpan=Tabs for Build a Bear. It is fun for all boys or girls and my niece has been to several. You get to decide how much you want to spend starting at $10 per child. The web site has the details. There is one at Westfield Valley Fair and Westfield Oakridge. Another idea is a gymnastics party. Try West Valley Gymnastics at http://www.wvgs.com/events/bdayparties.php a little more pricy though.

Just some ideas.

What about rock climbing at the Touchstone gym in Concord? All kids, girls, boys, girly girls alike will love this.