The Princess wanted to just have a few special friends over to celebrate. A lot of the girls at her school are going all out - having huge Sweet Sixteen parties with formal dress, etc. The Princess stated (with a horrified expression on her face) that that was just NOT her style. She opted for low key and casual.
Of course, her idea of low key and casual is shorts, a t-shirt, and a tiara. And she kept referring to her guests as her peasants. She kept trying to upgrade herself to Queen status, but I quickly put a stop to that by informing her that there was only one queen around here and that was ME!
The Boy and his BFF, Miss B, helped chaperone - which primarily consisted of constantly reminding the high and mighty not quite sixteen year old Princess to stop referring to her lovely guests as peasants. Apparently, the other main part of hanging out and helping chaperone consisted of helping to eat the food.
The Princess's BFF, The Court-i-nator, made her a birthday poster and a CD/slideshow of photos of them growing up as best friends since the age of three. It was truly one of the sweetest and most thoughtful gifts I've ever seen, and it brought tears to my eyes.
We have a tradition at The Princess's birthday parties, that the girls decorate the cake. We've done this ever since she had her first sleepover party in the 2nd grade. It's not very...stylish, but the girls have a ton of fun squeezing glitter frosting everywhere and dumping peanut butter chips and M&M's and dollops of nutella everywhere.
They tend to sample the decorations as they work. And by the time they've had their first slice of cake (but certainly not the ONLY slice of cake of the evening), they're buzzing. And giggling. And basically bouncing off the walls.
As one might guess from the amount of sugar on that cake!
In order to preserve the windows and glass in the house, and my sanity, we went for a jaunt around the lake to allow the sugar high to wear off a bit.
After the boat ride, the kids all decided that The Princess should be pushed into the pool sixteen times - one push for each year of her life. The guests/peasants all seemed to enjoy this part of the party.
(Dear Precious Princess, That's the problem with acting all high and mighty and referring to your friends as your peasants. Peasants tend to revolt. Life lesson, sweetie!)
After the boat ride and dictator Princess dunking, the kids ate pizza and popcorn and more cake. They watched a movie and giggled a lot. They went to the Princess's bedroom where they giggled some more. They finally went to sleep around 1-ish. I think. I'm not really sure because I finally fell asleep around 1-ish. So actually, I'm not sure what time they finally went to sleep!
It was a fun birthday celebration for The Princess.
Aka, my little baby girl.
Because no matter how old or imperious she gets, she'll always be my baby girl!