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Where to start?

Of course, I wanted the day to be special for her, but to be honest, I really didn't know where to start. I was really hoping to have a party hosted somewhere like Chuck E. Cheeses.

I looked through the local party store, but they really only had grown-up party supplies. Then I searched online and found Birthday Express . What a life-saver that turned out to be. They run a website dedicated to kid's party supplies. Lucky for me!

What theme to choose?

So I started looking throught their site and realized that I had several choices for creating a Princess Party for my daughter.

• There was Cinderella Stardust with her stardust stickers, tiara, glass slipper, and Princess Bear Kit. She would love to dress up with their dress-up kit along with all her little friends and prance around like the little princesses they are.

• A dainty tea party might be fun, along with the white gloves, lace fans, and parosols. What little girl doesn't like to have teaparties? She and her friends could even paint their own tea sets! What fun!

• The Disney Princesses Theme provided Princess Hats, A Magical Star Wand, A Star Piņata and Pink Heart Shaped buckets. She said she kind of wanted a piņata and I knew she would love the pink heart buckets.

• The Royal Princess Party  had great castle-shaped favor boxes, a treasure box activity kit, Golden Goblets, and a dragon piņata that I really liked.

My own custom theme...

So what was I going to do. All of the things I listed above were in addition to great plates, napkins, balloons, candles, plasticware, cups, decorations, etc. How could I possibly make a decision when there really wasn't a clinker in the bunch?

Finally, I decided to take the pieces of each theme that I liked the best and put them together into my own custom theme.

So, I started with the Disney Princesses theme. The favor boxes each came with a Cinderella Stardust sticker sheet, a "glass" slipper, stick-on-gem earrings, a silver tiara, a ring, and lip gloss. These turned out to be a big hit with all the little princesses!

The Blue Princess Bear Kit turned out great too, especially since it was a small party. The girls actually put the bear's princess outfit on at the party and decorated her tiara. It was a lot of fun and each of the girls went home with a great party favor.

I decided not to choose anything out of the Dainty Tea Party theme, but I simple couldn't resist the from the dragon piņata. I decided to do what one of the moms who left a party review did. I hide the dragon and had the girls hunt for him. Once they found him, they all took turns slaying him! They had a ball!

The topping to the, hmm hmm, cake -- was the cake. Although they didn't have the great birthday cake recipes on the site that are up there now, I did manage to make a Pink Castle Cake that my daughter absolutely loved. There's a picture of it below.

Final Recommendation...

I absolutely love Birthday Express! They made it easy to find what I was looking for and gave me a lot of choices. They were very reasonably priced (I got off cheaper than if I had bought a hosted party elsewhere!). They shipped the order promptly. I could do my birthday shopping online while my daughter was sleeping! The whole party was a total surprise! Most importantly, my daughter had a birthday party that she will never forget!

Birthday Express made giving this "Princess Party" such a pleasure that I had a party for my son a few months later when he turned three and I bought all the party stuff from Birthday Express. If that's not a glowing report then I don't know what is!

Planning Your Own Party...

If your child's birthday is coming, you can expertly plan your own party for FREE! This site has some of the best advice for making your own kid birthday party a huge success. You can get:

• Decorating Tips - Discover creative decorating tips and turn any birthday party into a smashing success!
• Party Recipes - Treat your guests to snacks that are fun to eat by adapting them to match your child's party theme.
• Group Party Games - Keep the kids at your child's party entertained with fun games from a list of all-time favorites!
• Electronic Invitations - Invite guests to your child's birthday party by selecting from an assortment of theme-related invitations!
• Expert Interviews - Read interviews with Professional Party Planners, Caterers and Florists. This month's interview shows how to select the best party entertainer ever!
• Party Checklist - Remember every party planning detail with an exclusive, easy-to-use checklist. It's perfect for planning your child's birthday party!
• Planning Wizard - Plan your event like a pro! An exclusive Wizard walks you through each step a professional event planner would consider while planning your special day.