A "Brave" Birthday Party

**Warning to all reading this blog** I am a crafter, I am a teacher, I am a mommy and I LOVE throwing birthday parties for kids. Please do not beat yourself up if you do not have a creative bone in your body and could never create the things I do or do not have the energy to throw big birthday bashes or have the time to do activities with your kiddos. We all have our talents, the things God has blessed us with. These are mine. Yours may be different and that's ok. I share my ideas for fun, not to make you feel bad about yourself. Now that I've gotten that out of the way.... Back to the "Brave" birthday party. Enjoy!

Our soon to be 6 year old took a liking to archery trying it out at a free community event at a local church. She was requesting a princess themed party, but I wanted to incorporate her new interest as well. What better theme than Brave? 

If you've never seen the Disney movie, its about a headstrong teenage princess from Ireland who is to marry a man she does not know. She wants nothing to do with this and she gets herself in trouble in the process. Did I mention, she is very good at archery? 

Of course I searched Pinterest and found many cute ideas. I went out and found the Merida dress at Kohl's and since it was summer time, it was on sale. Score!

Our little birthday princess all dressed up and ready for the party

We had a lot of Brave themed food.

 

Chocolate Teddy Grams- To represent the bears in the movie, Red Vines- To represent Merida's hair and Goldfish crackers- To represent the fishing scene in the movie

Scottish Sweet Buns- Sugar cookies with a glaze frosting and a cherry on top

Green Witches Brew- Green Hawaiian Punch

 

 

Target Peperoni Pizza's, Spicy BBQ Wings and Meatballs 

The sign above the food says: A Lady Does Not Place Her Weapon On The Table

Since she has a summer birthday, we were able to have the party outside. I had so much fun decorating the backyard to make it look like the the movie and also the Highland Games.

Our girls had fun setting up this little scene

I bought a few yards of different flannel type material. I cut them into strips and hung them all around the yard

This is the gift table and special seat for the birthday princess to open her girls

I set up a few grab and go snacks outside

Quote from the movie "There are some that say fate is something beyond our command. That destiny is not our own, but I know better. Our fate lies within us, you only have to be brave enough to see it".

The games at this party were a big hit. The girls were able to help with the preparation of a lot of them. They helped make the fish for fishing, they also helped me find sticks for the fishing poles, they painted the targets, they helped pick out the tape for the bows, helped put the erasers at the end of the arrows, and they picked out the beads for the key chains.

Fishing Pond- The kids used homemade fishing poles to fish in the "pond"

Help Merida's mom, Queen Elinor catch some fish

 I made the fishing poles out of sticks (we took a trip to the local forest and found some really nice ones) twin rope, and round magnets with sticky backs.

The Crafty Carver- Key chain making station

Archery

 

The archery was by far the biggest hit of the party. My husband and I made our own bows and arrows. Here is the link I used with the step by step instructions http://www.skiptomylou.org/2012/07/24/diy-pvc-bow-and-arrow/

Safety First: The rules- 

1. Do NOT point bow and arrow at people. Aim at targets ONLY.

2. Stay behind white lines while people are shooting

3. Take turns and return arrows to your bucket when finished

A closer look at the bow and arrows

Here's our littlest one. She's also wearing her Merida headband complete with red curls (ribbon)

The kiddo's giving it a whorl

Of course the dad's had to try

We also had our bouncy house, swimming pool and slip and slide out to add to the fun.

No party of mine is complete with out the goodie bags. Each girl got a Merida headband which had long red curled ribbon to represent her long, red flowing hair. The boys got sashes made of the rest of the flannel. 

I just happened to have these rustic crates in our garage just waiting to be used.

For some reason I can not find a picture of the cake, but it was very simple. A vanilla sheet cake with blue frosting and purple squares on the top. I purchased a small Merida doll from Target for the top and added three little bears. This was such a fun party to plan and I think the kids and adults all had a great time helping our oldest "Princess" celebrate her 6th birthday.

Thanks for visiting my blog. Happy Crafting!!