Princess Jasmine Birthday
Recently we transformed our home into magical Agrabah to celebrate my daughter’s 4th birthday. This is how I created a whole new world complete with flying carpets, genies, and magic lamps, using a small budget, little time, and everyday supplies.
Decorations:
I used clear fishing wire and hung up the kids’ dancing scarves that I purchased years ago from Amazon. These are a favorite from all the storytimes we used to attend at local libraries and schools. They are great for sensory play as well as for encouraging movement and singing songs. I used more fishing wire to tie little bits of yellow curling ribbon at the four corners so they would look more like fancy flying carpets. As they were very lightweight, they required only a little scotch tape to adhere to the ceiling.
I used white poster board to cut out Jasmine’s palace. I just used basic shapes to make it similar to the palace silhouette. I also found gold poster board at the Dollar Tree which allowed me to create huge magic lamp cutouts. I hung some white tulle beneath to create clouds. I cut out more paper clouds and displayed my daughter’s cloud shelf (a Target find). I also created a flower garden felt board which is an activity my kids love to play with. It also doubled as a pretty cover to hide our cluttered bookshelves.
I draped a huge piece of tulle cloth (that I have received from a friend’s wedding once upon a time). I’ve been meaning to make my daughter a princess canopy over her bed with it and thought I could borrow it to help make the party space more magical. I then added Christmas lights to make everything more sparkly. I also cut out huge ovals from white poster board and attached them to the tops of all of our windows to add another nod to Jasmine’s palace. Lastly, I used a circle punch to cut out circles from a few paper plates to add a pop of pink and to tie the color of our paper plates in with the decor.
I made a genie out of blue poster board, tracing his outline with a black Sharpie, painting his eyes and teeth white with some acrylic paint, then added blue balloons for his body. This was simple, quick, and super inexpensive but became a big decoration to help set the scene. I found the free clipart here at Disney Clips to make the Genie above and also to create Iago below as well as the wooden character cutouts below.
Iago is made out of white poster board, some acrylic paint, and red crepe paper streamer. As he was pretty lightweight, I just used some double sided masking tape to adhere him to the top of our stairs and he greeted guests as they entered our house from below.
I made a large cutout of Genie coming out of a lamp. This is actually a repurposed piece of wood. It is a giant cutout of Jabba the Hut I had made for my kids’ Star Wars Party last year, just turned around. You really have lots of room to play with the shape of Genie’s body.
I also made a giant friendly Rajah to help set the scene in our backyard. I used my projector to trace his basic outline onto a 4 by 8 foot piece of composite wood. My kids filled in the rest with paint and I went over the outlines once again in black paint. My sister-in-law also had the great idea of using Zebra grass that we had in our yard bunched up in vases as centerpieces for our tables. This really helped to turn our outdoor space into a whole new world.
I made a printable banner that says Happy Birthday in a simple and clear font. The letters are black on a pretty white shape and bordered by a blue watercolor print. It is free to download below. The banner can be hung as is, or cut around the fancy bordered edge as I chosed to do. Personalized ones are available here. I glued my daughter’s name banner to gold paper plates and added more gold lamp cutouts to further embellish the space that hung over her cake table. Lastly I made peacock feathers using blue poster board, more cutouts from paper plates, and pink straws to add some more exotic and fun fancy flair to the scene.
Party Activities:
I used a small moving box and repurposed the sides of a few medium priority boxes to make my daughter a magic lamp pinata. As I didn’t have gold tissue paper or crepe paper, we covered the pinata in yellow. I cut out the largest number four I could make using a 12X12 piece of purple cardstock and glued it onto a gold paper plate. My kids always enjoy helping me to make these larger than life pinatas and then filling them too. As the cost of making these are minimal, we get to splurge on filling them. We filled ours with all the gold covered candy we could find (Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Rolos, and even Ghirardelli Caramel Squares). We also had to include Dum Dums which the birthday girl loves.
The kids colored and made jewelry. I found some great coloring pages on Coloring Bay. They are free to download and print for personal use. I downloaded them and then added the birthday girl’s name and age to make some quick personalized coloring pages for guests to color. I also set up a jewelry making station where kids could make sequin headbands and custom necklaces using beads, penne pasta, and their choice of pipe cleaners or elastic string. The kids especially loved the alphabet beads I found at the dollar store!
This file is best printed out onto cardstock. You can simply hand it to your child along with a brown paper bag to cut and paste to form their puppets. I traced this template onto colored construction paper to make an easy invitation to create activity for the kids. I added gold sparkly ribbon as an option to decorate Abu’s hat or vest. I also cut out both red and purple shapes for the kids to choose from for his hat and vest.
This file is best printed out onto cardstock and given to your child along with either some purple cardstock or construction paper to create their own magic carpet. They can either follow the example pictured above or design their own unique one. I used the template to make the cutouts onto colored construction paper. As construction paper is very thin, I was able to cut through a whole pile very quickly by stacking many sheets together.
I made several felt boards for little sister but my older kids also enjoyed playing with them. This is one of Princess Jasmine. I used this to go over emotions and body parts with my youngest. I also traced Jasmine’s clothes and accessories onto different color felt so the kids could change out her outfits.
This file is best printed out onto regular paper and used as template to trace onto various colored felt for your child to piece together to form their unique magic carpets. It is a fun way to learn about different shapes as well as work on forming patterns and symmetry.
I turned my daughter’s play kitchen into a personalized boutique. I found lots of inexpensive jewelry at the Dollar Tree. She also gathered all the sequin headbands and beaded necklaces that she made along with her sunglasses, hairbrush and pretend makeup. I also made her some new counting clip cards with gems as well as printable bracelets and rings to design. To learn more, click here. She had a wonderful time giving everyone fancy makeovers.
We had water table play. Using adhesive craft foam, I turned red and blue Lego Duplo Blocks into Iago and Genie. My kids like using them as scoopers for water play. They also helped me to gather flowers from our garden and freeze them in plastic bowls and ice cube trays, adding gold glitter and teal food coloring for use in their water table.
We filled the sand table with kinetic sand and gems. I purchased these gems on Amazon. Kinetic sand is always a winner. I gave the kids some sand toy shovels, as well as measuring cups and spatulas from the kitchen and they enjoyed digging and burying jewels.
Daddy read a princess story and then the kids hunted for “jewels” (repurposed plastic eggs from Easter) that the kids helped me to decorate with adhesive gem stickers and filled inside with little candies.
Guests were also welcomed to write wishes for the birthday princess on golden stars (leftover gold poster paper from the magic lamp cutouts) to place in a jar. I am going to hole punch them and place them all together on a binder ring to create a sweet and easy keepsake for my daughter. The party activity signs are free to download below and can be used for personal noncommercial use.
This file is best printed out onto cardstock and left as is or cut out along the fancy edge as I did. I then adhered them to purple cardstock and placed in gold frames that I had. They helped create a more cohesive look to the party. I left the wishes for the princess sign uncustomized and also included a blank template in case you wanted to add your own label or unique activity.
Food:
My daughter requested a chocolate doll cake like the one I made big sister for her Ariel birthday. I doubled this recipe but poured it into two 8 inch round cake pans and the top of a Wilton giant cupcake pan. I cut a small hole out of the middle of the cake and saran wrapped Jasmine’s legs then inserted her in the middle. Jasmine’s dress is buttercream frosting piped on as rosettes.
I used free clip art from Clipart Library to make these Princess Jasmine cupcake toppers. The cupcake recipe is Kakeladi’s Original WASC Cake Recipe and the vanilla buttercream frosting is from Two Sisters. They really do have the best buttercream frosting recipe out there!
I always like to incorporate the birthday child’s favorite foods into the menu. My daughter is also half Vietnamese so we always make these delicious egg rolls. I also like to challenge the kids to come up with new names for the food to go with the theme. This is what they came up with this year for sister’s birthday.
I made some blank party food labels that are available to download for free for you to customize for your own unique party menu. This file is best printed out onto cardstock, cut, and adhered to various platters to help tie in the party theme and decor.
I ran out of time to make the above requests for the birthday girl for her party but ended up making them the day after. I also turned her leftover cake and cupcakes into cake pops and we ended up celebrating a birthday week!
Favors:
I purchased some purple favor bags from the Dollar Tree and used the same clip art from the cupcake toppers above, adding a personalized message of thanks from the birthday girl. My sister-in-law made these pretty treat bags filled with candy covered pretzel sticks in coordinating party colors. We also left a bowl of more gold covered candies (Hershey Kisses with Almonds) for guests to fill. The bags were also given to the guests to fill with more candy from their jewel hunt and pinata as well as any crafts or jewelry they made. The thank you party sign, along with a few other party signs that I made, are free to download below for personal use.
This file is best printed out onto cardstock and adhered to the front door, bathroom, and favor bag table with some double sided tape. Alternatively, they can be placed in an 8X11 gold photo frame or glued onto gold glitter cardstock for a more finished look.
My greatest joy in creating these parties for my children is seeing all their excitement. These are pictures my daughter drew in the days surrounding her birthday and they make my heart so happy!
Your child may also enjoy:
Skip Counting Tigers, Snakes, and Zebras
I create more printable activities for kids here with the goal of helping to grow kids who love to learn.
I hope this post inspires you to create something fun for your little princess!
Share this:
