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How Princesses Provided A Fairy Tale Ending For One Little Girl

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Official Princess Parties

The opinions on Princess culture run from those who love everything about the fairy tale stories, to those who think princesses are ruining our little girls and driving us further into debt with all the commercialization. I have always been in the middle. I love how much my little girl adores the princess culture but I don’t think it’s turning her into anything more than a little girl who has found something she loves.

I had a change of opinion this past week, however, when something amazing happened. My friend Christine, who blogs for “Life on Manitoulin”, was forced to take an emergency helicopter ride with her 4 year old daughter, who was experiencing severe stomach pains. When they got to Ottawa and were released from CHEO, following the little one’s surgery, I got the chance to spend some time with them. Her little one, tough as nails by the way, started telling me all about her favourite princesses, as little girls do.

Christine had asked me if I thought we would be able to hire a princess on such short notice and seeing as how I am no stranger to hanging out with and writing about all things princess, I decided to try to help out. I called Official Princess Parties, a company that has already impressed me in the past, and I definitely wasn’t prepared for the kindness that followed.

I explained why I needed someone on such short notice and the owner mentioned that they were all booked up for the next couple weeks, but would send out a feeler to see if anyone was interested in the extra work. Not one minute later, while we were still on the phone, she had already received 3 messages back with people saying they wanted to help out. That would have been enough for me to sing their praises but the owner then mentioned that she wanted to provide this visit, to cheer up a scared little girl, on the house, and my heart exploded. Our princess showed up that night and had everyone mesmerized and smiling from ear to ear. She was perfect and it is exactly the thing that little girl needed at that moment.

Long story short, you can think whatever you want about the effects of princess culture, but this single event and watching the joy on that little girl’s face was enough to convince me of the overwhelming positives that can come from it. At the pace life is moving these days, sometimes it’s just nice to let kids be kids, and when it comes to princesses, I am fine with doing just that. Thank you to the amazing staff at Official Princess Parties for making this little girl’s pain a little more bearable.

Princess Funny Faces

Princess Beauty Julia

Princess Tiara

Deeder Dodder Date: Princess Edition

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Daddy Daughter Date

“Daddy, is tomorrow Deeder Dodder Day?” she asked.

“You bet, honey!” I answered.

“Yay!!!” she squealed excitedly.

If I could have frozen that moment forever, I would have. You see, “Deeder Dodder Day” is actually my 2 year old daughter’s way of saying “Daddy Daughter Date“, and to see how excited she was to be hanging out with me was enough to swell my heart with pride.

When I asked my daughter out on the date a few days before this exchange, I had just secured tickets to the Official Princess Parties “Royal Ball” and I knew she would love it. My only concern was whether she would say yes or not! Luckily for me, she said yes and I was able to keep the event a surprise until the big day came. I had been eyeing this event ever since our chance run in with an awesome Snow White earlier in the year. The fact that we had met Rapunzel and Minnie Mouse at later events were icing on the cake. Knowing that the proceeds were going to the Children’s Wish Foundation and that these particular characters were going to be there were just added bonuses.

Snow WhiteSnow White Belle

 

 

 

 

 

The magical day arrived and we were off to meet our favourite Disney characters. It’s hard to pinpoint my favourite part of the afternoon because there were so many. From seeing my daughter’s face light up as we were greeted in the parking lot by Mickey Mouse, to the moment the princesses were introduced, the entire event was amazing and well put together. They had a candy bar, nail painting and lots of interactive things for the little kids to do with the princesses (and two princes). Oh yeah, did I mention the chocolate fountain?? That one was for Daddy.

I loved watching the emotions that ran through my little girl’s brain that day. She was excited at times and shy at others. She participated in all the activities, even though she was the smallest one there by quite a bit. We danced, sang, ate candy and laughed the whole time. We had pure unfiltered fun and it was a perfect afternoon.

I want to say a great big Thank You to all the wonderful employees and characters at Official Princess Parties. You made a wonderful impression on my daughter and gave us a Deeder Dodder Date that we will remember forever.

PS – Funny story. While we were talking to Rapunzel, I brought up that my daughter had asked to have a princess birthday party. She had asked for a Rapunzel party at home but when Rapunzel herself asked, my daughter said she wanted an Ariel party…awkward. If Rapunzel is reading this, as soon as we got in the car, she again asked for a Rapunzel party. Followed by a Snow White Party. Followed by a Belle party…No hard feelings??

Cheers!

Princesses

The Pez Potty Training Method

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No. I didn’t start a job with Pez. I can’t imagine a world where I would be lucky enough to work in a Pez Factory.

My daughter has recently begun Potty Training and as most parents will attest, the best way to keep them interested in this monumental event, is with incentives.

My son, who was brilliant beyond his years, held out for Diecast Cars from the Cars the Movie. That meant we were paying a whopping $5.99 per poop! If this were possible in the real world, we would all be billionaires!

Eventually, the balance of power shifted back to us, after we convinced him that stickers were just as cool as cars….

Now it’s my daughter’s turn to lower our diaper bills and we made sure to be prepared this time! We knew she loved two things, stickers and candy. After all, what little kid doesn’t love those things?

The stickers were first and failed miserably. They’d fall in the potty, end up on my socks & we never seemed to have the one sticker she really wanted!

That’s when we introduced her to her first Pez dispenser. It was Belle from Beauty & the Beast, a character she was very familiar with, even as a 2 year old. Little Girls and princesses, you know!

In a move much like her brother had pulled, she quickly conned us into giving her waaaaaay more candy than a 2 year princess should ever eat! We had been giving her a candy every time she said she had to go to the potty. You can probably guess what happened next…..

Every 30 minutes she would scream “Pee Pee Potty!!!”, “Pee Pee Potty!!!” and we’d trip over each other like the ice cream man was outside, to get her on the potty! Only to find out that she was using us for the candy. At one point, she even stopped taking the candy out of the dispenser herself, instead opting for the “Daddy Do It!” approach, which I totally fell for.

We eventually caught on to her little game and adjusted the rules for dispensing candy. She would receive 1 candy for what we deemed to be “legitimate” attempts and she would get 1 more candy upon completion of the transaction.

We are proud to report that it has now been 2 full weeks with only one or two accidents and we couldn’t be prouder of our little monkey! We have saved a ton in diapers and wipes, with our only major expenses being Pull Ups and Pez Refills!!

Way to go Girlie!! We’re so proud of you!

And Thank You Pez!

Did you use incentives to help your kids Potty Train? I’d love to hear what worked/didn’t work for you!

Cheers!