MBUUSA
Log in
Party Themes

Princess Party Ideas: Games, Food & Decor

A princess party built from paper crowns and a bedsheet castle rather than a rented ballgown — royal games, jeweled snacks, and a printable invitation.

A Yombu team member in a yellow Party Animal teeChanel Hoole7 min read
Illustration of a princess party table with a cardboard castle backdrop, a station of paper crowns and wands, pastel bunting, and a tiered tray of jeweled fruit tarts

the crown station is doing all the coronating

A princess party has a reputation for being expensive that mostly comes from the rented gown, and the gown is the one thing on this list that isn't worth the money. What actually makes the party is the coronation moment — a crown placed on a kid's head in front of their friends — and that costs a sheet of gold cardstock and some glue, not a costume rental.

What follows is a princess party built around a crown station and a cardboard castle rather than a wardrobe: royal games in the order they work, food that photographs like it came from a bakery, decorations you can build in an evening, and a printable invitation. If you're planning to hire someone to run the whole day in character, our guide to booking a princess party entertainer covers that side of it — this page is about the ideas around the entertainer, not the booking itself.

The crown station is the whole costume

Cut crown shapes from gold or silver cardstock, staple them to a strip long enough to fit a child's head, and set out a bowl of plastic gems and stickers for decorating. Every guest builds and wears their own on arrival, which does more for the room than any rented gown — a dozen kids in homemade crowns look like a court; a dozen kids in identical rented dresses look like a costume rack.

Skip requiring a full princess dress. Some kids will already own one and want to wear it, which is lovely, and some will show up in regular clothes and want nothing more than the crown, which is just as royal. A party that treats the crown as the costume removes the pressure entirely.

Running the afternoon

Start with the crown-decorating station itself while guests arrive — it doubles as a calm entry activity and gives latecomers something to join without missing anything. Once everyone's crowned, run the coronation freeze game, then the jewel hunt as the quiet middle of the party, one more big game, food, and a calm activity for pickup.

A dozen kids in homemade crowns look like a court. A dozen kids in identical rented dresses look like a costume rack.

What actually goes wrong

The gems and glitter from the crown station end up everywhere — on hands, on the cake, on the car seat home — so keep glue sticks rather than liquid glue on the table and put a lid on the loose gems the moment the station closes. The other failure is a coronation moment for only the birthday child, which visibly deflates the rest of the guests; crown everyone at the start and there's no single moment to feel left out of.

If you'd rather someone else ran the whole afternoon in character, songs and all, a princess party entertainer will bring the crown-fitting, the games and the voice, and take the royal-tantrum management off your hands too.

Games for a princess party

Illustration of four children frozen in still dance poses beside a speaker while an adult judge points at the one still wobbling

Coronation freeze

Everyone dances while the music plays and freezes in a royal curtsy or bow the instant it stops. Best pose wins the round rather than first to freeze, which keeps the youngest guests competitive against the oldest without a single prop needed.

Full rules for Coronation freeze

Illustration of two children ticking items off checklists with pencils, holding pinecones and leaves, collection baskets beside them

Jewel hunt

Hide plastic gems around the yard or a couple of rooms and send guests off with a small pouch to collect them. It's the quiet center of the party, and a cap on how many gems each guest may keep stops any one child clearing the board.

Full rules for scavenger hunt

Illustration of four children sitting in a circle as one tears a layer of wrapping from a parcel, torn paper and a speaker beside them

Pass the Parcel

Wrap a small prize in a dozen layers of pastel tissue paper and pass it around a seated circle while the music plays. It is the reliable calm-down game before cake and needs nothing more than tape and a small trinket from a drawer.

Full rules for pass the parcel

Illustration of a homemade obstacle course: a child stepping through a hoop, another crawling under a broom laid across two chairs, cushions and cones marking the route

Castle obstacle course

Chairs to crawl under, a rope to jump, a length of fabric to balance a book on. Naming it the path to the castle gate is the whole theming job, and it burns off more energy than almost anything else on this list.

Full rules for an obstacle course

Illustration of a leader with one arm raised while three children copy with hands on their heads and a fourth is caught doing the wrong move

The queen says

Swap Simon for the queen and run it exactly as written — bow when the queen says bow, wave when the queen says wave. It needs no equipment and no floor space, so it's the one to have ready when the yard turns out to be wet.

Full rules for Simon says

Illustration of rope and paper-plate rings scattered near a throw line aimed at bottles and cones, one ring hooked over a bottle neck

Ring the scepter

Prop a decorated cardboard tube or dowel against a wall and toss foam rings over it. It needs almost no space, it works just as well indoors, and even the youngest guests can land one from a step closer.

Full rules for ring toss

Food ideas for a princess party

Jeweled fruit tarts

Mini store-bought tart shells filled with a spoonful of vanilla pudding and topped with a single bright berry or grape to stand in for a jewel. Ten minutes to assemble a dozen, and they look like they came from a bakery counter for the price of a box of tart shells.

Crown cookies

Sugar cookies cut with a simple triangle-top cutter, or a plain circle with three triangle points cut freehand, iced gold and pressed with a few edible pearls or sprinkles along the base. One batch covers a dozen guests with plenty left over for the favor bags.

Pink lemonade in glass jars

Ordinary pink lemonade served in small mason jars with a ribbon tied around the neck, rather than paper cups, so the drink itself looks dressed up. The ribbon costs a few dollars for the whole party and does more visual work than a specialty syrup would.

Tea sandwich triangles

Ordinary sandwiches — cheese, ham, cucumber — with the crusts cut off and each one sliced into four small triangles, arranged on a tiered stand or a plain plate. Keep the fillings familiar; a party is not the day to introduce a new food to a room of kids you didn't raise.

Cupcake castle centerpiece

A dozen plain cupcakes iced in two or three pastel colors and arranged on a tiered stand with a couple of ice-cream-cone "towers" iced to match tucked among them. It reads as a castle from across the table without a single specialty pan.

Decoration ideas for a princess party

A cardboard castle backdrop

A large refrigerator or appliance box cut into a castle silhouette — two turrets and a flat wall between them — painted or covered in construction paper, standing against a plain wall as a photo backdrop. One box does the whole job and flattens back down at cleanup.

Tulle table skirting

Rolls of tulle in pastel colors, gathered and tied along the edge of the food table to give it a ballgown-style skirt. A few rolls from the fabric or craft store cover an entire table for less than a rented tablecloth costs.

The crown station itself

The gold cardstock, gem stickers and glue sticks laid out on their own small table with a sign inviting guests to make their own crown on arrival. It doubles as decor and as the first activity, so it's doing two jobs for one setup.

A pastel balloon arch

Balloons in two or three soft colors, taped or tied in a simple garland shape along a doorway or over the food table. Air-filled balloons hold the shape just as well as helium for a fraction of the cost and don't deflate before the party ends.

Fairy-light jars

Battery-powered string lights coiled inside a few mason jars or clear vases and scattered along the table once it starts to get dark. They cost about the same as a pack of tea lights and carry no open-flame risk around a table full of kids.

Two more things worth sorting before the big day: where to buy the plates, balloons and piñata and what the whole party is likely to cost

Printable princess invitation

Free to download and print at home — write in the date, the time and the address, and it is done. It prints cleanly on ordinary paper at A5 or half-letter, two to a sheet, and it works just as well sent as a picture message if you would rather not chase a class list for addresses.

Printable princess party invitation card with a gold paper crown, a cardboard castle silhouette and pastel bunting, and blank lines for the date, time and address

The princess invitation

One card, blank where the details go. Drop your email and it's yours — print as many as you need, nothing to pay.

Free printable — drop your email and it's yours.

Unlock the printable — we'll occasionally send party ideas. Unsubscribe anytime.

Hire a princess performer

Everything above assumes you are running the afternoon. You do not have to. A character performer arrives in costume and in character, runs the themed games, handles the child who is frightened and the child who wants to be the star, and gives you an hour to put the candles in the cake — which is usually the difference between hosting the party and watching it.

Party characters by city

Frequently asked questions

What age is a princess party best for?
Two to seven, with the crown station bridging the age gap well. Under-fives are happy simply decorating and wearing a crown; six- and seven-year-olds want the jewel hunt and the obstacle course to actually be a contest. Both fit in one party as long as the crown station is running at the start for everyone.
How do you throw a princess party on a budget?
Skip a rented gown or a licensed party pack entirely and put the money into gold cardstock, plastic gems and a roll of tulle for the table. The homemade crowns photograph better than a store-bought set anyway, since every child's is a little different.
What food do you serve at a princess party?
Small, dressed-up versions of ordinary food. Jeweled fruit tarts, crown cookies, tea sandwich triangles and pink lemonade in jars cover the whole table without a single unfamiliar ingredient, and the tiered stand does more visual work than any of the food itself.
Can you hire a princess for a kids party?
Yes — princess party entertainers offer in-character performers who lead songs, storytelling and games for an hour or more. See our guide to booking a princess party entertainer for what a typical booking includes and how far in advance to book one.
How long should a princess party last?
Two hours for preschoolers, two and a half for a mixed-age group. That's roughly twenty minutes for arrivals and crown-making, twenty on the jewel hunt, half an hour of the remaining games, half an hour for food and cake, and a calm game left over for pickup.
A Yombu team member in a yellow Party Animal tee

Written by

Chanel Hoole

Party planning editor at Yombu

Chanel writes Yombu's guides to kids party entertainment — the planning playbooks that help busy parents pull off a celebration without the stress. She has spent years tracking what actually makes a children's party land, from the entrance an entertainer makes to the games that keep a room of six-year-olds spellbound.

Keep planning

More party themes

Ready when you are

Or hand the whole afternoon over

A character performer arrives in costume and in character, runs the themed games, and gives you an hour to put the candles in the cake.

  • Vetted & insured
  • Money held until after the party
  • Free to ask
Browse party charactersSee every kind of entertainer