My girls and I are OBSESSED with throwing parties. So much so that my oldest wanted to help plan her OWN princess-themed birthday party this year!! Here’s what we did to make it totally awesome and totally ALLERGY-FRIENDLY. (Plus it contains the most decadent, vegan, gluten free chocolate cake you can ever imagine!!)
For the allergy-friendly food and cake, scroll down to #4!
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
#1: Arts & crafts.
I always plan arts and crafts for the first activity at a party. Then if people are running late, they can join in at any point without missing out. It also gives the kids a chance to warm up to each other at their own pace, since they don’t all know each other. (We also had a Disney Princess Tea Party Spotify playlist going as people arrived.)
For this party, I had the kids decorate mini castles and decorate their own crowns/tiaras! Here are the craft supplies I got from Amazon and how I laid out the craft table.
- Mini wooden castles (most kids needed adult help to get the pieces together)
- DIY crowns and tiaras (came with some gems)
- Snowflake stickers
- Paint marker pens (used with adult supervision; they’re not a kids’ brand)
#2: Scavenger Hunt.
I like to alternate seated activities with active activities for kids parties. So next we did a scavenger hunt that my husband James created.
He had clues placed around the house, and each one contained an activity that had to happen to open the next door. For examples, the kids had to jump ten times to get the basement door to open so they could reach the basement treasure chest, which was filled with fake knight helmets we’d found at the dollar store. The treasure chest also contained another clue that led to the fridge to get an apple, which contained another clue that led to the sleeping princess (aka Aunt Jael) upstairs in my daughter’s bed.
After romping around the house and waking the princess, Aunt Jael invited the kids to join her in getting ready for a royal tea party and ball.
#3: Getting Ready.
We’d asked each of the kids to bring their own dress up clothes, and now they had royal crowns/tiaras they’d just made to wear too! We also bought these face tattoos (and also these) from Amazon and a friend’s mom brought a bunch of costume jewelry and dress up shoes!
Once we were all costumed up, we were ready for the grand reveal. I’d had the royal ballroom closed off, with curtains hung in the doorways, up until this point. Now, we took the curtains down.
#4: The Royal Tea Party
Natalie had flipped through the Disney Princess Tea Parties book (I found it at our local library) and picked out 3 recipes she wanted to make:
To make these allergy-friendly (but NOT gluten free), we used (1) frozen puff pastry (surprisingly safe for my girls, found it at Target!) and (2) vegan butter as allergy-friendly substitutes.
- “Under the Seashell Cinnamon-Pear Tarts” (page 64)
2. “Mulan Blossom Tea Cakes” (page 71)
To make these allergy-friendly, we used ripple milk and gluten free flour. They were not safe for my egg-free daughter, however.
3. “Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather Fruit Wands” (page 19)
These are naturally allergy-friendly, and you can choose which fruits you use!
They were all delicious!
We also had herbal tea and THE BEST gluten free vegan chocolate cake you can ever imagine. (I just substitute King Arthur’s All Purpose Gluten Free Flour in place of normal flour in the recipe.)
The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake by Nora Cooks
This chocolate cake is our GO TO for every single party! It’s DELICIOUS, moist, decadent…one of those “I can’t believe it’s gluten-free and vegan” kinds of cakes!
You can easily make it nut-free by swapping out almond milk for oat milk or ripple milk. And you can turn it gluten free by substituting all-purpose gluten free flour!
We also add lots of sprinkles on top, as you can see, and we add food coloring to the frosting recipe to dress it up for kids parties.
Click for the recipe!!
Of course I forgot to take a picture of the beautiful snack layout, and there weren’t many leftovers to photograph. But here are the photos I got:
#5: The Royal Ball!
We turned on a disco ball, brought in a bunch of balloons, and started our dance party playlist! The kids had a great time dancing and posing for pictures under the balloon arch (which, with the help of a simple air pump, was super easy to put together while watching TV one evening).
#6: The Piñata + Party Favors!
Natalie picked out this piñata, and we filled it with these allergy-safe candies from our local grocery store:
- Albanese Gummi Bear Cubs
- Lollipops (of course I can’t find which kind we got, but they were allergy-friendly and so good!!!)
- Smarties
The kids also got goodie bags with more tattoos and vegan Frozen lipgloss.
I’d say the party was a huge success! I hope this gives you some great ideas for your next princess party!
XOXO,
That Allergy Mama
That Allergy Mama 