Glamorous metallic accents. A gorgeous no-bake berry castle cake. Live princesses. And lots of engaging activities for the kiddos. I must say, three-year-olds know how to PARTY!

Our two little princesses turned one and three this year! When planning a princess party per Miss T’s request, I realized that many of her friends were boys. So the theme quickly got upgraded to a princess and knight birthday party. This post will go over the decor, food, and all the princess and knight party activities. Plus, I’ll share which one the kids couldn’t stop talking about. I’ve planned many parties, but this was definitely one of my favorites!

Related: See which princess tiaras I chose for my girls here: Top Three Tiaras for Girls

Princess Party Decor

For the color palette, we kept the party classy with rose gold and muted pinks and purples. We added few subtle nods to Cinderella for princess charm without letting Disney take over the party. And the DIY castle won a triple gold star for being a decoration, activity and gift all in one!

DIY Castle

The boxes for the DIY castle came from Ashley Furniture for free! We made the bricks out of cereal boxes, the balcony out of a couple stacked diaper boxes, and then painted the walls white with a large roller brush. It went way faster than my attempt at spray paint. I found the golden cord and adorable vines in the ribbon section from Hobby Lobby! But the duct tape didn’t hold them that well, so I might consider either gluing them on, or just painting some vines directly onto the castle.

DIY Alligator + Moat

I’m pretty proud of the upcycled alligator. His head is made from a brown envelope that some books came in, and his eyes and nose are from an egg carton. The body came from some black corner foam from the same furniture store as the big cardboard jackpot. The kids had a blast whacking the alligator with their foam swords haha.

And the moat is actually a present for Miss T from her Grammy: an indoor yoga swing! We’ll hang it up on 360° hooks so she can spin/swing safely and have a little cocoon to read or hide in. Plus, it’s a gorgeous gender neutral and mama approved color!

Calligraphy Signs

I hand wrote the signs onto a thrifted mirror and a cheap wooden sign. The “little princess” sign will make a sweet addition to the girls’ bedroom. I love Posca markers for calligraphy work!

Abstract Sunset Background

The abstract rose gold sunset transformed my countertop into a beautiful backdrop for the food. As a bonus, the little alcove in the back of the box let us stealthily prepare food behind the scenes.

Princess Party Food

Food is how you pamper the adult. And yourself. Because planning a party is hard work, and your tastebuds deserve to party too. 🙂 After we started serving the food there was this magical moment of silence when you would’ve had NO idea there were over 25 people in our house, including 10 kids. Now that’s a party menu win!

Party Menu:

  • No-Bake Berry Castle Cake
  • Strawberry Avocado Carriage Dip (dairy + gluten free)
  • “Wild Boar” & Exotic Fruit (dairy + gluten free)
  • Cheerio Wands (dairy + gluten free options)
  • Dragon Tongues (gluten free)
  • Cheesy Garlic Crack Bread
  • Edible Teacups
  • Various Chocolates (gluten free)
  • Fruit Salad (dairy + gluten free)
castle cake with berries

No-Bake Berry Castle Cake

The castle cake was the star of the show. I followed this no-bake napoleon cake recipe, but doubled the amount of custard (which I added a little salt to when cooking) and added layers of Smucker’s Natural Blackberry Jam. Then I frosted with a simple homemade whipped cream and decorated with berries and lemon thyme. Next time I might add a couple layers of whip cream and berries in the middle to make it extra yummy. But everyone loved it!

Strawberry Avocado Carriage Dip

Can it be a princess party without a carriage? This was definitely one of the most popular foods at the party, along with the pineapple skewers. For the carriage dip I mixed strawberries, avocado, some finely diced and rinsed red onion, a can of chicken breast, and balsamic vinegar plus salt to taste for a gluten and dairy-free dip. I paired it with Triscuits (rice crackers would work too), but many people just ate it as is and asked for the recipe.

If you don’t have a fresh pumpkin handy when building the carriage, consider carving a faux pumpkin from a thrift store or use a bread bowl instead. I used the horse from the Schleich Cowgirl Set (which doubled as a present for Miss T). And I got a second Schleich horse pull the carriage, but didn’t track it down until after the party 🤦‍♀️. As for the wheels, they are simply cardstock and toothpicks spray painted gold and hot glued together. Such a darling way to display a dip.

“Wild Boar” & Exotic Friut

The skewers were quite easy: slices of Aidell’s bacon pineapple chicken sausage (found at Costco) browned on both sides + fresh pineapple. Canned would do in a pinch, but you can’t beat a ripe pineapple. Kids and adults devoured these.

Cheerio Wands

Instead of fruit wands which sound quite messy, we went with Cheerio wands. You can make an easy peanut butter and honey version with this recipe, or go with a sweeter option using granola, marshmallows and cranberries using this recipe. Then just use a star cookie cutter and some skewers and voila, adorable Cheerio wands!

Dragon Tongues

Jalapeno poppers are always a hit and can be made ahead too. For an easy filling I prefer to use Jimmy Dean Natural Sausage, cream cheese, and season with a good dose of garlic powder.

Pro tip: use gloves when seeding jalapenos so you don’t accidentally burn your eyes with jalapeno oil.

Cheesy Garlic Pull Apart Bread

Cheesy garlic crack bread is from the wonderful food blog, RecipeTin Eats. It’s a simple way to transform a store-bought sour dough loaf into a cheesy garlic loaf of happiness.

Edible Teacups

Aren’t these edible teacups so cute! They’re fairly easy to make, especially when you don’t worry about the handles haha. I would probably use a cream cheese frosting to hold the handles in place instead of the chocolate, or be careful not to over heat the chocolate, otherwise it takes too long to harden. We filled them with chocolate mousse and added these adorable mini spoons. But next time I would probably just scoop in dallops of ice cream to make life easier. Other fun filling ideas could be pudding fresh fruit. The waffle bowls do soften quickly though, so don’t fill them until you’re ready to serve.

Activities and Games

Finally, on to the games and activities! Part of what made the party such a success was the natural flow of activities. We had a good mix of active, creative and even quiet ones. Some were structured, and others were simply left out for the children to discover. Something for every personality. Overall, the dragon hunt took the cake for enchanting the children the most.

Party Activities:

  • Castle Playhouse + Props
  • Live Princesses
  • Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
  • Royal Armory
  • Story Time
  • Dragon Hunt
  • Royal Dance Party with Balloons

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Castle Playhouse + Props

As soon as children arrived, they immediately were drawn to the castle playhouse. Inside they discovered a basket full of foam swords, 6 pack of crowns, a dragon mask, and some other props I borrowed from a friend. I should have seen this coming, but the little girls all wanted swords too, so I’m grateful I got a 12 pack!

Live Princesses

We asked a cousin and a girl from church to dress up as Cinderella and to run the Bibbibi Bobbidi Boutique and another to dress as Belle for story time. They were beautiful helpers and added magic to the party! Plus, what a cute photo op for the tiny princesses in attendance.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Our little boutique hosted DIY butterfly princess wands decorated with gem stickers. I cut the butterflies out of cardstock, spray painted them gold, and then had Cinderella glue and oversee the wand making process. In an ideal world I would have found my bag of ribbon scraps to tie to the wooden dowels and edged the butterflies with gold ribbon. But the girls (and a few boys) still had fun decorating the butterflies. The salon aspect was supposed to be a nail painting station, but it got lost in the craziness. It would be a fun addition to a smaller party though.

Story Time with Belle

After the kids finished with their crafts, we announced it was story time with Belle. The little ones who were interested happily followed. For months I searched our library for the best princess/dragon/knight books and purchased a couple of my favorites. Story time ended up being especially great for the shy ones and those who just needed a little break from the big group. Some of our favorites were:

Royal Armory

As a way of confirming guest counts, I texted the other moms a day or two before the party to see if their sons would prefer a dragon, lion or griffin for their shields. Most picked dragons. We cut the shields out of cardboard, made the straps out of duct tape, and I would have preferred to either spray paint them gold/silver or duct tape the whole shield, but we ran out of prep time. Find a tutorial here, and the dragon outline here. The boys (and a few girls) had fun coloring the dragons we sketched on cardstock to add their shields.

The same dragon pinata we used is currently out of stock, but here is another cute one.

Dragon Hunt

After everyone finished eating, my husband announced it was time to go on a candy hunt. The kids all eagerly followed him and soon we heard squealing as the kids discovered their basket of candy had been eaten by a dragon! My brother-in-law took over and lead them on a dragon hunt in the front yard, while we sneakily got the dragon pinata set up in the back.

Eventually they looped around the house, and when they found the dragon, they started attacking with their foam swords. We upgraded them to a wooden stick, and eventually let a few of adults take a crack at the exceptionally strong pinata with a wooden sword my husband made. It took four good adult swings to finally free the candy from the dragon. I was all for putting trail mix, play dough, and maybe some organic suckers in the pinata, but my hubby talked me into stuffing it with candy. Ah well, the kids loved it.

After everyone left, multiple moms reached out to say thanks for the awesome party and told me their kids couldn’t stop talking about the dragon hunt. 🙂 So cute!

Tips: If we were to do it again, we would have one of the dads make some roaring sounds once the pinata was ready. Also, I wish we had used some parachute cord or something stronger than twine to hold the dragon up.

Royal Dance Party

Once the kids were a little sugared up, we let them get som wiggles out at the royal ball. We opened the wooden musical instrument set from Grammy, which both the kids and adults loved, and brought out a bunch of balloons for extra magic.

Feel free to use our kid dance playlist on Spotify.

Overall, my favorite moments of the party were:

1. Seeing Miss T sporting her princess crown AND wielding a sword and shield. That’s my warrior princess!

2. Watching baby N as she would stand by the food table and open her mouth as wide as possible to get unsuspecting adults to feed her watermelon.

3. Full on dancing with the kids with balloons being tossed in the air and adults and kids shaking maracas and tambourines. So magical.

Best of luck with your own princess and knight birthday party!