I Attended a Holiday Princess Ball!

Last winter, I attended a charming local princess event I saw advertised on social media. This holiday season, I had the fortune of learning about another one. The Central Texas Theatre Academy, which put on the performance of Shrek the Musical I saw this past summer, summer, hosts an Annual Holiday Princess Ball, an intimate event in which girls are inspired to dress as their favorite Disney Princess and hang out with unofficial theme park princesses in the same vein as the princess party companies. The difference is that this event is much cheaper than hiring a private princess, and it doesn't have to be someone's birthday to attend. The party was primarily for children, but I still had a decent time.

The first thing I noticed upon entering the room was that it was set up like a tea party with a handful of round tables containing teapots, plastic teacups on saucers, pink lemonade, and water. Warm apple cider was available on one side of the room. Each table had a tray in the center with colorful brownies and sugar cookies on it. A soundtrack was playing that contained a mix of all of my favorite princess songs, including "Part of Your World," "How Far I'll Go," and the Sofia the First theme song. A little girl at my table was dressed as Sofia, and I told her that I had just finished rewatching the series. Not long after that, the princesses came out and began greeting each table. Though there were five princesses at the event--Aurora, Anna, Elsa, Rapunzel, and Belle--each princess did not come to every table. Our table was greeted by Elsa and Anna. Anna was friendly and chatted with me about the pressures of becoming Queen of Arendelle after her sister passed the role to her in the sequel.

After that, the event hosts passed around metallic fabric tiaras with stick-on jewels to decorate them with. The tiaras were mainly given to the children, but the hosts graciously provided me with one as well. This was the only craft of the evening, which was a little disappointing since the event description made it sound like there would be multiple crafts, but the tiaras looked very nice considering that they were made of fabric. After a quick photo op with all the princesses on a castle backdrop, it was time to begin the evening's festivities, which consisted of a group sing-along of "Let It Go" and two Christmas songs. The little princesses formed a circle with the five main princesses, and the adults stood outside the circle and took pictures. There wasn't a whole of dancing aside from a simple arm movement during the chorus of "Let It Go," and the little princesses were not particularly energetic, but they did the best they could.

The final event was a "surprise" visit from Santa Claus. I bowed out on that part, being Jewish and an adult, but it seemed like they devoted a lot of time to letting the children talk to him in front of the Christmas tree background, which was nice. Instead of participating in this final portion of the event, I attended a free nearby light display called Trail of Lights, which was a pleasant way to end the evening. Themed lighting is a popular attraction at the Disney Parks, where they make the castles glow with thousands of glittering crystals and light up all the buildings on Main Street. The parks aren't the only place you can go to enjoy the lights of the holidays or even hang out with your favorite princesses. I'm so pleased that there are events like this one all over the country to make everyone feel included whether they can afford a Disney vacation or not.

The holiday season only comes around once a year, so it's fun to find new ways to get into the spirit. The Annual Holiday Princess Ball was a fun and unexpected treat me that gave me an excuse to dress up and hang out with some Disney Princesses. I love that they do it every year, so anyone who couldn't attend can always try again next year. Do you have any local events that make your holiday season more magical? Let me know in the comments!