I Hosted an Event for National Princess Day!

It seems like every interest has an official holiday each year, but for the longest time, there wasn't any day to celebrate our love of princesses. In 2017, the newly retired Swan Princess series declared the film's anniversary date of November 18th to be National Princess Day. Since the date was coined by one of the few princess franchises that was not bought out by Disney, the Mouse House does very little to celebrate and instead started its own World Princess Week at the end of each August beginning in 2021. However, the rest of us can still get together to celebrate our love of princesses for National Princess Day on November 18th. This is a significant time period for not just The Swan Princess, but many other animated princess movies which historically always come out right before Thanksgiving to generate optimal sales. The next Disney Princess movie to follow this tradition will be Wish, which comes to theaters on Wednesday. In honor of all these princess movie anniversaries, I decided to host an event at my local library to celebrate National Princess Day on the official date.

After gaining some experience holding storytime sessions for young children, I decided to hold National Princess Day in a similar format consisting of a story, music, and an appropriately themed craft. However, this special event had a twist. Instead of a plain old storybook with flat illustrations, the library provided a beautifully intricate pop-up book of "Cinderella" complete with sliding panels and transformations. Even though the large dioramas took up the majority of each page, the book was rather long and detailed, including original dialogue for the classic Fairy Godmother, Stepmother, and Stepsister characters. The words were on smaller flaps located on the sides of each page that opened up like mini storybooks to reveal fun surprises including a rat that turned into a footman, Cinderella's ballgown transforming back to rags at the stroke of midnight, and a very smooth animation of the glass slipper sliding onto her foot. Children and parents alike were awed by the lovely craftsmanship of the book, though some of the younger princesses had trouble focusing on the detailed wording of the story.

National Princess Day included an interactive element in which all of the girls were encouraged to dress up as their favorite princesses. The library provided tiaras and light-up rings to help them accessorize. They all went above and beyond with this portion of the event. Each girl arrived in a glamorous full-length gown accented with jewels and glitter. One of them even dressed her teddy bear up as Rapunzel! As expected, Elsa was the most popular choice for costumes, but we also had a Belle, Cinderella, Anna, and a few others. I wore an Ariel dress and tiara with the Amulet of Avalor from Sofia the First as an accessory and made sure to curtsy to each princess as she made her royal debut. After storytime was over, I let the girls choose which songs they wanted to perform for an interactive sing-along. The selections were "Belle," "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes," and "The Princess Dance" from the often-overlooked Disney Princess Tea Party album, which contains some excellent interactive song selections for children's parties performed by the original voice artists. I led the princesses in the dance instructions that were given in the song. Although they were a bit shy, I tried my best to encourage them to twirl around and have a good time.

For the craft, I wanted to do something extra special. This was the part that they would be taking home with them as a souvenir for months or maybe even years to come. After many hours of research, I discovered Red Ted Art's Princess Paper Doll Ornaments, which are fairly easy to make and prepare. Setting them up for the event required only a printed sheet of paper and eight circle cutouts from colored paper that would be glued together to form the princess's dresses. I did my best to guide the group through the craft, but there was a bit of confusion because there were so many people working on it at the same time, which made it difficult to explain specific instructions to every princess through the chaos. Though most of the parents did the majority of the work, some of the ornaments turned out better than others. Fortunately, National Princess Day falls just a few days before the holiday season, making this craft the perfect decoration for the family's holiday tree. Once the ornaments were done, I encouraged the princesses to twist their paper dolls around on the string to make them dance and twirl as they were portrayed in the tutorial videos on YouTube.

In honoring the tradition of celebrating National Princess Day, the event at the local library was nothing short of enchanting. From the exquisite pop-up book of "Cinderella" with its mesmerizing illustrations to the dazzling array of princess costumes and interactive sing-along, every moment was filled with magic. The craft activity, albeit a bit chaotic, resulted in delightful paper doll ornaments that will surely bring joy to many families in the coming holiday season. As the princesses twirled and danced with their creations, it was evident that the spirit of princesshood and togetherness truly flourished, creating lasting memories for all who attended. National Princess Day is a time of whimsy, creativity, and the enduring power of fairy tales. Did you do anything to celebrate National Princess Day this year? Let me know in the comments!