Hi B-day Party Planners (a message from Joy528),
My husband (528cruiser) tried his best to share what he knew about how I (with the help of some amazing Disney employees) was able to pull off a surprise party for our daughter Hannah. My DH left out a lot of details, so here is the full scoop... (and I'm detail-oriented as you'll see):
Our daughter actually turned 5 a few days before our cruise, and because I didn't have a chance to do something at home with her friends....I decided to plan a surprise with new friends & with hopes of being able to pull it off somehow once we got onboard.
Know that I had NO idea whether it would be allowed, if there would be an ideal place to hold it, and whether I could keep it a complete secret from my daughter, so I had to "play it by ear"
.
TIP: To do surprise princess party on board, the PERFECT day was definitely while AT SEA (Monday) early afternoon 1:00-2:30 pm. (Gives everyone a chance to enjoy first full two days on the cruise with their own families...and gives you ample time to finalize details for your party.) Also, Monday at 11:30
am is the time/day the Disney Princesses are in the Atrium signing autographs and photo opportunity....so it was ideal day for my daughter to dress-up and still not know that a party awaited her! (We got lucky in terms of this timing!) My DH mentioned that we tried to request a Princess appearance at our party, but
DCL could not accomodate our request.
1) First, I put out a message to fellow Dis-ers (with little 5-7 year olds) asking them if anyone out there would be interested in allowing their daughter (and of course, 1 chaperone) to come to a surprise princess b-day party (IF I could pull it off). I was pleasantly surprised that there was some interest. A few people actually RSVP-ed with a definite "yes". Some said they would "play it by ear" which I completely understood.
2) While still back at home, I initially thought the perfect area to possibly hold our surprise party would be the private outside area (Deck 7, aft) that hardly anyone EVER goes to, but once I got on board I checked it out again and realized it wouldn't work well for the surprise party that I was envisioning.... with decorations, simple craft, cup-cake decorating, games, pull-string pinata etc. (As a former celebration consultant for Club Disney ----I wanted to go all out and make it magical!!! I love to throw b-day parties!) There were no tables there for what I needed except a really really small one and two chairs. Not that it's impossible to have had more chairs and tables brought to Deck 7 aft, but from what I understand, it just ends up costing ALOT of money to have that done by DCL. (I had been on the DCL in 2003 and spent some time with my hubby on Deck 7 aft---so I'll just say...
keep Deck 7 aft as the place to dance under the moonlight with your spouse, bring some champagne or wine and watch the stars....and steal a kiss or two there
)
3) Saturday night, continued researching possible areas to hold surprise
spoke to Connie at Guest Services & explained what I wanted to do. She graciously said she would look into availabilities of various conference rooms. (Connie from Hong Kong is so sweet!!!)
4) By Sunday, I was introduced to Carina (Youth activities director) to have a look at the the "Steamboat Willie" conference room, which is the perfect size room for small party, and absolutely adorable room, and
normally there would be a room charge, but I was told that if I wanted it from around 4:15 pm -5:30 pm (Monday) then it was available & there would be no room charge, BUT if I wanted to have special food & cake then that's when charges would kick in. (Cake charge roughly would have been about $3.00 per guest. I wasn't planning for food so I didn't inquire about food. I didn't want a fancy cake either. From my experience, kids love to decorate their own cupcakes!) Later was told by Connie that the same room (Steamboat Willie) would also be available at 9 am (Monday). Neither of those available times were suitable---too early and the other too close to dinner time. (I definitely wanted the party to be from 1pm-2:30 pm on Monday)
5) After deciding "no" for Steamboat Willie room, I walked around the whole ship looking for possible party location. I finally went to visit Animator's Palate (AP) early Sunday afternoon. Found that AP was relatively empty of guests during midday-early afternoons, except for Oceaner Club kids who have their lunch there. So I tracked down Oceaneer Club Manager to see what time kids would be out of the room on Monday. Was told kids finished up lunch by 1:15 pm. He couldn't guarantee the room would be available for a party.
Later I tracked down Dining Room manager Maclean and asked if I could secure a little corner of AP for a surprise princess party from 1pm-2:30. He said it hadn't been done before. I explained to him that I
didn't require food, that I had all my party stuff (decorations, simple craft materials, disposable table covers, favors, pull-string pinata, etc) and that I just needed the space. I assured him I was organized and prepared. So he approved and told me that on Monday morning (which would be the next day)...he would be in Parrot Cay and could be paged from there. So he said just show up to AP and he would have someone help me in AP (meaning, make sure tables were empty of table settings/dinnerware) so I could set up my stuff.
That night (Sunday) was formal night for our family in AP...so I had some princess invitations on hand and looked around the room and handed out a couple of them to families with little girls. Several families were VERY receptive and excited that their daughter(s) could look forward to a princess party onboard.
That night also at dinner I spoke with our Head Server, Ronald, and asked him if it would be possible to have cupcakes made for our surprise party. He was very helpful/accomodating! I ordered 18 cupcakes---several extra in case kids wanted to decorate more than one---really simple vanilla cupcakes with plain white frosting. (They ended up with white icing instead of frosting, but it still was fine.)
Tip: bring your own can of white frosting, if possible, as the cake decorations would stick better to frosting.) I wanted to have the cupcakes baked in princess cupcake paper liners that I had bought before the cruise, but found out it was against public health policy to allow the paper liners to be brought into the DCL kitchen.
Sunday night, delivered invitations to staterooms of fellow Dis-sers informing them of exact location/time. Asked everyone to show up, if possible, by 12:50 pm.
6) Monday: After our early character breakfast Monday morning, we hung out on Deck 4, enjoying view of sea and conversation with fellow DIS-er (Tina) that we bumped into. By 10 am my DH brought our girls back to room to dress up in princess outfits in preparation for meeting Disney Princesses in Atrium. By 11:00 am they went to stand in line to meet Princesses, while I secretly dashed off to AP with all party supplies in a collapsable pull-cart. (Helpful to have cart! Don't know what I would have done without it!)
Arrived at AP and asked a DCL worker to please page Maclean. Minutes later, our Head Server shows up because Maclean sent him there, and Ronald confirms that cupcakes are ready and will be personally delivered by 1:00 pm. Ronald and a dining room server, helped clear some tables. Before Ronald left, I had one more request...to see if Mickey Bars could possibly be delivered at around 2:15 pm, but also told him that if it was impossible then I would just have my DH pick some up from Scoops. He said he would see what he could do. He left. I started setting up. (Mickey Bars arrived at 2:15pm!
A wonderful Oceaneer Club Counselor Monica happens to be in the room and she is so excited about the party that she steps in and starts helping me to decorate. (If you can track down Monica who is from Jamaica, she is absolutely wonderful!!! I'm sure she would help you!) On her own initiative she went to Oceaneer Club to find some Princess Aurora dresses to add as decorations/props...and then I asked her if she could track down a Princess Aurora story book or any Disney Princess Book. (I had planned for a short story time, but left my book back in CA. I was already planning to ax the story time, but Monica located a book! So story time was on again.)
Meanwhile: I set up a craft table/coloring table.
Craft consisted of: foam book markers, ribbon for each book marker, Disney stickers and other stickers to decorate book markers. Have a black sharpie pen to write "Disney Magic" and the date of your cruise and child's name. (Easiest craft in the world and perfect after short story time!)
I anticipated that some kids would finish their book marker quickly, and some might take longer working on theirs, so I had a Disney Princess coloring page (that I photocopied back home from a coloring book) and colored pencils on the same table. Many of the kids used stickers to decorate their coloring page. Allow for creativity.
I provided plastic pastel-colored necklaces as prizes for finishing up their bookmarks and color pages.
Game: "Pin the Crown on the Princess"
I had a flat mylar balloon with princesses on it. Back home I covered Aurora's crown (this is on mylar balloon) with exact shape cut-out of crown...so the crown looks white and "looks" like her crown is missing. (Trace and cut crown from white index card). Then I made more of the same crown cut-outs and covered those with gold glitter (to look like Sleeping Beauty's crown). When you place the gold crowns on the balloon it should fit exactly. The idea was to "pin the crown on the princess" (although you actually tape the crown, as opposed to pinning it). Similar to "pin the tail on the donkey". Bring bandana to cover kids eyes. Need tape too.
Game: Musical Princess Prize Pass (Similar to Muscial Chairs but NO chairs involved)
All the girls sit in a circle. Give one girl a princess notepad and have the girls pass the notepad around as Disney Princess music is played. When the music stops, the person with the notepad is the
first winner of that notepad and sits to the side with their prize. (Please be careful not to say "You're out" but emphasize that she is the FIRST winner so as to be sure no one feels like they have just lost.) Continue doing this with enough princess notepads and they each take home a notepad. The last two girls pass the final notepad and the one who doesn't get a notepad, goes to the prize box to pick out a special princess prize. (ie. nail polish, princess bag,...)
Cupcakes: I left behind some of my decorating supplies at home (pink sprinkles, pink jelly beans, pastel candies)....but thankfully I did not forget the tubes of pink icing and decorating tips for the tubes. TIP: you can go to scoops and ask for a cup of candy sprinkles if you don't bring or forget to bring your own sprinkles.)
Pull-string Pinata:
I packed a pull-string pinata. Pinata candy, toys and pennies were temporarily placed in a zippee bag until day of party. There really was no place to hang the pinata, but if you get a mom or dad to stand on a chair and hold up the pinata it works out great! If you don't know what a pull-string pinata is, it's easy to create it with any pinata you buy and the pull-string idea is to avoid violent hitting of the pinata. (Do a search on the internet for easy directions or I can explain in a future message.)
Pull-string Pinata is great finale to party!!!!
So here's the rundown:
* Prepare as much as you can back home. (All the favors, pinata, buy all the decorations, 2-3 disposable table covers, napkins, candy, prizes, goody bags, pink balloons...everything you know you'll need for your party.)
*Finalize your party/confirm details/talk to the right people by Sunday early evening.
*Hand out final invitations Sunday night (to new families with little girls) and deliver invitations to Staterooms of fellow DIS-ers. (In the invitation you could note RSVP to your room by 9:00 am Monday.)
*Arrive at Animator's Palate, as early as possible day of party. (For me, arriving by 11:00 am worked out great!) Decorate, set up various tables. Blow up balloons. (Talk to Monica in advance and see if she could help you.)
*Guests should arrive, if possible by 12:50. Every little girl shoud sign in with name & chaperones name. Have a guest sign in book.
* Before b-day girl arrives, give everyone a balloon to hold.
* Hide just inside AP (near entrance, but be sure the B-day girl wouldn't be able to see anyone)
* Have a CD boom-box with Disney Princess music. (I picked up a CD from Target. I brought my CD player/boom box.)
* Plan on the B-day girl arriving by 1:00 pm or 1:05 pm and as she arrives, play music, everyone jumps out and throws pink balloons and shouts "Surprise Happy B-day!" (That's IF your party is a surprise!)
* Start out with short story time
* then, Book mark craft/color page is next
* then play a game (pin the crown on the princess)
*(If you want food at your party, have your DH and another Dad on hand, to go to Deck 9 to pick up hot dogs, pizza, burgers---a variety of food, but have that task done during book mark time so food will be at party by time first game is done.) I ended up doing food after all because two girls didn't have lunch before the party and they were hungry. Picking up FAST food worked out great! NO additional food cost, because food was "free"
* play another game (musical princess prize pass)
*decorate cupcakes, sing Happy Birthday, cupcake blow-out for b-day girl
* Hand out favors (I gave princess wands, Disney Princess pens, Disney candy in Disney tin, lollipops) and give each girl an empty plastic goody bag to get ready for pinata game
* FINALE: pull-string pinata
* Be sure to clean up thoroughly after your party!
HAVE a MAGICAL B-day!!!!
Of course, be sure to thank everyone especially all your guests for coming!!! The party can't happen unless there are people to party with!
I am SOOOOOO thankful to all who came and made my daughter's surprise b-day celebration a memorable one!!! (Thank you again!!)
PS. This is so funny to me...
.... next day after our party I was approached by DCL staff to see if I would be interested to plan parties/weddings for DCL! It would be a wonderful job....but, I have a family in CA that is my priority. Maybe someday...hmmm!
What a dream job!!! (I told my kids about this and they jumped up and down
and said they want to live on the
Disney Cruise while I work!
) We can all dream, right!!!!!
Dreaming of our next cruise!!!!!
Good luck and God Bless you,
Joy528
Maybe we'll stick with cake. Because it's a shorter cruise on the the other ship, the people and schedule will be different; I'll start with guest services and go from there. The details you've provided allow me the advantage of a "shortcut" once on board. I'm going to start shopping for princess party favors! 
Joy528 said:PS. This is so funny to me...
