If there are 2 things every princess party needs, it’s SPARKLE and Dress-Up! So with that in mind, we designed a Sparkle Station Activity Table for our Disney Princess Birthday Party theme.

The table was filled with lots of inexpensive dress up items for the royal guests to have fun with, plus a “Bling out a Party Hat” craft complete with glittered initials for personalizing their creations!

The Inspiration

Even though the overall princess party (styled for Dream Parties by Hallmark & Disney) encompasses several of the Disney princesses, Cinderella in particular was a big inspiration for this table.

Macy (my 3 year old daughter) has been watching Cinderella a lot lately, and I realized that sewing and dress up really are a huge part of the story – even before the Fairy Godmother arrives! So the presence of the little sewing spools, bows, and dress form were actually inspired by Cinderella’s first dress and the adorable movie scenes with the mice and birds trying to help get her ready for the ball.

Cinderella herself also makes a cameo on this table – via a pop-up tabletop decoration from the Dream Parties line, as does Rapunzel. I thought it made sense for her to make an appearance near the HAIR accessories! ;)

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• “Swagged tablecloth” made from a (pinned) bed sheet + acrylic beads and tulle bows
• Embellished dress form centerpiece with homemade bubble skirt and tulle bow
• Paper Rapunzel tabletop decoration with dress-up hair extensions clipped to her skirt!
• Free printable party signs & “SPARKLE” banner

When I stumbled on this decorative dress form at HomeGoods (which started out with a simple gray/white fabric body on a plain cream stand, btw!), it reminded me of when Cinderella’s first dress was hanging in her room, ready for improvements before the ball. I knew we could transform it into something special for the princess party, but it turned out even cute than I’d hoped!

Jacque even made an adorable “bubble skirt” for it with craft tulle and leftover fabric from the sheet used for the dessert table headboard. The sparkly tulle bow in the back is actually my favorite detail…

SPARKLE STATION Details:

Gold Glittered Frames: with {free printable!} party signs that we designed reading “Royal Princess Sparkle Station” and “Bling Out a Party Hat”

Scattered table decorations: Inspired by the sewing scenes in Cinderella, mini wooden craft spools were wrapped with colorful yarn. And acrylic “diamond” gems added lots of extra sparkle!

“Castle turret” bracelet stand: paper mache cone covered in sparkly wrapping paper and embellished with blue ribbon & rhinestones

“Sparkle” Banner: free printable banner with starry backgrounds and princess crowns

Bird & Branch Jewelry Stands: with beaded necklaces and sparkly bracelets for playing dress up!

Cinderella and Rapunzel paper dolls: with pretty tulle skirts. These are Pop-Up Table Decorations from the Disney Dream Parties collection. I simply slid them on top of cans to keep them in place. Rapunzel had playful pink and blue dress-up hair extensions clipped to her skirt. This seemed like a fitting place to display them! ;)

“Bling Out a Party Hat” Station: We set out fun embellishments – like rhinestones, sparkly stickers, and glittered letters – that guests could use to decorate and personalize their Disney Princess Party Hats.

Pink painted dress form: This HomeGoods find (which started out as a plain gray dress form!) was painted with pink fabric paint then dressed up with yarn, a Sparkly princess skirt (fashioned from tulle and extra fabric), and costume jewelry necklaces.

Yellow swag “tablecloth”: This is actually a twin bed sheet (from Target). We created a swagged look by simply pinning portions of the cloth up with safety pins, then embellished the look with pink acrylic bead strands & sparkly tulle bows. The acrylic bead strands are leftover from a project a while back – they started off as part of a beaded curtain.

Pink glitter gift wrapped table legs: with ruffled teal feet {cut from a fitted sheet}