Given Ian’s love of Frozen and of Elsa and Anna, I had the bright idea to hire an Elsa to come visit his house during his birthday party this past December. I was worried this would be a popular activity around the holidays, so I booked her really early. As little kids are wont to do, he drifted away from Frozen a bit after halloween. His new interests have revolved around Peppa Pig and Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom instead.

Ian and Maya were very worried she might lose control and accidentally freeze someone at the party.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t really back out on our plans without losing money, so we went forward with it, and I’m so glad we did. Ian and a bunch of his friends and of course Maya donned their princess costumes and got ready to celebrate. Ian was already feeling a bit overwhelmed with so many people at his house who were mostly paying attention to him. When Else arrived, he was very shy. She was wonderful with him though, and helped coax Ian into interacting with her by offering him a light-up snowball. Elsa was nice, Elsa was pretty, Ian was hooked.

Ian’s birthday always comes complete with Christmas decorations.

The kids had a GREAT time. Elsa read a story to them, played games with them, sang with them. She posed for photos and even lead the group in singing happy birthday to Ian when it was time to cut the cake.

Icing transfers are a bad cake decorator’s dream.

About that cake … With Ian and Maya having taken turns being sick the couple weeks prior to the birthday celebration, I was woefully behind in my party prep. I baked the cake, cookies, and cupcakes all the night before the party. And it was a night that would never end. I don’t remember specifically, but I think it was around 3 in the morning when I finally crashed. It hurt to wake up the next day, but the party went well. People were fed, entertainment was provided, and best of all, Ian seemed to have a really great time.

This kid!

Had you told me when I first got pregnant that we would be having a princess party at our house, I’d have scoffed at the idea. If there’s anything this parenting gig has made clear though, it’s that I want to stay out of the way as much as possible and let our kids be who they are. At his birthday party at least, Ian was a princess.