When it comes to Princesses, as with many things in life, too easily we allow our thoughts to be distracted and rely only on first impressions: the "things" a Princess owns and how she looks.
This activity differs from the standard Princessparty games since we will take the time to stop and think about what a Princess stands for.
This is how we will discover not only the secrets of being a true Princess, but that we all share many of those same qualities! From the Princess party ideas box comes this craft activity which does require a little setting up on your part.
The result, though, is a totally unique gift and experience for your Princess which can make a special keepsake for years to come.
As you progress through the secrets activity, the party Princesses will recognise in themselves many of the qualities that make a Princess truly great.
What you will need is a craft area that has the following supplies: a stack of magazines, junk mail, brochures, newspapers and so on.
Some sheets of poster cardboard - you may want one poster for every four to eight princesses who are doing this activity, just one for the birthday girl or one poster each.
Something to cut with - scissors (of course for a younger fairy princess party some Royal helpers might wield the scissors) and something to stick with (glue stick, PVA glue, sticky-tape, staples, whatever you feel comfortable with) and finally some decorating tools - coloured pens or crayons, glitter glue, sequins, feathers...
as creative as you want to be.
To start the activity off, ask your guests: "What is it that makes a Princess special?" The first answers will tend focus on the trappings - it is good to acknowledge these first to get them out of the way, but we will be looking for deeper answers soon.
"Beauty, Royal birth, a crown, beautiful clothes, jewellery, a glass slipper" - these are the most likely first responses.
Next to stimulate the deeper thinking, ask "Now what are the qualities that make a Princess truly great?" or "What are the responsibilities of a Princess?" The answers you are looking for are along these lines: kindness, inner beauty, strength, faith, hope and charity, wisdom, grace and compassion.
I am sure your group will come up with even more! This is when we depart from the usual Princess party games, it is where the magic happens, so you may want to spend a few minutes allowing (with some prompting if required) the answers to come out.
The clever and thoughtful party hostesses may wish to write these answers on a whiteboard or a chalkboard for reference in the next phase.
So what happens next? This is when you divide the party into groups according to the number of posters you have.
With the list of Princess qualities in easy view, ask your party Princesses to find and cut out from the stack of magazines pictures that show one or more of these qualities.
Encourage them to label areas of the poster for each quality, then stick the pictures in and let their creative urges out to decorate the poster.
Once finished, you will see that you have provoked some deep thoughts from your party Princesses and they will have learned a little about themselves in the process.
To really get the point across, you can have each person in turn talk about how they see one of the qualities on the poster in another of the party Princesses.
Now you have uncovered the secrets of your inner Princess in one of the fun, creative and thought provoking Princess party games.