Hey, Hey Thrifty loving friends! We’re Monica and Jess from East Coast Creative and we’re super thrilled Brooke asked us to stop by for a visit!
We love Brooke and had so much fun with her during our Creating with the Stars competition earlier this year! She was an awesome blog mentor! So, thanks again for having us- now, onto our projects!
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I’ll be honest, I (Monica) am not much of a Girly-Girl, but I have a daughter that definitely is! I have to go way outside myself to think of how to make things girly and “fancy” for Kira. For her 5th Birthday party, she wanted a Brave theme, so today I’m going to share how I put it together without too much work, and kept both girly-girl and not-so-girly-mommy happy!
Invitations:
Using PicMonkey (free editing software) I whipped up some simple invites with a little Celtic flair. I printed them on card stock and called it a day! Easy Peasy!
You can download my blank invite template here
Decorations:
The majority of decorations for the party were also functional- I made lawn signs for each of our “Highland Games” events…
Simply printed on 8×10 computer paper, I mounted them on one piece of foam core, cut them out and added metal yard stakes to keep them in the ground.
The birthday girl helped me make a Family Crest banner on a drop cloth. We used a projector to get the outline and then she got to color it in with markers.
Old fabrics turned into a shabby pennant banner- We just tied cuts of fabric and knotted them onto twine.
The look was simple, but worked for us (and Kira was happy to be able to help prepare every step of the way!)
Games & Activities
This party was ALL about the games! The decor and food were fine, but the games rocked! We decided we’d come up with lots of different activities to make up The Highland Games.
-Balancing Act-
All we needed was a fallen tree and a rock- if you don’t have a tree handy (we live in the woods) you could use a 2×4 or 2×6 board.
-Log Carry-
I had my hubs cut some kid-sized logs for the kiddos to carry. They had to show us just how strong and fast they were!
Strong & Fast kids!
-Colorful Archery-
This was a total kid favorite!! We used foam core and a Sharpie to make a bulls eye shape. I picked up two suction cup arrow sets at the Dollar Store.
The kiddos got to dip their arrows into the paint and then shoot!
It was way fun- way messy- and downright awesome!
We were also left with some pretty cool “artwork” when we were done!
-Catch a Wisp-
We couldn’t get floating spirit-like wisps, but we could get the next best thing… pool noodles!!
This game was basically like an Easter egg hunt for wisps… Daddy helped hide ’em, and the kiddos found them!
I buy the flower shaped noodles every summer- there are so many fun DIYs you can do with them!
I use my Cutco bread knife to slice them down- it cuts super easily.
You’re left with cute little flowers- or in this case…wisps!
Here are a few other games we had: balloon volleyball, sponge toss, and crown decorating.
Food
The food for this party was inspired by the banquet hall with the clans- it was man food all the way!
Since nothing was overly fancy, I’m not sharing recipes, but hopefully this give you a few ideas!
What says Celtic clan members like chicken legs?
We also had “Cauldron Punch” that was yellowish-green like the potion Merida got
These bear paw cookies are just a basic chocolate recipe in the shape of a paw, with almond slivers as claws.
Aren’t they so cute?? Well, in an “I’m a vicious bear” kind of way.
My awesome Mother-in-law made a simple cake and decorated it to look like a bulls eye. The birthday girl loved it! 
Favors:
I’ll be honest, I really hate party favors. I don’t think they’re necessary and most times I skip them all together, but for some reason, I did them for this party.
-Cotton Candy Wisps-
We picked up a few bags of cotton candy from a local carnival- actually I called Jess and she picked it up for me when she was there with her fam.
And since her party was right before she and all her friends headed off to school, I hit up the 19 cents crayons and gave each kiddo a little school encouragement.
So, there you have it- A Brave Party! Hopefully this gives you some simple ideas if your little princess is into Brave as much as mine was!
We’d love to have you pop over and visit us at East Coast Creative sometime, and we have some big news- on July 7th our new DIY show Knock It Off is premiering! Check out our KIO Facebook page for more info!
Thanks again for having us Brooke! We’re honored to be here today!!
Totally cute! I lovedhow you came clean and honest about the party favors.
Cuteness all over! Loved the idea of favours..:)
Great ideas! My 11 year old wants a Brave birthday party so these are great ideas, especially the games, to build off of for the older kids. Thank you!
LOVE this party theme! I found your blog because my daughter just decided she wants to have a Brave theme for her 5th birthday party. Ironically, her name is Kiera (but my dad calls her Kiera Jane), her party is in August, and my hubby and I are both into strength sports (like Highland Games).
My favourite kind of party- homemade, simple but clearly lots of love put into it and so much fun for the kids! What a great party!
Thank you so much for posting this! My daughter has been obsessed with Brave since it came out but never wanted a birthday party. This year, for her 6th birthday this is what we’re doing! It’s harder now because the movie came out a while back and for some reason she isn’t a hugely popular princess, though I love her, so I can’t easily find the plates with her on them. We are going to mostly do things in a teal theme with a little bit of scottish flair with some fabric but I love the ideas for games and especially for some cheaper alternatives! Thank you!
Great ideas! We are getting ready to do a princess and knights party for my daughter. Where did you get the crowns for the girls to decorate?
Where did you find your pink crowns to decorate?
Lovely ideas! Can you tell me where you got the crowns from? Thanks so much!
Where can I find the crown crafts to make what store
Great idea! Where can I locate the crowns?
Crown information please!