You can pick up plastic tiara's and wands really cheaply nowadays—for around $1 each from supplier 2—so I would suggest sending these out as a 3D invitation. It's certain to get people excited about your princess party ideas. Plus the guests can wear the tiaras to your tea party.

Tie this cute princess dress printable invitation (below center, from supplier 4) onto the tiara / wand to communicate all the party details. I think when you're sending out a 3D invitation, you can get away with using a printable invitation because the main focus is on the 3D object anyway.

If you want to make these even more special, lay them on some pink tissue paper in one of these decorative box mailers and tie up with ribbon. You can always hand these out on the school run to save posting.

Update: Alternatively, you can now buy something similar; an invitation that comes with a princess wand (below, from supplier 4).

Alternatively, see supplier 4 also has lots of great pre-designed invitations available—including ones that can be personalized either with or without a photo—that will tie in nicely with these princess party ideas.

A really nice touch that shows attention to detail is to embellish your invitations with personalized princess themed postage stamps.

Note: These are only available in the USA

Alternatively, you can create your own personalized postage stamps.

Just upload a photo of the birthday boy or girl dressed in a princess costume (select supplier 1 and 10 for best range) and the personalized stamps will be shipped to you (USA only).

Tea parties are synonymous with princess party ideas, so you might want to serve the drinks in some old fashioned tea cups with saucers. You probably don't want to serve normal tea, but there are some nice fruit flavoured ice teas like those from Snapple which make flavors such as peach, raspberry and lemon tea. Just remember these still contain caffeine, although they do make a caffeine-free Pomegranate Raspberry Red Tea which is probably the best option.

Even if you don't serve fruit tea, present your drinks in teacups. These clear glass teacup and saucer sets from supplier 3 are really cheap and would look great when filled with pink colored drinks.

For younger kids there are these plastic tea cup sippers from supplier 1. You can always take the screw top and big bendy straw off and replace with a regular straw to make them look more delicate if you wish. Alternatively, you can pick up these cute Disney princess themed bottles from supplier 4 (other designs available).

For more pink drinks try making these cotton candy milkshakes (below left by Happy Harvest on Tablespoon), or this cute polka-dot strawberry milkshake made with marshmallows (below center, by Sweet Paul, photo by Alexandra Grabewski). Alternatively, for something quick and easy, just serve this cotton candy Shirley Temple instead (below right,

These would look great served in these Disney princess themed party cups, which are only around $1 each from supplier 4. There are different designs available for various princesses, such as Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, and Anna and Elsa from Frozen.

You can make your party drinks more interesting with these cute princess wand or princess castle ice cube molds, both from supplier 3.

Alternatively, use princess themed straws, such as the ones below (more designs available) from supplier 4.

For princess party food you could look to the English tradition of 'Afternoon Tea' for inspiration. Little princesses will love this as everything is so delicate and lady-like. Traditionally, afternoon tea comes served in teapots with tea cups and saucers alongside bite-sized sandwiches cut into small triangles with the crusts removed. Traditional English fillings are cucumber (but you could add cream cheese for children), egg and cress (substitute with egg mayo for kids), ham, or smoked salmon. All the sandwiches are usually presented on a tired cake stand accompanied by a selection of small cakes or scones with jam and Devonshire (clotted) cream.

Over the past few years, traditional English Afternoon Tea has become really fashionable again. The Berkeley Hotel in London has gone one step further and created Prêt-à-Portea, which is a modern afternoon tea with cakes and biscuits inspired by dresses, handbags and shoes from the current season's catwalk collections (below). It's then all served on china designed by British designer Paul Smith. So you don't just have to think in terms of traditional afternoon tea for your princess party ideas - mix it up with some cute shoe or dress shaped cookies, cakes and candies.

Of course you can also use the cookie cutters to create any number of different princess themed cookies. There are cookie cutters for individual princess faces, such as this Elsa from Frozen cutter, or if you're not really a baker you can buy all sorts of ready-made princess cookies—I particularly like these Disney princess dress cookies (below right). See supplier 4 for both.

Remember, in addition to using these cutters for sandwhiches and cookies, you can also use them on slices of cheese, or fruits, such as watermelon. You can even take a similar approach to shaping mini pizzas, such as these crown-shaped pizzas from by Pillsbury.

These Pretzel and Cheese Broomsticks by Debbie at One Little Project at a Time would make great Cinderella's broomsticks. These Rice Krispie Apple treats by Mandy at Gourmet Mom on the Go would make great Snow White's (not so) poison apples. Or just re-name Goldfish Cracker's as Ariel's friends like in this photo from Our Happily Ever After.

For something a little more healthy, make these simple fruity magic wands, below left by Sheri Silver on Babble. Or check out these more elaborate ones from Weelicious.

Use these cute tea cup molds from supplier 3 to bake and serve your cupcakes in - perfect for a royal tea party.

If you prefer to make regular cupcakes, use these cake toppers from supplier 4, which are available for most of the Disney princesses and just frost your cakes with the appropriate colored frosting.

If you prefer not to go down the Disney princess route, there are plenty of other princess cupcake toppers available from supplier 4, such as the ones below.

There are lots of princess themed lollipops available from supplier 4, such as wands, glass slippers, and carriages, which are a good way to fill out a dessert table.

For a Disney princess party, you might want to include these fun Pez dispensers on the dessert table. See supplier 3.

If you want to make the birthday cake yourself, there are a few different baking pans available which tie in nicely with these princess party ideas, including crowns, carriages, and castles. See supplier 3 for these.

If you're not really a baker, these personalized edible cake images from supplier 3 are a really quick and easy way to theme the birthday cake in keeping with these princess party ideas. Just roll out onto your cake. (More designs available).

Or use one of these non-edible cake toppers, also from supplier 4 (more designs available).

To create a dessert / buffet table like the one below, folllow these step by step instructions:

To dress your table, I'd suggest using a lavender tablecover with a matching table skirt (below left). Then pick up some lavender tulle by the yard and lay this over the table skirt to create some texture. Then add some pink feather boa trim (below right) - also available by the yard - around the perimeter of the tabletop. Obviously you could also reverse these colors if you prefer pink to be your main color. See supplier 2 for all these items.

You could also arrange some white string lights (the type used to dress a christmas tree) in between the table skirt and the tulle to add some sparkle.

Use a mix of square and rectangular pink and white plates and bowls to display the food on. I recommend this range of disposable Premium Plastic Serveware (below), they're great value and are really handy if you don't have enough serving platters and trays to match the colors of your princess party ideas.

This princess centerpiece from supplier 9 is really cute and doubles as a treat stand. This would look best raised up to give your display some height, so you could just cover a cardboard box with gift wrap and place it on top. Alternatively, if your birthday party falls during pumpkin season make a homemade centerpiece by carving this beautiful Disney style Pumpkin Carriage (below, from Hallmark Magazine).

If you're on a tight budget you can create a variation of the dessert table above by substituting the tissue paper garlands for crepe paper streamers from supplier 1 or 2. Just twist and hang a mixture of lavender, white and pink streamers in tight vertical lines from floor to ceiling.

As an alternative to the princess cut outs, you could use these huge princess airwalker balloons from supplier 1.

The lanterns / pom poms above work best if you have a plain wall behind. If not, just hang some decorating fabric such as a gossamer or netting (from supplier 2) on the wall first.

This dessert table is made from combining a couple of different scene setters. The great thing about it is that the pieces are so big (the background images are 30ft long and the prince and princess approx 5ft tall) that you'll be able to cover huge sections of a room with it (not just behind the dessert table) so you may not need many other decorations to go with these princess party ideas.

The background is made up of the following pieces (from left to right): meadow background scene setter, sky background scene setter, and fluffy cloud props (all from supplier 2) combined with animal and nature props from supplier 3.

This princess carriage standee from supplier 2 is 4'6" tall so could be raised up at the back of the dessert table to create an impressive backdrop, perhaps with a curtain of crepe paper streamers behind. Similarly, this freestanding princess photobooth background, also from supplier 2, is 7'6" tall and 3'10" wide so could easily be used as a backdrop—plus it can be personalized.

If you want to create your own fairytale castle backdrop, there are a number of different stone effect background papers which come on a roll like wallpaper and are great for covering large areas. See supplier 2.

These castle backgrounds, also from supplier 2, are around $32 and can come either as a freestanding cardboard backdrop or as vinyl murals. Again, they're a great way to theme larger areas.

Finally, another way to dress your dessert table would be to hang a princess canopy like this above it. Alternatively, hang it over the dinner table where the kid's will be eating to enclose the table and create a floaty tented effect. See supplier 3.

Use these Princess food tent cards from supplier 4 (which can be personalized with your own text) to identify different dishes on a buffet / dessert table.

If you want to go for traditional princess party ideas, dress the table using a palate of pink and white—with a third accent color such as gold, silver, or lavender. For example, you could use a white table cover with a glittery pink sequin table runner (as shown below from supplier 3) and a mix of pink and gold tableware (see supplier 1 or 2).

Other color combinations that work well are pink, white, and lavender. Remember to always use three colors to avoid a candystripe effect.

If your child loves Disney princesses, don't shy away from using branded tableware. Remember, you want the party to be fun for them. It's not a table-styling competition. Just use it sparingly. See supplier 1 for a full range.

There are also some less obvious designs from supplier 7—including some featuring ethnic princesses—many of which can also be personalized.

Alternatively, these princess themed letters are a cute way to make a personalized centerpiece. Also from supplier 4.

I always think it's important to hang something above the table too, it really helps to define and enclose the space. So use a cluster of paper lanterns from supplier 2 or 13 (below left, from Martha Strewart). The same suppliers also have cheap battery LED bulbs to make the lanterns glow without having to worry about power cords. Alternatively, for a more feminine look use tissue pom-poms also from supplier 2 or 13 (below right, Martha Stewart). If you want to get really creative, try hanging the lanterns in a single curvy line to make the body of the caterpillar - then add some eyes and legs out of cardstock.

Finally, tie a helium-filled balloon to the back of each chair so it sits above the child's head. There are lots of different balloons available that fit with these princess party ideas. Use these personalized placemats to set each place at the table. See supplier 1 for both.

Always start your party decorations outside so there's a bit of a build up to the entrance. There's nothing worse for your guests than arriving at a bare front door. This could just be bunches of balloons starting along the pavement and leading guests up your drive to the front door, a personalized yard sign (below left and center, from supplier 2 or below right, from supplier 4) or personalized banner.

There are some great castle gateway props available from supplier 2, both princess and fairytale castle themed ones.

Twinkly white fairy lights are also great for these princess party ideas (hang them behind some sheer fabric to soften the look), or pick up a cheap bubble or smoke machine to really give a magical fairytale feel to your birthday party. All these are available from supplier 3.

Check out suppliers 1, 5, and 8 for lots of inexpensive Princess party favors and novelties, such as bubbles, stationary, and temporary tattoos.

Alternatively, check out supplier 4 for lots of cute princess party favor ideas, such as personalized Princess lip balms or these cute Frozen snowflake soaps.

Supplier 4 also has lots of great Disney Princess favor bags and boxes, such as the ones below, which you can fill with your own candy and novelties.

If you're looking for favor bags and boxes more suited to a baby shower, check out supplier 4 for these too. They have lots to choose from, such as the ones below.

See my seperate Princess Party Games and Activities page for suggestions to compliment these princess party ideas.

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Many thanks

Matt