How do I do a Princess Party with boys???

[scrappydappydoo]

DD1 is going to be 4 soon - she is princessy and pink. She has said that she would like a princess party fair enough except she has a number of friends who are boys. So I put forward the idea of doing a Princess and pirate party. But no pirates as they're too scary - okaay. now what??
How do I manage a pink and princessy party complete with 'everything must be pink' but make boys feel welcome???
BTW its only going to be a church hall thing with games and a tea so nothing elaborate...

Princess and Ben 10?

Just a 'dress up' party?
Many girls will wear their princess/fairy dress anyway
(especially if the iinvite is princessy).
You can take care of some princessy accessories for the party.

Prince & Princess?
Princess & Superhero?

See I wondered about princes but wasn't sure if the boys would like it... Ben 10 I don't know much about (only have girls)..
May just see if I can get away with having a general fancy dress with a few pick bits thrown in..
I feel under the thumb of 3yr old (mind you I have managed to brave the storm of not having it at the wacky warehouse)

knights/soldiers???

I'd say knights too. Send them all out into the garden with wooden swords!

at the same age we did princesses and princes/knights. Was fine.

I did make your own crown, with pink and sparkly bits to stick on, but also bits in lots of other colours, animals, stickers etc.

did face painting - hearts and flowers or England flags and swords and shields - and some boys had flowers and some girls swords - as it should be!

I dressed up in my ball gown, and DH wore his dinner suit - the kids loved it!

We've done knights & princesses very successfully. And have been to a princesses & superheros party.

Alternatively just make it a generally dress up party - the girls are likely to end up in princess/fairy outfits, with the boys in random other stuff

With both of those, I'd just go with girl themed party plates etc (assuming you're doing those) - I wouldn't have thought boys would turn down party food just because it's on a pink plate at 4 (although i'm ready to be proved wrong...)

If you want to 'butch up' the pink, pink + red looks nice & a bit less barbie overload.

I'd say Ben 10 is maybe a bit older.

frogs

I was going to say pirates. We did princesses and pirates for my similarly pink-obsessed DD's 3rd birthday.

There are a few cool girl-pirate books if you have time for brainwashing persuasion - my favourite is The Night Pirates.

Failing that, Knights. But make sure you have a 'check all weapons at the door' policy or you will have princesses in tears.

My main problem was finding non-Disney princess stuff (not that I inherently have an issue with Disney, I just think 3 is too young for Barbie-type princesses)

or frogs - that could work (apart from the implication of kissing, which might worry the boys). I made DD a cake with a princess sitting on top, with a tiny frog on her lap. DD now refers to it as 'my frog cake'

Oh and for tableware - plain silver or gold is acceptable to knights (or so I am told by DS who refused point blank to eat off a pink plate).

yes, frogs. but no kissing allowed.

Call it a medieval castle theme party, boys can be knights, kings, jesters, princes, castle cook whatever...

Why don't you make the theme a bit more wide e.g. Fairy Stories, or Nursery Rhymes
this way you could have lots of different options for boys and girls

and perhaps enable the parents to adapt what they already have at home without needing to spend money on new dressing up clothes

We've been to princesses and knights.

Incidentally 2 of my 3 dds have always loathed princesses and were reluctant to go to princess parties, if you have another option besides princesses that helps the non-princessy girls.

my dds were particularly upset at a "ballet and surfer" party when they had to make tutus and the boys got to decorate surfboards. And one of the boys at that wanted to make a tutu not a surfboard. If you have two themes then the boys and girls can choose which they prefer.

Princesses and Superheroes?

prince and princess. crowns, cloaks, royal this that and t'other. swords may go down well... ditto hobby horses.

I'm just dealing with this and DD (soon to be 4). I'm suggesting a fairytale theme for everyone - if they want to. That accommodates knights, dragons, princes, etc. Apparently we have Mr Bump coming too, I'm trying to convince her that he is a fairytale character!

Who says pirates are too scary?

Thanks for the suggestions!! Think we're going to go for a Royal Fancy Dress Ball - so we can have the whole princessy castle theme but there is massive flexibility..
Might try and get away with gold and glittery as opposed to pink..
Pointy - dd1 said pirates were too scary

Wendyhendy my DS was so not OK with princesses, pink plates/party bags/etc at 4 - and he is a relaxed, plays with girls, doesn't dislike pink per se kind of boy.... I never established where the strength of feeling was coming from but it was very real.

Gold - 'tis the way to go, I tell you.

(but I agree with giving the non-girly girls an option - we have always tried to make activities as gender-neutral as possible - e.g. making crowns can be fine for both)

Medieval prince and princess so the boys can come in armour with swords. They like that.