Be Our Guest! A Beauty & the Beast Birthday Feast

As the kids get older, the focus is starting to shift from games and favors, to food. Always the food.

Clare waited ever so patiently for her mama to get her act together. Her actual birthday was in June and we celebrated in August. After lots of talking and scouring Pinterest, she finally decided on a Beauty and the Beast theme.

I squealed, just a tiny bit.

We had a small crew of five girls over at the house. They colored, feasted, laughed and watched the live action movie. It was just spectacular. Here’s all the details!

ENTRY

As guests arrived, Clare greeted them with the biggest smile and a bear hug. She had waited two months for this.

TABLE DECORATIONS

We shopped the house to set the dinner table. I swiped the clock, candelabra and books from the mantel and that sweet tea cup from my china cabinet. Anna-Laura found a printable of Chip’s eyes and mouth online, printed them out and taped them to the cup. End result? Perfection.

We couldn’t find a Gaston sign we liked (and I wasn’t willing to pay top dollar for one), so a little freehanding and tracing with a Sharpie marker later, we had ourselves a tavern sign.

The girls helped me fold all the napkins, set the place settings (yes, I used my wedding china!) and cover the frames in the dining room with blue and white paper and stars to resemble windows.

ACTIVITIES

As the girls arrived, we had them color bookmarks. It gave them plenty of time to gab and giggle, which is exactly what 11-year-old girls are really good at, it turns out. Later, while they watched the movie, I busted out my laminator and sent them home with bookmarks as a party favor. Functional and cute.

DINNER

Now, for the good stuff, er grey stuff. We took our cues from the movie and whipped up the grey stuff (it was delicious, just ask the dishes!), cheese souffle, pastry wraps, french sandwiches, “candlesticks” and LeFou’s Brew.

And, they feasted.

THE MOVIE

After dinner, the giggling gaggle headed upstairs to watch the show. Scott popped homemade popcorn and we popped the tops to some root beer.

THE HAIR

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one of the sweetest parts of the party. All day, the girls were busy bees in the kitchen, helping me whip together all the concoctions, setting the table, folding napkins and cutting bookmarks. We had an absolute blast. Just before the party started, I looked around and couldn’t find hide, nor hair of them. Then, Clare comes bounding down the stairs, “Mom! Look what Anna-Laura did to my hair!” Anna-Laura, with the widest grin, says, “I wanted her hair to look like the part in the story where she’s reading her books.” Not only that, but they nailed the blue outfit, too.

These girls!

Clare, it was such a joy to plan this party for you. Eleven only happens once!

Vendor Credits
Bookmarks by Cutesy Crafts
“Be Our Guest” sign
Le Fou’s Brew (for 6 people, we really should’ve doubled it; also we used vanilla syrup instead of toasted marshmallow because that’s all I could find – still tasted amazing!)
Swiss Cheese Soufflè
Grey Stuff (we did not do the vegan version and we skipped the Stevia and used real sugar instead of coconut sugar)

You can check out my Pinterest board, full of ideas, too!