Here’s a Princess Festival Crown that you can print out and give to mom to show your appreciation.

Princess Festival Crown Template

Hey King of the Castle:

Show the Queen in your life how much you care and gather your your princesses and princes, for some memory making fun. Give Mom the afternoon off and jump right into making enchanted Garden Stones with your kids. (Directions Below)

If you know of some kids in your neighborhood whose dads are away or are serving int he military, consider inviting them over to share in the fun. The more the messier.

While You’re having fun, consider taking your Princesses to the King’s Ball.                   It’s a magical night especially for Dads and their Daughters:

Mother’s Day Project 101: Or How Dad and the Kids can make Mom Her Own Garden Stones

Gather your children and then take the actual kids to the hardware store, alone without Mom, to buy your supplies.

(This is a test. You may stop for ice cream along the way. Be sure to count the number of children that you have with you, both when you leave home and upon your return.   

You should not misplace children along the way.)

Hardware Store Supplies Needed:

1 Bag Quikrete 50 lb. Fast-Setting Concrete Mix  $5-$7
1-  10 in. Plastic Plant Saucer for each kid $2 each
Mosaic tiles or small flat decorative glass beads $5- $10
Something to mix the concrete in a wheelbarrow, or even a large, cheap, plastic tub $5
A trowel or small shovel for mixing the concrete, let’s assume you can borrow one if you don’t have it on hand, otherwise it may cost you about $12
Plastic sheeting enough to cover your entire portion of the planet $6.  (PS: Dads-You can never cover too much ground when working with concrete in the vicinity of your kids.)
Petroleum Jelly $3
Paint stirrers, sometimes free in the paint department
Clear Plastic sealer (optional) $6
Additional supplies that you need to have available:

Patience, a large supply

A  water supply on hand. This is not for any water fight that may likely ensue.
Old clothes that everyone can get dirty in.
No princess dresses for this project.
Sunglasses, or other protective eye-wear
Outdoor workspace. No you may not make this in the bathtub, as tempting as it may sound.
Possibly, a camera to take pictures of the memories you’re making.

Total Cost of Project around $30
Gift for Mom that she doesn’t have to make herself… Priceless.

This is easy as A-B-C, if you follow the directions. Otherwise, you’re on your own.

Project Directions:
Go ahead try to do this without following the directions. They are just here so the kids can tell mom what the blob of cement in the backyard was supposed to be…
1.    The first thing you should do is to protect your outdoor work surface (otherwise known as anything that the kids can come into contact with while you are making the project) by covering with the plastic sheeting. (Oh- avoid covering the actual kids in plastic sheeting…)
2. Make sure the kids are ready to go by having them put on their grubby clothes and sunglasses or protective eye wear. (It’s not a gift for Mom if it ends up in the ER.)
3. Tell your kids how much you love them.
4. Set your plant saucers down flat on the work surface.
5. Mix up the concrete. Follow the manufacturer’s directions on the bag. Plan on 5 parts concrete to 1 part water. Only mix the concrete in small batches, using what you think you will need. You are not making Gibraltar.
6. Once your concrete is mixed, carefully spoon it into each mold until they are about 3/4 full. Let the kids use the side edge of a paint stir stick to smooth it down.
7. Let the kids gently tap around the outside of the molds to remove any air bubbles and also to level out the top.
8. Now leave your garden stones alone to set up for 30 to 60 minutes while you all work together and clean up any mess that you have made.
9. Remind your kids that you still love them.
10. Once the cement has been given some time to set up, you can coat the kids hands in the petroleum jelly (makes clean-up easier) and have them make a hand-print in the center of the molded concrete. They can also start decorating, around the outside of their hand-prints, with the mosaic tile pieces or flat glass beads.
11. Allow the garden stones to cure outside for a few days without being disturbed – do not move them. Once they are dry, you can pop them out of the molds.
12. You can seal the top of your garden stones with a clear acrylic sealer if you prefer.
13. Allow your garden stone cure on a dry surface for a full week before putting it into the actual garden. When you place the stones outside they should not be raised above ground more than about 1/2-inch to avoid tripping over them.
14. Please note these are decorative garden stones, not stepping stones, to avoid breaking, please don’t step on them.

by Linda McPharlin

Greetings from the land of Everley! It’s me, Sonrisa, and I can’t wait to meet you all at this year’s Princess Festival! I don’t know if this will be your first Princess Festival, but it is my first as the star! I am a little bit nervous, but I am also so excited to meet you and so many other new friends!

The festival is coming soon, but there is something I had to tell you about, and I just couldn’t wait until the festival to do it. Have you already heard of something called Quizzledust?  If not, Quizzledust is the magic dust that is in a Hobbyduke’s Quizzle rod. It is said to hold many great and magical powers for changing people’s lives! Being the curious princess that I am, I asked my Hobbyduke—Don Carlos what Quizzledust was made of. Of course he rattled off a long list of plant ingredients until I almost fell asleep, but then he said something that really caught my attention. He said that along with all of these other ingredients, there are some secret ingredients that nobody knows about! He asked me what I thought the secret ingredients might be, but I didn’t know.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I went for a walk near the falls yesterday to think about it more. That’s when I saw a young princess surrounded by a group of tiny birds who were singing and chirping as they hopped around her feet pecking at the ground. As I got closer, I saw that she was tossing out small handfuls of birdseed for them to eat. I introduced myself to her and asked her what she was doing. She smiled and said, “I’m giving love to these little birds who have lost their mother. I come here each day to make sure they get their lunch, and we sing a song together.” Her face was beaming, and my heart leaped in my chest when she smiled at me. I looked at the little birds again and noticed their joy as they flitted around her feet gladly gobbling up all of the birdseed and love that she was sharing with them. It was a magical moment, and suddenly it hit me!

The Quizzledust! I knew what one of the secret ingredients must be…birdseed! I ran back home to tell Don Carlos what I saw and what I thought about the birdseed being in the Quizzledust. He loved my story and added that perhaps in addition to the birdseed, there might be some love in the Quizzledust as well. I told him, “No, the love came from the little princess. That’s something that is inside of  PEOPLE (not Quizzledust.)”

So, I am curious! What do YOU think one of the secret ingredients of Quizzle dust might be?

See you at the Princess Festival! I can’t wait to meet you!

With love and birdseed,

Princess Sonrisa

By Ron Hatfield

March 23, 2012

Everywhere I go these days, whether it is the Dentist’s Office, a Chick-fil-a, or to the mall, I see little pink or purple Tutus on dancing squirmy little girls.  I have often thought to myself about these formative years and what kinds of outcomes evolve from “playing princess”.

In  an article by Planet Berries http://www.planetberries.com/formative-years.html  It is written:   “… “Early lessons have lasting impact“, by focusing on this thought process you can better prepare your child and your family for all things to come their way….. If we do not have a solid foundation from our upbringing then our decision making process could be jeopardized and thus our choices skewed perhaps in the wrong direction.”

The concept being that “idle play” will go where it may, but carefully choreographed play can be soaked up by that wonderful dreaming princess and become part of her foundation.

Another comment is the importance of teaching true principles.  Pradeep K Chadha stated:  “Experience teaches a child. Words do not mean much, till they are associated with experience.  In order for a child to learn, every mistake and its consequences have to be explained in simple language without going into too much details. And everything needs to be based on truth. If a child observes parents being untruthful in any area of life, no matter what you tell them about truth, they will learn to be untruthful.”  http://EzineArticles.com/207124

Classical princess stories, with their outlandish themes (see my Earlier Blog entitled:  (Liberties Encouragement”) are wonderful folklore and certainly have their place in the enjoyment of life.  On the other hand, a child’s strong interest in being a princess can be a wonderful time to teach the pretender some truthful fundamentals of life.

All of the “choreographed play” of the Princess Festival characters and stories are based on a few important fundamentals.

1. All of the princesses are parts of families.  Some are incomplete and some ideal, but in each instance the value of the family is always projected as a safe haven and a place where love and acceptance are important
2. Each princess represents children of the world.  Although in a land of their own, they have characteristics of all children.  Some are easily distracted, some dislike housework, others tricksters or dreamers etc.  Each Princess has unique ethnic characteristics but they are incidental as the girls accept one another as friends with total disregard to their physical differences.  (They innately embrace those differences and value them.)
3. Most importantly, each Princess is taught the basics of good decision making and, because of their Princess status, are taught to care about other people.  Each is regarded to be “more than a Princess” when they act in ways to make their world a better place. (Here the fundamentals take root through there EXPERIENCES as higllighted by Dr. Chadha)

I have  frequently quoted my little 5 year old granddaughter, (Purity Mason) who said to her mother, “I have been feeling really mean today.  I think I will go in and put my Princess Mila dress on and be nice.”

To be clear, the Princess Festival approach is first and foremost FUN… and full of princess dress-ups and pretend, however, cloaked in their stories and characters are powerful tools for Moms and Dads to teach the next generation. In these important formative years they learn to RECOGNIZE needs around them. They then are taught to CARE and ACT to help other people.  Finally they are encouraged, by their position as a princess, to be ‘change-makers’ or  “being nice”, as Purity put it, thus spreading kindness, goodness and unity in the world.

Princess to Princess

By Ron Hatfield

Founder

7 March 2012

Liberty Mason recently noted that in every great classical fairy tale, the hero/heroine is served up a hearty tragedy that must be overcome.  For example:

*Rapunzel was stripped of her family and her contact with the outside world – destined to become a lonely old maid.

*Cinderella was torn from her high position and cast among the ashes – deprived of her dignity.

*Snow White was exiled, then hunted down and endured repeated assassination attempts.

*Ali Baba was terrorized by a den of 40 thieves after they murdered his brother.

*Shrek, even, had his peaceful swamp overrun by refugees, was perceived through the whole land as “the bad guy”, and was told his life would never return to “normal” until he completed a pain-in-the butt quest that he had no interest in.

*Princess Ilissa, realized that when her people were suffering from a serious flood,  she had to cross the stereotype barrier of “you’re just a little girl” to make a difference.

*Princess Mila was day-dreaming her life away when an earthquake destroyed the castle and she was called upon to get her people on a path of recovery.

*Princess Sonrisa’s little sister Alejandra was really sick and the girl Sonrisa was charged with solving the case in spite of a thousand distractions.

(Ok, so the last three aren’t EXACTLY the same the first ones.  But they are more real-life, just as exciting,  more appropriate for a child and we like them better.)

AND in every case, once the challenge was met with courage, steadfastness and love, the world was a brighter place and all was better than it had been before.

1 March 2012

To give you the conclusion of this short blog posting right up front…… remember the 5 year old girl who recently said:  “I was mean today to everyone, so I decided to put on my Princess Mila dress and become nice again.”

Three young girls and their 2 year old brother decided to put on a play.  Their Mother encouraged them to develop each step and to dream BIG about the possibilities.  Although only ages 7, 5, 4, and 2 they started brainstorming and soon decided that they wanted this to be a NEW play with new Princesses and part of the Princess Festival.  The new Princesses decided that they would sell tickets and give the money to the poor.

An aunt helped them build a little cardboard enclosure with some sticks and papier-mâché and the mother suggested ideas for some paper cut outs to be pinned on their play clothes making them costumes.

When asked while wearing their Princess Festival Princess dresses, what they had done to help make the world a better place, replied:  “I helped my mom pick up trash in our neighborhood” and the other said, “I helped to wash the dishes”.

Instead of the ‘Rockstar’ or ‘Diva’ Standard of Measure of “how important am I”, I believe that our Princesses/Knights should ask themselves, “Who can I help today”.

If they did, they would be entitled to the expectation of some wonderful ‘Magic’ occurring in their lives, and unlimited new FRIENDSHIPS everywhere they go.

And with this ‘desire to serve’ attitude in their hearts, UNLIMITED SATISFYING ADVENTURES AWAIT THEM.

By Ron Hatfield (Founder)

24 Feb 2012

Modern day society has brought many new and wonderful things to the forefront and, with the same gusto, has littered our lives with new risks and hazards.  The one I would like to report on today is the ability of people to easily “steal our children.”

This thought process really started with a video that my disgusted daughter linked me to on youtube. It shows a young ‘tween’ girl going all crazy ‘rock star’ and she takes off some of her clothes and throws them into the audience as she sings a song about ‘love is only temporary’.  This messaging is really powerful to a bored kid.  It is also very profitable.  (Ironically the Princess Giant, Disney, among others, has built a multi-billion dollar division aimed at growing profits through careful exploitation of this appealing “I wanna be a rock star” perspective.)

My heartburn comes from the relative ineffectiveness of all the ‘safety’ training and other noble efforts, at the elementary school level, to build self-esteem and self-worth that will endure through those ‘tween – teen” years  The training is so quickly discarded for the advertised lure for stimulation and acceptance. Entertainment based marketing “tricks” them into discarding the old and adopting the new.

I boldly suggest, why not use the same “trick methods” and make ‘being a builder not a demolition expert’ entertaining too?  In her “doing good uniform” (aka her Princess dress-up), I suggest that we teach her to aspire to be “More than a Princess” by safely playing and practicing serving others at home and everywhere practical.

Many of our moms report having said to their girls, “What did Princess Mila do when she needed to clean her room.  Put on your Princess dress-up and think like her.”

I totally believe that “When you care about and serve others…. lots of positive, wonderful and magical things will happen to you.”

Everyone (including children) who cares about others and is proactive will be yet another voice who will successfully defend values and character.  According to Albert Schweitzer, those among us who serve are the only ones among us who will be really happy.

Mahatma Gandhi

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Albert Schweitzer

I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.

Tips and Insights from Mommy Magic

EXCITING NEWS!  The Princess Festival Debuts in San Diego this Summer!

For over a year now I have been asking…yes, sometimes begging…Ron Hatfield to bring the Princess Festival to Southern California.  When I was first invited to be a special guest at the festival two years ago, I had no idea how involved I would become.  I have been helping parents put a little “magic” in their parenting for over ten years…and this event, with the valuable lessons and fun that it creates – is one of the best tools I have come across to help guide our daughters, as well as help combat the inappropriate actions of many of the idols that the media almost forces our daughters to look up to.  The fact that parents can go home with lovely little books to carry on the lessons – and dress-ups to continue the play, are bonuses that help bring the spirit of the festival home.

With the careful and thoughtful expansion of this unique and wonderful event, I am thrilled to announce that Ron and Maurine have bestowed the honor upon me to host the festival in “the land of San Diego” this summer.  In looking for the perfect place, I am also pleased to announce that it will be held at the world famous Carlsbad Flower Fields, in north San Diego County.  As you are undoubtedly aware, the work that goes into putting on this event is immense, so if you know anyone in the San Diego area who might like to help me make it the success that it has been in Utah, please let me know!  The dates are July 14^th – 22^nd.

In closing, I would like to share a poem with you that I wrote especially for all of the little princesses whose joyful and caring spirits shall make the world a better place.

To Be A Princess

Would you like to be a princess?

Then simply look into your heart

For the magic you were born with

That makes you a special part…

Of the kingdom we all live in

Which we must take great care of

By respecting what we’ve been given

And planting seeds of love.

The earth and all who live here

Have a beauty of their own

To nurture and protect it

Is the duty behind our throne.

By Ron Hatfield,  16 Feb 2012

Ummmm, this business about “Magic” is one that needs some “fairy dust” ( or in our PRINCESS FESTIVAL kingdom of Everley, “Quizzledust”)…..

One observant mom offered an observation that THREE things create the most “MAGIC” at the PRINCESS FESTIVAL for her family.

1. A guided adventure for the girls to systematically go from one adventure to the next in an organized way, yet offer elective activities ‘on the side’
2. “Play opportunities” with the characters
3. “One on one” interaction moments

Foremost in our minds, however, is the desire that we want to TEACH the girls (and boys) the values of the PRINCESS FESTIVAL:

1.  It’s fun to look beautiful but to be MORE THAN A PRINCESS you must learn to CARE ABOUT OTHERS
2. A True Princess wants to MAKE A DIFFERENCE and creatively finds ways to do that
3. The “REAL MAGIC” comes not from fairy or “quizzle dust”, but FROM WITHIN the  heart and mind of the Princess

We have pondered a lot about how to brew a perfect storm here.

The strong desire of a young girl to “become” a Princess gives parents and the PRINCESS FESTIVAL (as a tool of the parent) an opportunity to set some keystone standards of HOW to be that pretend character.

1. The opportunity to have FUN while being taught these principles puts these precious girls in the right environment to be instructed.
2. Our Princesses (and related characters) are designed to be easily adoptable role models of these values.
3. The desired net result is that PARENTS can use these teachings to continue the training of the girls (and boys) in these principles.
4. Hopefully this will help train a generation that recognizes real needs around them, feels empowered to respond, reacts to it positively, and actually makes the world a better place.

In our charity work with Quiet Way, we have fed thousands of families in Africa who were starving as the result of famine, started a women’s co-op, built dams, supplied schools, feed orphans, provided scholarships, supplied clothing, computers, and tools, brought medical teams and equipment to hospitals where hope was nonexistent.  We were co-founders of another charity that after 20 years still provides relief to women and children escaping abuse and has been adopted by two universities as it grows and grows.  (It started out as “Bare Necessities” in 1990)

However, Please note this very important statement.

I believe that, over time, the growth and acceptance of the principles and values of the PRINCESS FESTIVAL will be the root of more good, in more places, with assistance to more causes, and give back more joy to more people than 100,000 TIMES what we have done in the last 20 years in Africa and the USA.

Ron Hatfield, posted 10 Feb 2012

To be totally honest, I believe that boys enjoy our shows and experiences almost as much as the girls.  In my exit interviews and in our surveys when we ask the boys how they would rank the experience, it is almost without exception that they state it was “very fun”.  To my surprise this included teen aged boys as well as 4 and 5 year olds.

In the first Princess Festivals I allowed my own grandsons to attend the show multiple times.  Six-year-old Zachary was a real PRINCE the first time he saw the show.  As a part of the group he was respectful and would respond when addressed but otherwise stayed camouflaged as part of the group.

On the next day, his second time through, he was usually in the front of the group and would proudly and quickly blurt out the answers when one of the actors would address the guests with a question.  He was a proud little rooster and would glance over the crowd with a smile when he pressed his buzzer first.

On his third time through we had to kick him out.  He knew the routine very intimately now and was a little bored by the repetition.  To amuse himself he would intentionally trip someone or pick up a twig and flip someone on the arm, etc.  The “magic” was gone for this KNIGHT who was looking for new adventure and traditional ‘bored-boy’ instincts kicked in.

Recognizing that this was not our desired outcome I conducted several more interviews of boys entering and exiting the event.

My observation fell pretty consistently into the follow generalizations:

1. Younger boys (ages 3-6) were easily entertained in a new environment full of discovery and surprise.  Easily pleased.
2. The next ages of boys 7-10  who would normally love to twist and turn things to see if they break or pull the beard off from an actor to prove he was a fake were simply overpowered being in unfamiliar territory and respected this unfamiliar turf.
3. The 11 to 14 year olds came with the expectation to be bored but soon learned that there was another show and another experience and another surprise that they hadn’t expected.  They noticed the very attractive 18-25 year old actors and actresses who were interacting with the guests.  It was surprisingly fun to be a part of the ebb and flow of the interactive experiences.  Many wanted to know how to volunteer to be part of the group in the future.

However, always in the back of my mind was the experience with Zachary.  I believed that if we had swords for the boys to get their hands on…. or some tomatoes to throw at someone’s head sticking out a hole in a piece of plywood…. opportunity would convert to action spontaneously.  (Do you think that flying tomatoes and Princess Tiaras are good traveling companions?)

And like Zachary’s efforts to attract attention on his third visit, that seemed to “dim the Magic” of the experience!

So far at the Princess Festival we’ve been trying to reformulate until we really hit on the right balance.  Clearly, our event is an experience designed for PRINCESSES, however, it is seasoned with ‘just enough’ mystery and surprise that KNIGHTS should be adequately entertained and conduct themselves respectfully.

We believe that these young KNIGHT wannabes can be taught to become “More than a Knight” by “Caring about others”, and, like the Princesses, become proactive in a respectful and significant way.

(Wait a minute,  if that is the outcome, then I suppose that we ARE teaching each one of these wonderful KNIGHTS to become a “PRINCE” afterall).