Dining With a Princess

I have a princess that lives in my house. Well, in her 5-year-old mind she's a princess and fairy tales are real. Most little girls go through a time in their lives when they fully expect Prince Charming to ride up on his white horse, whisk her away, and they'll live "happily ever after"... I grew tired of waiting for him to show up, so I settled for Financial Guy and a white mini-van. :)

I've told you previously that on our most recent trip to Disney World, we purchased the dining package that included table services meals. This package allowed us to have several character meals at no additional charge. If you pay for character meals in cash, be prepared to bring a chainsaw, with which you'll cut off at least one arm and both legs as payment. Not having ever been willing to commit such nonsense, we haven't had character meals and frankly, didn't really know what we were missing. Having heard how spectacular they were from all our friends, who really love their children and treat them to the niceties of life, we decided to take their word for it. As a surprise to our princess, I packed her favorite hand-me-down princess costume, as couture for our meal with Cinderella and all her rowdy gang. I also picked one the Sisternator had outgrown for Quatro, that was 3 sizes too big and pinned the thing all over, God love her...

It had been suggested that the Sisternator would probably really like the attention she would receive at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. Given that I'm the cheapskate that would fish a quarter out of a toilet (and then scrub my hands with bleach), I decided to take along my own bibbity bobbity pins and turn her scraggly locks into something just short of royal. The entire time we were stomping around the parks, there were all these darling little girls in costumes with a beauty pageant sash reading "I'm a Princess", small tiara securely pinned in their royal tresses, a dusting of make-up, and enough glitter to stop up any hotel shower drain for 3 months. What gives?

Not knowing that making girls into princesses has turned into a 10 trillion dollar industry for Disney (not really, but it seems it), all these darling beauties had enjoyed the privilege of visiting the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. I did a little snooping and found out should you choose to partake (obviously, we did not), here's what it will cost you:

• hair and make-up= $50
• hair, make-up, and nails= $55

Now, that said, rumor has it that if you go into Bibbity Bobbity Boutique and ask for pixie dust, they will sprinkle glitter into your diva's hair for free. My friend Tracy took her daughter into one of the girlie shops across from the castle and they even perform a pixie dust sprinkling "rite", all for free. A free princess is my kind of princess! :)

If you are entertaining the idea of a princess meal on your next trip and want to save a buck or 2, take along a costume from home (consignment sales, eBay, and after Halloween sales are GREAT for finding these!), as the ones in the parks will cost you minimum of $60. Stash a few bibbity-bobbity pins in your luggage for "princess hair" (aka- a bun) and get your royalty on. Have fun and save on, friends!