DIY Tangled Party in the Park

 

“That’s the funny thing about birthdays, they’re kind of an annual thing,” muses Rapunzel in Disney’s Tangled movie. And going overboard hosting a themed birthday party for my little girl is kind of an annual thing for this Sac Thrift Chick. I loved getting crafty and staying thrifty to host a DIY Tangled party in the park for my daughter’s sixth birthday. 

My daughter loves all things Tangled – the adventures, the hair, the songs, Flynn, Pascal and, of course, the heroine herself, Rapunzel. And I love that for her. Rapunzel is a princess of many talents. She plays guitar, paints, reads, charts the stars, and is above all, curious about the world outside her tower window. I was thrilled to host a Tangled party in the park, even as the guest list grew until we were expecting upwards of 50 guests. I planned my DIY Tangled themed party with the large guest list, outdoor space, and warm but windy weather in mind. 

Paper plate flowers make pretty Tangled party decorations

DIY Tangled Party Decorations 

For my DIY Tangled party decorations, I focused my energy on decorations I could make in advance and set up at a large park pavilion without too much time or trouble. From my previous experience hosting a Bluey party in the park, I also knew to anticipate a windy May day. Drawing inspiration from the movie and this Tangled party backdrop from Amazon, I chose a pink, purple, gold and yellow color theme with floral touches and gold foil "lights."

Readers: I earn a small commission from products purchased through my Amazon links. These are all products I paid for and used personally for the Tangled Party!

Rapunzel backdrop from Amazon

Paper plate daisies for a Tangled party in the park

DIY Paper Plate Flowers 

One of my favorite scenes in Tangled is when the young girls braid Rapunzel’s impossibly long hair and accessorize it with colorful flowers, including many daisies. To replicate the daisies in Rapunzel’s braid, I made DIY paper plate flowers. I wish this was an original idea, but I stumbled across it while Instagram scrolling.

To make the DIY paper plate flowers, you need 5 petal plates and 1 or 2 smaller center floral discs. Overlap the plates so they can all connect and hot glue together. Watching a video, I saw the crafter overlapping the plates at the outer edges, but I chose to overlap at the plate bases for stability. I purchased the supplies for my DIY paper plate daisies at Walmart and The Dollar Tree. To secure the paper plate flowers to both sides of the six park pavilion support poles, I used a long strip of duct tape folded over to make it double-sided. For a paper flower stem, I attached a twisted piece of green crepe paper. With my DIY paper plate flowers hung on each pole, the park pavilion was decorated at every angle. All in, I spent roughly $6 to make a dozen paper plate flowers, some with stems.

Tangled table decorations include a Rapunzel braid, star pennant and pink floral runners

Tangled Table Decorations 

My DIY Tangled table decorations included a Tangled star pennant on the appetizer table and a big DIY Rapunzel braid on the cake table. For the DIY Rapunzel braid, I cut one yellow tablecloth into strips and loosely braided the strips. Then I hot glued artificial flowers. For the star pennant, I cut purple construction paper into triangles and then printed, cut and glued on the Tangled stars. Cutting out the stars was the most tedious task; if you have a Cricut, you can find patterns online.  

In addition to the appetizer table, lunch table, cake table and gift table, I also had six large guest tables to cover and decorate. Having learned my lesson from my Bluey party, I nixed any thought of centerpieces that could blow over with the wind. Still, I wanted something more than just a plain tablecloth on each table, so I chose these pink floral runners to accent these purple tablecloths. The package of these runners ($6 for 12) was a genius purchase because I also used them to cover up cardboard boxes (the kind you get from Sam's/Costco). I used my pink floral boxes to hold chip bags and party favors. Every detail counts.  

Tangled party foods for a park party

Tangled Party Foods 

While I am all about embracing a theme and carrying it through to every aspect of the party, I kept it simple for our Tangled party foods. I needed Tangled party foods that were both park-friendly and budget-friendly 

Tangled Park Party Menu 

• Pascal’s Potato Chips 
• Maximus’ Carrot Sticks 
• Mother Gothel’s Strawberries 
• The Stabbington Brothers’ Snack Bags 
• Flynn Rider’s Hot Dogs 
• Eugene’s Veggie Dogs 
• Rapunzel’s Birthday Cake and Cupcakes 
• Bottled Water, Sparkling Flavored Water, Juice 
• Ice Pops 

Rapunzel cake table includes a Tangled cupcake tower and Rapunzel doll cake

Rapunzel Cake Table 

My Rapunzel cake table was the focal point of the Rapunzel party in the park. The plan was to have the large Tangled banner from Amazon behind the cake table. Unfortunately, we suffered a mini disaster driving to the park and our banner backdrop support was lost. It’s a party; it's never perfect. I pivoted from that snafu, hung the backdrop on the playground and still had a pretty perfect Tangled backdrop of the woods behind the Rapunzel cake table, complete with wanted posters for the thief, Flynn Rider. I accented the Rapunzel cake table with gold foil castle cake plates from Dollar Tree and these gold foil dot napkins from Amazon.

Tangled cupcake tower out of Pringles cans, cake plates and a lot of hot glue

Tangled Cupcake Tower 

The Tangled cupcake tower and Rapunzel doll cake were the showstoppers of the party. For those delicious DIY treats, I had my mom’s artistic and baking help.  

To make the Tangled cupcake tower, I (like others before me) used Pringles chip cans to form the tower. Then, we covered the cans in textured paper and painted on the bricks and hot glued artificial plant vines. My mom constructed the top of Rapunzel’s cupcake tower with an oatmeal container, construction paper, scissors, glue and creativity. I made Rapunzel’s braid from yarn, tying off sections as I braided to prevent the delicate yarn from tangling too terribly. Then, we glued felt and ribbon around a plastic plate for the middle tier and a heavy cake plate for the bottom tier. Finally, to assemble the Tangled cupcake tower, we drilled screws at the cake plate bottom and middle plate to attach the Pringles towers. The bottom tower held a bag of rice for extra weight. Adding the screws provided not only stability, but it allowed us to transfer the DIY Tangled cupcake tower in pieces to the park. The towers simply pop off and on the plate screws.

Everyone loved the DIY Tangled cupcake tower, as well as the DIY Rapunzel doll cake. The Rapunzel doll cake was my mom’s first ever doll cake, by special request of the birthday girl.  

Pin the Nose on Flynn Ryder DIY Tangled party game

DIY Tangled Party Games 

Leading the kids in DIY Tangled party games was so much fun and one of the highlights of the day. Pin the Nose on Flynn Rider was the perfect DIY Tangled party game. It was hilarious, and the kids had a blast trying to place Flynn’s comically drawn noses onto the painted posters. Knowing that games where kids have to wait in line can drag, I ran two games of Pin the Nose on Flynn at once, and it was a huge hit. My daughter was literally jumping up and down cheering on her friends, and everyone from the youngest kid to the oldest grandparent was cracking up at the silliness.

Pro tip: Use blindfold covers to prevent the spread of pink eye among kids! I covered a sleep mask with a fresh paper towel for each kid. Pink eye always seems to be going around school; I wasn't taking any chances!

 

Paper plate frying pans for a game of Keepy Uppy

Following the lead of the 123 Homeschool 4 Me blog, we also played a Tangled version of Keepy Uppy using paper plate frying pans to bop the gold foil confetti balloons. This was another silly game that the kids loved. Being a windy day, they chased the balloons all over the park, which we had to ourselves.  

For a third DIY Tangled party game, I put “Tangled Up” from the aforementioned blog on standby. I purchased yellow crepe paper off Amazon so the kids could wrap each other up in Rapunzel’s hair like our heroine does when Flynn breaks into her tower. Alas, with so many kids arriving quite late to the party and a whole park with two playgrounds to enjoy, I skipped the game and let the kids spend more time climbing, sliding and swinging on the equipment instead. 

DIY Tangled pinata from a paper-mache balloon

DIY Tangled Pinata 

My kid hasn't quite learned to pronounce piñata properly, but she insists on having one at every party. But as a thrifty mom, I am appalled at the price of piñatas. I also find it a little weird to beat the crap out of your favorite princess. So, for my daughter’s Tangled birthday party, we tried our hands at our first DIY piñata. We used the paper-mache balloon method to craft a very basic round DIY Tangled piñata following tips from Pinata Boy and decorated it with pastel rainbow tissue paper. I found an image of the bad guys – Mother Gothel and The Stabbington Brothers -- and added that to both sides. We filled the piñata with candy and Pascal/chameleon stickers. If you’re looking for a pretty piñata, I was impressed with the Tangled tower pinata from Posimagine, but I really wasn’t going to devote the time and effort to something that was going to be ravaged and ransacked.

Tangled party favors include paint pallets, art pages and snacks

Tangled Party Favor Ideas 

At the conclusion of the party, I didn’t want to send the kids home with party bags stuffed full of cheap trinkets and even more candy, so for our Tangled party favors, I filled each pretty "I See the Light" bag with a mini paint pallet, a Tangled picture to paint, and a bag of Pirate’s Booty to eat. I know kids love the dinky toys that barely work and the candy that sticks to their baby teeth, but I hoped parents and kids alike could appreciate getting an art project and a puffy cheese snack for their Tangled party favors.  

 

Such a fun Tangled party with games, treats and decorations

 

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