On April 23, 2010, it became official; I was a Princess.
As the first party loomed on the horizon, I spent a lot of time fantasizing how glamorous it would be. I imagined being dressed in the prettiest dress (either Belle’s or Snow White’s in my opinion), my hair (wig) shiny and perfect. I pictured walking gracefully into a lavishly decorated room. I smiled at the thought of a dozen little girls squealing and screaming and running to give me big bear hugs, looks of pure admiration in their eyes. I would be making a little girl’s biggest dream come true! Needless to say I was excited.
The day of the first party arrived. This was actually the first party the budding business had ever had, so of course no pressure. Also, no precedent, so I didn’t have the foggiest idea what to expect. I was to portray Ariel, the plucky little fish-girl from the Little Mermaid. This of course, meant my vision of arriving in the most beautiful gown of ball was dashed. Ariel’s “dress” is atrocious! It’s made of a bizarre sticky vinyl-type fabric with funky blue lace mess coming off at the hips and the bottom. Their purpose, and I can only speculate, is to create the illusion of fins. Then there is the “shell-bra”. This thing is just….no. No. Not a shell nor a bra, this thing is attached to the weird vinyl nonsense and is made of even weirder stiff and puffy nonsense. Plus the whole thing is 5 sizes to big so I’m more or less swimming in it. Which I suppose is fitting since I am portraying a mermaid… It can’t really be helped though. Disney doesn’t exactly make the best Ariel get-ups. I have it on good authority that the owner of the business is actively searching for a better option.
The wig wasn’t as shiny as I had hoped, but it was long and red. Having short brown hair myself, it was fun to be a spunky red head for awhile.
Disney’s terrible rendering of an Ariel dress aside, the party itself was an adventure. The party wasn’t too far away, but not too far away can feel like far far away when your car has no AC and you’re wearing a sticky vinyl fin-dress. I get their hot and sweaty and park like I have no depth perception (as usual) right in front of the house.
Then I was spotted. Any grumpiness or misapprehensions I had gotten from wearing that dress and driving that car, dissolved when I saw this tiny little girl, dressed very similarly to me, clasping her hands and jumping up and down behind her screen door.
The party was going ok until two of the little girls became inquisitive. I was preoccupied doing princess make overs when the duo ambled up to me and started asking questions. My improv training was years ago so I’m a little rusty when thinking on my feet.
Excited to get their most pressing questions answered by Ariel, they asked me if I drove there. Caught offguard, I hesitantly said yes. This seemed to fuel their excited and they asked what color my car was.
“Silver.” I replied automatically. Immediately the girls squealed and shrieked, “Let’s go see Ariel’s silver car!!” and before I could protest, off they scurried to the window to get a glimpse of the Little Mermaid’s unwashed 2002 Nissan Sentra with expired tags, peeling Wake Tech sticker and huge crack across the windshield.
Stuck at my post, I couldn’t see their faces when the fantastically magical world of mermaids, princesses and glittering pumpkin carriages collided so brazenly with the boring normality of my dirty 4 door sedan.
Next time, will have to make up something up about an invisible horse drawn carriage.
Talking with them in like sword fighting. I’ve got to react fast and smart and be prepared to parry any bizarre question their little minds can fathom. Or perhaps I should just sit down and cram princess facts right before every party…
