These princesses love to give parties

BOUNTIFUL — Mirror, mirror on the wall, Kendalyn Harris is the fairest of them all. Well, at least she is during one of her Princess Parties outings.

That's when the Bountiful resident puts on her blue and yellow gown and transforms into a full-size, real-life Snow White.

Harris, along with her sister-in-law Michelle Rahden of Fruit Heights — who plays Sleeping Beauty — started Princess Parties last fall. From homes to churches to parks, the two young mothers visit and host parties around Davis County, making appearances as either Snow White or Sleeping Beauty.

"We just want to make sure that we can provide the best princess party that anyone can find," Harris said.

The princesses offer several party packages to the public— from a $45 Appearance Package where the princess spends 10 minutes greeting guests and taking a Polaroid picture with each child, to the $175 Silver Package where the princess sends out invitations, hosts the party for two hours, has a tea party with the children, makes a craft with them, brings a birthday cake, princess punch, paper products, pizza and party favors for each child. With the most expensive $200 Gold Package, the princesses bring a costume for each birthday guest to keep for $25 each.

Harris said one of their biggest strengths is that the two princesses are moms themselves. They know what it's like to have children and that it's nice to have an occasional break.

"It's just one less thing to have to worry about to not have to plan a party, and so we can take care of that for them," Harris said. "We can take care of the entire thing."

Although Harris and Rahden only transform into Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, the two princesses find ways to incorporate all princesses into their parties. They play games like pin the crown on Cinderella, read storybooks about other princesses and sing different princess songs.

"It really is magical," Rahden said of the parties. "(The children's) eyes just light up. And it's so fun for us."

The princesses also try to teach life lessons during the parties — lessons that can be taken from princess stories. For example, Harris tells the children that they aren't supposed to take food from strangers because when she took the apple from a stranger it ended up being poisonous. Rahden tells the children that when she got her dress from the three fairies she was polite and said, "Thank You."