It’s always exciting for me to see what theme my child picks out for their parties each year, especially since they both are well aware by now how much work I put into them! For my daughter’s party last month, she chose a Tangled birthday party theme. I was ecstatic for a couple of reasons: 1) I still had decorations build from her 4th party which was also Tangled themed and 2) I couldn’t wait to do a party for her at 6 when she could appreciate more of the activities!
To my surprise, she requested not to do a scavenger hunt. Although, have no fear: I will drop my Tangled scavenger hunt ideas below too! Being my crafty child, she was focused on an arts and crafts themed party which works perfectly with Tangled. After all, there’s nothing Rapunzel loves more!
I modeled the entire party after the first song, When Will My Life Begin and included a handful of activities for the kids to do.
But first, let’s get into the decorations!
Table of Contents
DIY Tangled Party Decorations
The most important part of any party is setting the perfect scene. For my daughter’s Tangled party this year, I focused on two scenes. This was primarily due to spacing as I wanted an area for play and crafting, and another area for where the kids would eat. After all, I didn’t want them eating at the same table covered with wet paint and bits of clay!
I decorated two rooms. The garage and our dining room. The garage was the main party area where I set up Rapunzel’s Tower and the floating lantern boat scene. I do my best to keep the parties as low budget as possible by using cheap reusable plastic table covers as wall decorations and cardboard boxes that I grab from local stores!
Decorating the Garage for a Tangled Birthday Party
The primary colors included purple and pink for the tables, blue for the sky, and black for the night sky. For the “daytime” area, I placed two fake grass panels on the floor and covered the wall with blue table covers. I cut out clouds from white sheets of paper and taped them to the blue cover. For the sign, I used my Cricut to cut out each of the letters. I then printed out the flags and attached them to a string to wrap around the console table.
On the floor, I laid out a blue painters drip sheet. It’s inexpensive and perfect for mimicking water! It’s also very durable so you can easily wrap it up afterwards and keep it for future parties if you’d like. I covered all of the shelving and the garage door with black table covers. I then used my Cricut to cut out stars which I then taped to the sheets to set the scene.
Decorating the Dining Room for a Tangled Birthday Party
For the dining room, I wanted to create the Snuggly Duckling but honestly, what kid wants an entire room decorated in brown for their party? So instead, I opted to keep it bright with pink and purple decorations, faux flowers, and a Snuggly Duckling sign.
DIY Tangled Birthday Party Prop Ideas
For my daughter’s 4th birthday, I built a tower, braided a giant braid from yarn, and painted Maximus for an apple toss! Last year, for her Wicked party, I constructed Glinda’s boat. I repurposed it this year to make Rapunzel’s boat from “I See the Light” so I could recreate the floating lantern scene for the kids.
Rapunzel’s Tower
Lucky for all of you, I actually took a picture of the tower as I constructed it back in 2024…and lucky for me, I kept it in the garage with the hopes I’d reuse it again one day!
What You Need
- Large ring (optional for tracing but helpful!)
- Plenty of cardboard including a Large Cardboard Box
- Two round trash bins (one larger than the other to stack)
- Large White Paper Roll
- Styrofoam cone
- Paint: white, brown, purple, multiple shades of green, gold
- Masking tape
- Box Cutter
- To build the tower, I first placed a large ring on a piece of cardboard and traced out the circle for the base. I made a duplicate of this circle for the ceiling, however, in hindsight, I should’ve made this one wider. You’ll see from the picture I had to add an outer ring circle to the top piece for the roof.
- After cutting these pieces, I prepared my large box for the body of the tower. I drew the shape of the doors and cut them out, leaving them party attached so they could swing. I then scored even panels so I could bend the box into a circular shape. With masking tape, I assembled all three pieces together.
- For the record, I absolutely suck at making cone shapes. I don’t know why but everyone has their fatal flaws somewhere. Mine is cones. So if you have a better way to do this, do it. For me though, to make the cone shaped roof, I used panels of cardboard I cut, a large vertical box to support them, and a styrofoam cone for the top. I then cut on large pieces of white paper and glued them to the panels. Finally, I painted the roof, body, and two trash bins. I attached all three using super glue to make sure the tower was stable.
- When setting up the decorations, I also included fake ivy I had bought for my son’s previous superhero party. Adding this around the tower made it really pop.
How to Make Rapunzel’s Hair
For Rapunzel’s hair, I got a whole lot of yarn. I’m not going to lie. This braid took a lot of work and it was time consuming…but was it worth it? Absolutely. First, I had to cut out each individual strand. This is really up to you depending on how thick you want to make the braid (and how long). I stretched my yarn out across the hallway and was running back and forth cutting it and batching them together. Once I was happy with the amount I had cut for each segment of the braid, I grouped them together, tied them at the bottoms, and then braided it.
The remaining yarn was then used to make small braids for the “Pin the Hair on Rapunzel” game the kids played, and as party favors for them to practice braiding at home!
How to Make the Floating Lights
To create the floating lights, I created a template on Photoshop and cut them out using my Cricut. I used glitter paper and then cut out additional circles for the base. If you create a smaller lantern, you can also fit the entire shape on one piece of paper, with the base included. It’s really up to you! I placed battery operated tea candles inside so the lanterns would flicker. I made enough to hang and display, then I filled the rest of the area with yellow balloons. This way the kids could toss the “lanterns” into the air like Rapunzel or play “Keepy Uppy”.
How to Make the Boat from Tangled
As I mentioned previously, for the boat, I repurposed one I had already made for my daughter’s previous party. I have the instructions for her Wicked themed Glinda boat available in my Escape from Oz Party Kit. The only differences are I made the sides higher and gave it different decorative pieces at each end.
DIY Tangled Birthday Party Ideas for Ages 6-9
First of all, when it came to birthday activity ideas, I played “When Will My Life Begin” multiple times to get inspiration. There are so many options depending on what your child is into.
Tangled Birthday Party Craft Ideas
My daughter was turning 6 so I focused on activities that I felt would best suit her including painting, air dry clay, puzzles, and cookie decorating. Depending on your child’s interests and age, you could include candle making, paper cache, cooking, a group dance party (bit of ballet!), or a safe magnet version of darts.
Painting
I created table cards for each station and set them up throughout the room. For the painting, I got small canvases so each kid could paint a couple of paintings.
Pottery and Clay Art
I also got containers of air dry clay for the kids to make shapes out of.
Cookie Decorating
The day before the party, I baked princess themed cookies and filled containers with icing. Cookie decorating seems to always be a winner at any party, no matter the gender or age group. Even my older son who hates crafting will always sit down to join in for the cookie decorating!
Hair Decorating
Finally, I had a hair station. This included small crowns for the kids to decorate with gem stickers, as well as flower hair clips for their own hair or Rapunzel’s giant braid.
Puzzles
Using my Cricut, I cut out a custom puzzle of my daughter and son from her last Tangled birthday party. The kids had fun putting this together. You could also get a premade Tangled themed puzzle or a couple of princess puzzles for the kids to do together. Having a puzzle station could be a great activity for kids to gravitate to while other friends are still crafting.
Tangled Scavenger Hunt: Version 1
As I said, my daughter didn’t want a scavenger hunt this year so I didn’t get to do one. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t. I have two really fun ideas for the main objective. The first is to find Rapunzel’s missing crown: Flynn has misplaced his satchel and it’s up to the birthday child and their friends to find it and the missing crown before Mother Gothel does!
You can incorporate other activities along the way. Have the kids put together a puzzle that’s a drawing or picture of the crown and its location. Decorate cookies to give to an adult dressed as a palace guard so they’ll provide a clue as to where the crown might be. Blend in at the floating lights festival by painting before continuing the hunt. There are so many fun creative ways to space out the hunt and keep the party organized.
Tangled Scavenger Hunt: Version 2
Now, you might think I’m crazy for mentioning this other idea for the main objective. Instead of searching for the missing crown, what if, they’re searching for the lost princess? This is very inspired by my own party when I was nine. Part way through the scavenger hunt, I went missing. I disappeared off to the basement and when my friends put together the clues, they discovered that it was me they had to find! If your child is old enough, they may love this idea.
Of course, it keeps them from part of the party (my sister and her friend hung out with me in the basement while I waited!), but I have the fondest memories of this party. In fact, it’s what inspired my entire love of party planning.
Tangled Birthday Party Activity Ideas
I always like to create a balance at my kids parties. Sitting around for arts and crafts is great, but they are also bound to need to burn off some energy. For this party, I had three main active activities.
Pin the Hair on Rapunzel
I have to give my mom all of the credit on this one! She drew Rapunzel out on a large piece of felt and then created small braids with velcro for the kids to attach. The kids loved this activity so much that I kept it on the wall for a two weeks after the party because they were still playing with it.
Maximus Prime Apple Toss
For the apple toss, I painted Maximus onto a large cardboard box and cut out a few holes (including the tongue where I attached a pink flap). I made this for her 4th birthday party and didn’t realize I needed to slant the board. I corrected that mistake for this party. It seems obvious now but I’m putting this in here in case anyone else has mom brain and completely forgets to do that! Slanting the board is very important so the kids can actually toss things into the holes.
I got some soft foam apples from Amazon to use but you could also sew small apples if you have the skill to do so! Or just use balls or bean bags!
Keepy-Uppy Floating Lanterns Game
In the boat area, I covered the ground with yellow balloons. The kids had fun tossing them around to each other and pretending they were throwing the floating lanterns out into the sky.
Rapunzel Tower Piñata
Our final activity was the Rapuzel Tower piñata. The kids used a frying pan to break it opened, which worked really well.
Tangled Birthday Party Food Ideas
Finally, we’ve come to the food portion of the party! I spend a lot of time on everything else so the food (aside from the cake) always gets the least of my energy. I themed the food as menu items from The Snuggly Duckling. Some easy food ideas are:
- Maximus’ Apple Slices
- Snuggly Duckling Sausages
- Latern Festival Bread (fairy bread)
- Pascal’s Garden Carrots
- Kingdom Potato Crips
- Rapunzel’s Golden Hair Pasta
- Golden Flower Nectar (apple juice)
Tangled Birthday Party Cake
I’ve made two Tangled cakes now over the years so I figured, I should share them both! For my daughter’s 4th birthday, I made Rapunzel’s tower out of gum paste. I used a paper towel roll and covered it with gum paste to make the base. I then printed and cut out Rapuzel and Flynn using my Cricut.
For my daughter’s 6th birthday, I recreated the floating lanterns scene. Using gum paste, I created Rapunzel’s palace, Rapunzel and Flynn in the boat, and the floating lanterns.
I love cake decorating but with everything else I do, I try to find ways to make the decorating the day before the party as simple as possible. I’ve learned how to work with gum paste over the years and I love it. Not just because I can create cute figures, but because I can start working on them weeks in advance. I spent about a week working on these figures. When it was time to make the cake, all I had to do was frost it, place the figures on top, and I was done. It only took me a couple hours, as opposed to cakes in previous years that have taken me a majority of the day.
Have you thrown a Tangled party? What activities would you include? For even more Tangled birthday party ideas, check out my Tangled Birthday Party Board on Pinterest.
If you’re looking for some other party ideas, be sure to check out my scavenger hunt party kits. Superhero, Super Spies, and more await.
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