With a 3 year old in the house, we are in the throes of the princess craze. This is an issue that I felt nervous about up until just a few months ago. I never liked receiving “Daddy’s little princess” onesies or anything that was overly sparkly or blingy or that had crowns all over it. I thought that perhaps if I curbed the amount of such things in our home that my daughter might not go ga-ga for princesses.

But let me tell you how her love for princesses, and Disney Princesses in particular, came to life. Last year one of my nieces requested The Little Mermaid on DVD for Christmas. As you probably know, you can’t buy this DVD new in a store, as it is locked away in the Disney Vault. Ebay is one of your best bets. I ordered a used copy online, and when it arrived I wanted to make sure it worked before I wrapped it up. And I let Darah watch it with me. I thought it would be fun to share with her my favorite Disney movie.

And the rest, my friends, is history.

Ariel is her favorite (which I sort of love since Ariel is also my favorite). She can find Ariel most anywhere (some of my favorite locations where she has managed to find her include Home Depot, a convenience store at 5am on Thanksgiving morning, and the curio cabinet at her Grammy’s house).

There are still many Disney movies that she hasn’t yet seen, but she is starting to learn more about more about each princess, and she is adding to her list the movies she has seen. Beauty and the Beast was recently playing at a friend’s birthday party in the background (it was a princess theme). She plopped right down and watched the whole thing, and she had the cutest expression on her face the entire time.

I have learned over the past year since to lean into this season of life, rather than try to prevent it from happening. Every Disney Princess has some amazing qualities that I try to highlight so that the focus isn’t on being pretty. We’ve been playing, “under the sea” for a year now, and the focus of that game is to go on a brave adventure, just like Ariel, who isn’t afraid to take a risk. We also pretend that our hair glows like Rapunzel (#2 on her list of favorite princesses) and use that power to heal others when they are not well, demonstrating kindness and empathy. Tiana never ever gives up, even when the odds aren’t in her favor. She has a tenacity from which we all can learn.

If you have a Disney Princess fan in your home, be sure to download the Royal Ball app (download here for apple and here for android), which is totally free and lots of fun. We downloaded it before heading to Walmart to be big helpers for Santa Claus. Through this app, you can get yourself ready for a royal ball by building your own outfit (gown, necklace, shoes, tiara) and making your own custom carriage. Once you arrive at the ball, you use your phone to dance at the ball. It’s really cool, because you get to see the ballroom as if you were in it, and as you dance or look up or down, the screen moves with you. I will fully admit to taking this app on a few spins through the living room, myself!

I highly recommend that you download this app before you head to a store that will have some Disney Princess signage, as there are pictures on these signs that will unlock additional dresses.

I also really love that you can bring a bonus carriage to life right in the store when you snap a photo of the Cinderella Blu-Ray DVD. Basically, this app can make a trip to Walmart so much more fun for any Disney Princess fan. And if you are doing a little holiday shopping, it can also keep your little ones distracted while you take some stuff over to the layaway department! 🙂

On our most recent shopping adventure, we were being special helpers for Santa Claus. He asked us to get 3 Disney Princess bicycles for 3 little girls in Chattanooga. His sleigh was getting very full, and having these bikes already here would sure help him out! Darah was excited to be summoned for such a special task and took her role quite seriously! If you’d like to follow along with our entire shopping experience, check out my Google+ album.

Sadly, the store was completely out of Disney Princess bicycles. Santa isn’t the only one who wants to be gifting these this year, it seems! We went with a back up plan and purchased 3 Fisher-Price Little People Princess Song Palaces. I bought every single one they had on the shelves. Looks like Disney Princes stuff is really hot!  I like that this particular item is safe for princess fans as young as 18 months, and it has lots of different places for imaginative play. It even has some fun sound effects to add to the magic!

You may be wondering why I wanted to buy 3 items and why we were being special helpers to Santa. Well, 2 of the items we purchased are going to go to the Angel Tree. As a mom, I know what it is like to have your child ask for a very special toy for Christmas. And I can imagine how hard it must be to know that getting a gift like that isn’t a possibility. Darah asked for a bike this year, and I am going to get one for her (she doesn’t know that little girl #3 we are shopping for is her!). I want to pay it forward and get the same bike for 2 other 3 or 4 year olds in my community who have the same wish as Darah, but whose parents can’t afford it on their own.

After I got home, I decided that as cute as the Little People Princess Songs Palace is, I really had my heart set on getting the bikes, so I went to Walmart.com and ordered 3 of them there. Shipping to my house was completely free, which was awesome! I’ll be doing another post in a few weeks and I’ll be sure to show you the bicycles in detail! They arrived at my house 2 days after I ordered them (totally serious) so I’ve already had a sneak peek! Can’t wait to show them to you!

While you wait for the big bicycle reveal, be sure to check out lots of different ways that other shoppers have had a blast with Disney Princess items, and get some great ideas for parties, games and gifts! And don’t forget to follow Disney on Twitter. I’m really enjoying following them and getting little doses of joy and sunshine from Walt and those who have followed him in my Twitter feed!

Do you have any Disney Princess items on your holiday shopping list this year? I’d love to hear about them!!! Santa is going to have a Rapunzel doll in his sack to leave for Darah on Christmas Eve! 🙂

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Disney Consumer Products, Inc  #CBias #SocialFabric. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.