A Day in the Life of Our Wayfinder Princess: Eden's Day As a Princess Performer
Hi! I’m Eden, and I portray both the Wayfinder Princess and the Arabian Princess for Brittain’s Princess Parties. I am so honored to portray princesses of color and to make it possible for more ethnicities to be represented at parties and events! I have been working with BPP for about 6 months now and I adore this job! Being a princess performer is one of the most rewarding jobs out there! You get to surprise children as their favorite storybook or screen hero and create incredible birthday parties that you know they will remember forever! You also get to wear beautiful costumes and wigs and kind of be treated like actual royalty. Princess performing is a dream come true, but it’s not all glitter and sparkles as you may think! Join me for a day in the life as the Wayfinder Princess, and see what my typical Saturday of princess performing looks like!
Wayfinder Morning Routine!
Every weekend is a little different, depending on what time my parties are scheduled for. But I usually start my day by waking up at 8:00am. My must-have princess breakfast food is Pumpkin Greek Yogurt (it’s my favorite!). It gives me the energy I need to start my day as I start to get ready for my parties. The Wayfinder makeup takes me about an hour to do; but I’m super lucky because she wears the most natural makeup. The costume is also very comfortable and easy to get into. I don’t have to worry about corsets or bows or jewelry. I love how simplistic the Wayfinder is, because it lets her personality shine brighter! When I am doing my makeup, I usually listen to a band named Cimorelli. They make their own music, covers, and music videos that I enjoy listening to.
Getting Into Costume!
My favorite part of my costume is definitely my flower crown! It pulls the whole costume together and is just beautiful! My least favorite part of my costume? Well, underneath my skirt, there are faux grass tassels that always tangle themselves while I’m driving. But other than that, it’s a very comfortable costume!
En Route to the Party: Wayfind or Drive?
We drive in costume to all our parties (we get so many weird looks, but I’m happy to make another person’s day along the way). The main way I get into character is by singing along to Disney music (especially the Moana soundtrack!) on the way to my party. I like to leave extra early for my parties, which allows me to combat any traffic or weather increments, GPS errors, and it gives me time to find parking a few doors down from the home the party is being held at. Fun Fact: all of the actresses on our team arrive in the vicinity of the party about 10 minutes early; it’s one of our guidelines so that we are ready to make an entrance when the parents are ready for us!
Sometimes, a family will walk by my car and I’ll have to duck down and hide near the floorboards or grab a coat and cover myself. One time, I even used a book to cover my face! We never want any little ones to see us in our cars; it would completely ruin the magic for them. I want all children to believe that I just magically appeared by boat or by Maui’s demigod powers.
Party Time!
Our most popular party package includes a grand entrance of the character, presenting a tiara to the birthday girl, story time, sing-along and dancing, face-painting, leading the Happy Birthday Ceremony, and of course taking lots of photos! My favorite activity to lead at parties is teaching the hula dance. I’ve studied videos about this beautiful dance because I want to teach the art accurately! It’s so cool to be able to see little minds working to learn a new dance that they’re not familiar with! The fact that I get to be the one to teach them is very rewarding.
Most Challenging Question a Child Has Asked
Luckily, I haven’t been asked a super-challenging question (yet!), but I can think of a very challenging task I was asked to do. During my first training party, the Ice Queen and I were face painting and I had a little girl ask me to paint a chameleon on her face. This was my first party, and I had only been painting stars, flowers, and snowflakes on the other children. I was totally freaking out in my head… how in the world was I going to paint a chameleon!? The first thing that came to mind was Pascal from the movie Tangled, so that’s exactly what I drew! Luckily the little girl loved it and so did her parents! Needless to say, I am a seasoned face painter now.
Most Awkward Moment
My most awkward Wayfinder moment was when a little girl at a birthday made me a necklace, which I thought was so sweet, until suddenly she said “I made it poop green for you!” I wasn’t sure how to answer, but I thanked her, just as any gracious princess should, and took it home with me!
Saying Good-Bye
Leaving the children behind is hard. You wish you could stay and play forever. But knowing that you gave them a magical memory as a gift is indescribable. One thing that I wish I could say to the parents is that I hope I made a positive impact on their kids and that they’ll always be able to look back on the pictures and videos and say, “I remember that birthday! That was my favorite!”
Post Party: Getting Home!
When it comes to the Wayfinder makeup, I almost always keep it on for the rest of the day. I’m usually heading off to another one of my many jobs and since I took so long working on it, I like to enjoy it for the rest of the day. But those false lashes always come off on the car ride home! My favorite post party snack after I get home and out of costume are mozzarella sticks! It’s become a tradition; I don’t know why.
One Weird Thing You Wouldn’t Know About Princess Performing
Adults sometimes forget that we are in character the ENTIRE time at the party, from the moment we knock on the door, to the moment we leave and are out of sight. Sometimes family members come up to me at parties and ask me what my real name is or where I’m from. I know they are being kind and I appreciate their interest! But we never want to ruin the magic for any child in earshot, so a lot of times I am unable to answer them or I answer them as the Wayfinder Princess would.
One Common Misconception
That this job is super easy! It’s not. You have to be thinking on your feet at all times with improvisation. Children ask you the funniest things, and you always want to have an answer prepared. There’s also the research aspect of the job, like studying the character’s mannerisms and voice, catch-phrases, posing styles for photos, memorizing and practicing their songs, smiling during the whole event, squatting up and down to hug hundreds of new little friends, performing in the heat, performing in the cold, etc. And sometimes, when you’re working a four-hour corporate event, the elements can be challenging!
Best Part of Being The Wayfinder Princess
The best part of my job is getting to step into this magical world where I truly am the strong Wayfinder Princess. I get to make a difference in a child’s life and, that on its own, is the best reward! I want children to know how important they are and that they can truly be anything they want. I am beyond lucky and grateful to have Brittain’s Princess Parties in my life and that they found me! We are truly a princess family!
If you would like to book our Wayfinder Princess to make an appearance at your next party or event, be sure to visit our website to see a list of the different party packages we offer.
