The party of the century, Maggie’s Royal Ball, was Tuesday evening. I’ve been at an unusual loss for words as I’ve thought about how to describe this incredible experience to all of you, and express our thanks to everyone who worked so hard to pull it off so beautifully.

Princess Maggie & Princess Amerah

As Doug and I walked in we were speechless at the beauty, and the special attention given to the smallest of details. The ball was held at Noah’s Event Center. A supremely elegant facility, worthy of the most beautiful princesses. Hard wood floors, a winding staircase, vaulted ceilings, magical windows, glittery lights galore, and tables with silky tablecloths and pretty pink flowers.

Maggie was crowned with a beautiful pink tiara, which just wouldn’t cooperate and stay on her head. So, Jack decided to claim it as his own. He’ll add it to his treasured pink stroller, little baby dolls, and pink baseball cap. We were greeted by a beautiful poster of Maggie and Princess Amerah welcoming all the guests.

I regret that I didn’t get a picture of the beautiful spread of tiny frosted cupcakes, cookies, and pink lemonade before they were enjoyed to the last crumb. You’ll see those lonely crumbs just to the left of these last few cookies (which we took home with us, lucky guys).

When the guests arrived they were given raffle tickets to place on their favorite choice of a table full of donated items. The grand prize was a Princess Amerah party. The winner of the party was a beautiful little princess that was so beside herself with joy that it was worth the evening just to witness that.

Along the walls were various games like the Dress-up Relay Race, Evil Nanny Olga Bean Bag Toss, and the Tiara Toss, which little Lee did a fabulous job of managing. He dutifully handed out candy to the winners who were able to get the tiara on the pole. Jack was a happy winner of an orange lollipop, which you will see in pictures throughout this post.

Maggie’s favorite activity was the face painting by Changing Faces.

There was also the “Make Maggie a Card” station. All the participants were invited to draw a picture with a special message for Maggie. At the end of the evening Maggie was presented with a binder brimming with messages of love, hope and inspiration.

Cards for Maggie

One of my favorite parts was the dancing. Each prince and princess was given a dance card to wear around their wrist. It was a fun party favor. Dance instruction was given by the Old Gory Vintage Dancers.

Of course there came the special dance with Prince Charming.

Maggie & Prince Charming

There wasn’t a dry eye in the place as they danced. Thank you Mr. Prince Charming. Click HERE if you can’t see the video below.

Jack was was having the time of his life dancing. Click HERE if you can’t see the video below.

Of course we can’t forget Story Time with Princess Amerah.

Story Time with Princess Amerah

There was a point in the evening where I was given the opportunity to introduce Maggie and tell the guests a little more about her story, and the therapy that this whole event would be sponsoring.

Introducing Maggie

Another amazing gift were the BookIt Photographers that took pictures of all the guests. You can see other pictures that they took of the evening HERE. We’ve never had a family photo of all 5 (gulp) of us. So we were especially thankful for this gift.

The Joyful Palmers

Jack and Maggie

Mary & Maggie

Then came the big unveiling. How much did the evening bring in for Maggie’s therapy?

Preping the Check

$2700 at the last count I heard. I just have my head in my hands in awe, and wonder, and gratitude.

The Check

I don’t know them all, and I know that there are some that will be missing here, but I wanted to share with you some of the faces of the volunteer angels that made this event possible.

Our Facepainter

Volunteer Angels

More Volunteer Angels

And More Volunteer Angels

Our Raffle Girl

More, More, More!

And finally, our patron Angels. Thank you dear friends for having this vision, and enough love to make it happen. This ball was the tipping point for achieving our goal of 80 dives for Maggie. We did it! (But don’t stop now, there’s more to do. See our next post.)

Our Patron Angels

Princess Amerah . . . you put on one smashing party! Thank you. Gi’me Five!

We Did It, We Did It, We Did It!