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Important Announcement Regarding COVID-19 and the 2020 Graduation Season

posted by The Princess Shop    |   April 1, 2020 11:26

We hope that everyone is staying safe and well during this difficult time! We are sending our love out to the community. Please read this letter from our Board Chair Kayla Brien. We want to say thank you to all of the supporters of The Princess Shop, and we will be in touch with everyone who is involved with the Glass Slipper Benefit for Princesses shortly.

 

A Year in the Life of a Core Volunteer

posted by The Princess Shop    |   July 5, 2019 11:30

Written by Sarah Hadley.

In May of 2018, I had just finished my first year of university at the UofS. I had a job at a local company that was offering me casual hours, so I was on the search for a second job over the summer. In my job search, I came across a posting for a volunteer representative position at The Princess Shop. Not even knowing what The Princess Shop was about, I went ahead and applied anyway. I was in need of volunteer experience for my resume. However, The Princess Shop quickly became so much more than just something to put on my resume.

When I walked into The Princess Shop for the first time, I was surprised to see so many dresses. I would later find out that the quantity of dresses is in the thousands. I was also surprised to see a woman sitting at a desk who I thought might have been a volunteer (with super cool glasses), it was Karen. Karen interviewed me and I was instantly inspired by her and what The Princess Shop stands for. I soon became the newest member of the core volunteer team. I attended my first meeting and I was… confused. It was the middle of grad season and there was a whirlwind of things going on, I had a lot to learn, but I was determined to catch up. I shadowed a dress appointment and got to meet my first Princess Graduates. Soon, grad season was over, and The Princess Shop was coming to its end of year in July. We had the first fundraiser I would attend, and I was blown away by the effort and skill that goes into planning these events and making sure everything runs smoothly.

Over the summer, I helped plan and volunteered at a few fundraisers put on by The Princess Shop. At the end of the summer, we had a lot of changes to the core team and I was nervous about welcoming new members to the team and no longer being the ‘newbie’. Soon after, we started planning The Glass Slipper, our biggest annual fundraiser that takes place every April. I was so in awe of how huge this event really was. I had never attended before, so I was unsure of exactly the magnitude of it. We brought in our Glass Slipper Coordinator, Colleen, and I was blown away by the efforts that she and Karen put in to put all of this together. From October to March, we were in full planning mode every Thursday night to put this together (with Colleen and Karen putting full-time effort into the planning). It was an intense process, and it seriously paid off. The morning of the Glass Slipper I had a final exam, so I wasn’t there for the setup. But when I made it to TCU Place I was awestruck. The venue was so gorgeous and extravagant. It exceeded every expectation I had of the event and immediately all of the work that we had put in for the last few months had paid off. Even with a couple of bumps in the road, The Glass Slipper Benefit in 2019 turned out to be a huge success, and it will be a night I will likely never forget.

After The Glass Slipper, more and more dress appointments started rolling in. I was excited to finally be leading dress appointments having had the proper training. No dress appointment goes completely smoothly, but I think that’s part of the beauty of it. There will always be bumps in the road, but watching the graduates pick out their beautiful dresses is such a fulfilling experience for me. I enjoy lacing up corsets and the graduates trying on their jewellery. Some will facetime family and friends when they think they’ve found ‘the dress’ and get their approval. I was and still am so excited about dress appointments because no matter what, there is always so much happiness in The Shop during this time. Finally, grad days came around. I had my first grad day recently. It was panicky and rushed but it was also amazing. The big day had finally come for these women. The day that is the reason The Princess Shop exists.

At the end of it all, a Princess Graduate had told me how grateful she was for me this day and everything was made so worth it and the panic and craziness of the day was forgotten. It’s been an insane year. From being the new kid to veteran volunteer, I have become not only a better volunteer for The Princess Shop, but I have also become a better person. The Princess Shop, and outgoing Executive Director, Karen, have inspired me so much. I can’t wait to see what the Next Chapter of The Princess Shop looks like with our new Executive Director, Kelsey, and I can’t wait to continue to contribute to making an impact in our community. There is no other experience like this one, and I am so lucky to have found The Princess Shop.

4th Annual "Dress It Up" Cupcake Contest

posted by The Princess Shop    |   March 7, 2019 19:57

On Tuesday, January 29th, we took part in the Nutrien Wintershines Festival for the fourth time! That week was one of the coldest we've had this year (perhaps even in the past few years, honestly), but we bundled up and braved the cold to set up our fundraiser. Lucky for us, we were met with a large crowd of people - the greatest turnout we've had at a Cupcake event thus far - and of course, the cupcake contestants with their yummy goods! 

The rules are pretty simple. Six local bakers select a dress from the Princess Shop to base their design off of. Bakers are encouraged to be as creative as possible with all aspects of the cupcake; the flavour, the decorations, and even the setup of their display. This year, their hard work in these different areas paid off as we had three categories to win! The categories were: Best Cupcake, Fave Flave, and Best Look-a-Like. Let's meet the contestants!

Cakes by Britney:

Inspired by a sparkly light purple dress, Britney named her cupcake "Purple Unicorn". This blueberry-filled lemon cupcake with blueberry infused icing was a true showstopper. The crowd thought it was nicely decorated and the filling inside was a sweet surprise. Britney's take on the dress and how she turned it into a unicorn cake was such a great finishing touch!

Instagram: https://instagram.com/cakesbybritney/

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/cakesbybritneygraf/

 

CM Cakes:

Chantelle from CM Cakes was our youngest contestant, but that didn't stop her from bringing bold flavours to the table! Her vanilla cake with strawberry-raspberry buttercream and lemon curd filling was to die for! Chantelle had a gorgeous display, complete with fairy lights and pinecones. Her cake was inspired by a pink high-low gown with layered ruffles. 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/cmcakes.yxe/

Create Cupcakes and Cakes: 

Angela from Create Cupcakes had champagne-infused flavours in her cupcake. The cake was inspired by a white dress with blue accents, and her beautiful cupcakes definitely fit the look!

Chef de Partie:

Italian lemon and olive oil cupcake with wildberry compote filling - yum! Based off of a lacy fitted gown, this cupcake took the flowers from the dress and recreated them with a twist! We don't know how Heather dreamed this one up, but it sure was fun to bite into it :)

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chefdepartiecatering

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chefdepartiecatering

Foodiepharmbabe / Get Baked With V:

Vanessa's chocolate cake with cookies and cream buttercream, creamy cheesecake filling, and a honey sugar shard topping it off was a sight to take in! The cupcake was packed full of flavour, with each bite revealing another layer to the complex creation! The crunch from the honey shard added some great texture. Vanessa chose a sparkly dress with tones of purple, pink, and blue. We're still not sure if it was the dress or the cupcakes that had more sparkles. Vanessa had a beautiful display, with lights, marble accents, and even some baking books to finish off the look!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodiepharmbabe/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foodiepharmbabe/

Humblebee Bake House:

Melissa Served up a vanilla cupcake with vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate Swiss Meringue buttercream. She named her creation “Ice Cream Sunday”, very fitting for a dress giving off Neapolitan vibes. Her cake looked exactly like the dress and was overall rich in flavour, not overwhelmingly sweet, and had great balance. 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/humblebeebakehouse/

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/humblebeebakehouse/

Saskatoon’s Best Cupcake 2019:

By now you're probably craving to find out who won (or maybe you're just craving some cupcakes). All the bakers gave the competition their best in terms of flavour and creativity. After over 200 guests had tasted all the delicious flavours and voted on their favourites, the results were in favour of...

Foodiepharmbabe! Venessa’s cupcakes and their layers of complex flavours won over hearts, but others weren't too far behind. After all, there were two other prizes to compete for too. CM Cakes’ Chantelle won Fave Flave and Melissa from Humblebee Bake House took home the title of Best Look-a-Like. The three winners were congratulated with framed certificates.

Thank you to everyone that came out that night in our support, to the bakers for pouring your creativity and hard work into a project for a good cause, and to Apex Trampoline Park for donating door prizes. Thank you to Nutrien for sponsoring an important event that truly keeps our community warm and vibrant: Wintershines! A huge thanks also goes to each of our The Princess Shop volunteers who helped organize, set up and take down the event as well as Janella Hamilton of CTV Saskatoon News for emceeing the event and announcing our winners! And lastly, but surely not least, to each of YOU in the community who came to sample, vote, and enjoy an evening of sweets for such a great cause. It means the world to us to have an entire community backing us up as we help bring the joys of graduation and the life that follows after to our Princess graduates. 

Our next major fundraiser is our 12th Annual Glass Slipper Benefit for Princesses, presented by K+S Potash Canada on April 10, 2019 at TCU Place. Join us for an evening of good fun, good food, and giving back to the community. We'd love to see you there! And if you're looking for more Cupcake Contest photos, check out our Facebook page for the full album!

The Princess Shop Sponsors
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The Princess Shop
our location
12 - 1622 Ontario Avenue
Saskatoon, SK S7K 1S8
t: 306-222-3311

Store Hours for Dress Returns & Donations:
Monday: 12:00pm - 3:00pm
Wednesday: 10:00am - 1:00pm
Saturday: 10:00am - 3:00pm

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