Some girls are born for the royal treatment, and 6½-year-old Mollie Glover knows it.

Mollie sat on her throne two weeks ago at her own princess party, held in Bend’s Sprouts Kids Salon, one of a handful of Central Oregon businesses that create princess parties for children.

While Mollie had her hair curled, painted and sparkled, four of her friends took turns with nail painting, dress-up and hair treatments while their parents watched and took pictures.

Organizers of these parties are in the business of creating a unique experience for children, many times offering them grown-up services like hair coloring, manicures and pedicures. While boys sometimes participate, owners say little girls are their bread and butter.

“Kids love the next new thing,” said Christine Oden, the owner of Little Missy’s Manicures and Events Playhouse in Bend. “It’s also a certain age and a certain kind of girl who wants to do it.”

Other businesses around town offer more gender-neutral events for children, such as rock climbing, painting and crafts.

All told, a party such as Mollie’s can cost upward of $150, but parents say it’s money well spent.

“It’s so great for the kids,” said Mollie’s mom, Anne-Marie Glover. “They’ll be talking about it for days.

I’ll cry if I want to

At Mollie’s party, the princess of honor arrived dressed in a rainbow tie-dye dress that was as vibrant as its owner. Mollie kicked her feet as stylist Tina Bass curled her brown hair into a cute flip. Then, per Mollie’s request, Bass pulled her hair into sections and tied them to create a woven effect. Next came the green hair paint and a dusting of sparkles. All the products are kid-friendly, Bass said.

The process took less than 15 minutes and only cost Mollie a couple of tears — her hair was too flippy at one point — but in the end, she was hamming it up for the camera and urging her friends to do the same.

Ellie Kellerman, 5½, had just had her small fingernails painted sparkly purple when Mollie pulled her toward the styling chairs.

“Come on, get your hair done!” Mollie urged.

Ellie climbed up, her hot pink skirt, tights and shoes matching the haircut protective gown. She sucked on a lollypop while Bass twisted her long blond hair into pin curls that any princess would be proud of.

At Sprouts, $33.50 per child buys you a basic hairstyle, manicure, dress-up time, a red-carpet walk, party bags and a special photo for the birthday child.

Sprouts co-owner Sarah Huegel said she started offering the parties for boys and girls, but found that the best business is with girls.

Mollie’s friend, 6-year-old Austyn Adrianson, was a good sport as his sister, 8-year-old Sabrina, and three other girls pranced around the colorful salon.

“Mollie, I like your greenish hair,” Austyn said when Mollie stepped down from the hair chair.

“Your hair is green, too!” Mollie said, eyeing Austyn’s recently decorated faux hawk. He corrected: “And it’s red and gold and purple.”

Behind Austyn, his sister had her blond bob curled with hot pink streaks. Mollie, who flitted among all her friends and their moms, admired the work. Then she struck a pose for her mom’s camera, all the while sucking a root beer-flavored lolly.

“She’s a princess, I’m not,” Mollie said, pointing at Sabrina.

A special day

Mollie was celebrating her half-birthday, instead of her real birthday, because it is a family tradition, her mother said. Glover said her family likes to celebrate winter birthdays — like Mollie’s — in the summer, when more activities are possible.

Sprouts’ Huegel said her parties are different because they don’t really have entertainment, just pampering. She usually has an average of four to six girls. Anything more is difficult for the staff to handle.

She says the cost is comparable to what many parents spend on their child’s birthdays.

“In today’s day and age, you spend a lot on birthday parties no matter what,” Huegel said.

Sprouts cannot offer food or drinks inside the salon, but many groups later head to restaurants for birthday celebrations. Mollie’s five-child group was going to another party after hers.

Kids’ play

In addition to Sprouts, Central Oregon has at least three other businesses that offer spa- or princess-like parties: Treasured Tea Parties, which hosts elaborate tea parties in an aptly decorated custom teahouse; Rachelle Rachelle, which hosts princess parties; and Oden’s business, Little Missy’s Manicures and Events Playhouse.

Oden is new to the scene of events for pint-sized partyers. She recently banked on her experience as a preschool teacher and nail technician to create Little Missy’s, which focuses on spa-like pampering for little girls and women, and Events Playhouse, which provides an educational experience for boys and girls.

Her manicure/pedicure parties are for ages 3 and older. Oden arrives at the event location dressed for the party’s theme and offers full nail treatments, nail art or just polish for those who want it. She also offers temporary tattoos and goodie bags, which cost extra.

Her manicure services cost $15 per child, which includes nail art and polish; $20 for pedicures; polish alone for $8; and nail art alone for $2. Oden added that she’ll cater to any little boys at the parties, too, with tattoos, toys and anything else they want done.

She also does grown-up parties, including weddings, charging $20 for a manicure and $30 for a pedicure.

Oden allows her clients to customize their parties. For example, a group could have a few pedicures, a couple of manicures and a polish-only.

She’s done a couple of manicure/pedicure parties so far, but has yet to host a party for Events Playhouse.

Events Playhouse includes different activity stations for children — an art station, a science center, a building area, a place for kitchen creations — and is geared toward weddings, company picnics and other grown-up events where children need to keep occupied.

Red-carpet ride

Back at Mollie’s party, the children had been taking turns sitting still in manicure or hair chairs for almost an hour. They were ready to get the red-carpet walk started.

Five-year-old Carli Lamberto dressed herself in some sassy animal-print boots. She may have been shy at the beginning of the party, but by the end she was stomping around the salon as her friends sorted through the dress-up chest.

Soon Carli, Mollie, Ellie, Austyn and Sabrina were lined up behind a temporary red carpet, waiting for their cue.

After a brief technical problem with the music, the girls and boy burst onto their runway, imitating poses from such popular children’s shows as “High School Musical” and “Hannah Montana.”

After numerous walks up and down to clicking cameras and clapping hands, the birthday girl decided her party was over.

“Are we done with the red carpet, mom?” Mollie asked.

The kids removed their dress-up clothes and started sorting through their goodie bags while their moms got ready to leave.

“You were made for the red carpet,” Mollie informed Sabrina. Then she twirled a couple of times and danced out the door, off to her next party.

Party time

Looking for a party for your princess? Here is a sampling of businesses that specialize in them:

• Sprouts Kids Salon, 541-382-0055 or www.sproutskidssalon .com

• Little Missy’s Manicures/ Events Playhouse, 541-390-0396

• Rachelle Rachelle, 541-771-2537, www.rachellerachelle.com

• Treasured Tea Parties, 541-388-4823, www.treasuredteaparties.com