By Katie Ryan
Real life fairy godmothers are providing royal treatment to young ladies on their graduation day. And thanks to The Princess Shop,  one local youth’s grad dreams did come true this year.
This spring the Saskatoon based non-profit organization opened a regional satellite office in the Border City to enable young ladies to enjoy their graduation complete with “princess treatment” including a  dress, accessories, hair and makeup.
“It was really busy. She’s a really sweet girl,” said Lloydminster’s regional office coordinator Jen Boyer, of the local graduate who would prefer to remain anonymous. “I spoke with her mother (recently) and she had an amazing time. She looked gorgeous. It was a great experience for her.”
Established in 2007, The Princess Shop was created to enhance the graduation experience for female students in need and provide them with the mentorship, support and tools to pursue success after graduation. Princess graduates have the opportunity to be lent a graduation dress, accessories, shoes and other services. Already 155 Princess graduates from 11 different communities have participated in the dress program.
While the local Princess chooses her perfect dress from the thousands of donated dresses hanging in the Princess Shop in Saskatoon, Boyer said she had her work cut out for her securing hair and makeup services for the local office’s first applicant.
“I hit the pavement quickly,” she said. Thankfully Boyer added, Chatters Salon and Nuth’n But Handz N Feetz pitched in to make the applicant’s graduation a day to remember.
“To me it seems like no big deal when you are getting them ready. But, when you see the pictures and you see how happy they are, the look on their faces and the fact that when a girl tells you that she got to be just like all of her classmates, that’s a good feeling,” said Boyer.
With the price of graduation gradually ballooning each year, by opening The Princess Shop executive director Ainsley Robertson hopes to offer graduates a chance to be a princess for the day.
“In my opinion, it’s become a little overblown and it really is so important to mark that day. Graduation day is such an important transition in anyone’s life and it’s important to mark it. But for some of these girls it just becomes so stressful and so out of reach to even look at what that day needs to entail, that a lot of the girls who go through our program, wouldn’t go (to grad) otherwise,” she said. “The organization is formed on the idea that there is a strong connection between a young woman’s feeling of pride and confidence, feeling beautiful and equal to her peers when she walks across the stage. There are big connections between all of those feelings and her pursuit of success in the future. We really hope that if we can instill some self-confidence in our Princess graduates for their graduation day, that they will be able to carry that forward.”
“Why should one girl not be able to experience grad like her friends,” added Boyer with emotion. “Because really, it’s just materials separating them. It’s a fancy dress and a curling iron, so if we can help out with that, why not.”
Since its inception, The Princess Shop has expanded to now include a mentorship program and scholarship program, plus a regional office in Lloydminster. Continuing to expand and offer female students the complete graduation experience across the province is something The Princess Shop strives to do.
“It was definitely successful and we are looking forward to expanding the program next year. Jen has been working hard to establish contacts with all of the high schools in the area,” said Robertson, who hails from Lloydminster and is a 2005 Holy Rosary graduate.
“Establishing satellite offices is something that we would definitely like to move to in the future. Right now we do have girls who come from other communities into Saskatoon on their own, because they heard through word of mouth, but that can only really reach so far outside the city.”
As a non-profit, volunteer operated program, The Princess Shop welcomes donations. And now that graduation has been celebrated by many young students in the area, Boyer encourages grads, both past and present, to consider donating their dresses, accessories, shoes or handbags to the program, to give other girls the day of their dreams as well.
“Anyone who is willing to donate stuff like that or even be a backup and donate their time, we are always looking for stuff like that. As long as it’s not too dated and it’s not too risque, then we’ll take it,”  said Boyer who was driven by the recession to volunteer. “A lot of families were hit by this recession hard. A lot of people lost their houses – there were 90 house repos in December alone. You think of these families, who have teenage girls who are going through grad, they can’t afford to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on a dress. Grad is expensive.”
Donations can be made to Boyer (780-875-1758) or dropped of at Lloydminster Emergency Services. Students interested in being a Princess graduate can apply online at www.theprincessshop.ca or speak with their high school counsellor.
“We find a dress for every applicant,” said Robertson.