Members of the Royal Encounters club meet in the basement of Alpha Xi Delta sorority house to begin the lengthy process of preparing for an event. The club started during the 2017-2018 school year and was extremely popular from the beginning.

In order to stay true to character, each member must highlight the cartoonish features their characters have such as rosy cheeks or waist length hair.

Snow White, junior Mia Fioree, finishes the long and laborious process of having the entire underside of her hair braided in order to achieve her character’s signature short haircut. Self-taught makeup artist Hannah applies Mia’s makeup which draws heavy inspiration from Snow White’s features.

Junior Molly Fogle sits through the process having her styled to look similar to Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Members arrived two and a half hours before the event in order to have enough time to transform into their characters.

Mia Fioree finishes hair and makeup as the group prepares to travel to Middle Way House in Bloomington. Middle Way House is an organization that helps survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.

India Sloan, finishes putting on her waist length wig, with help from Emily Boehm, to complete her Rapunzel outfit at Middle Way House. The characters typically get their hair and makeup done earlier in the day, and travel to the location of their visit to put their outfits and wigs on.

Co-founder of Royal Encounters Haley Sample laces up the corset on Cinderella, played by sophomore Maddie Carter. The club invested in high-quality costumes for the characters, to ensure a true experience for the organizations they visit.

Molly Fogle slips on Belle’s trademark long gloves as she is laced into her dress. She joined Royal Encounters in 2017 to help give children amazing experiences.

Mia Fioree and Molly Fogle twirl around in their full costumes before the visit begins.

India Sloan participates in making crafts with a girl at Middle Way House. During visits, Royal Encounters provides crafts, props, and basic costumes to create more interactive visits.

Molly Fogle works on decorating a crown with a child as the visit to Middle Way House comes to a close.

“There’s nothing like it on campus yet…and we wanted to combine philanthropy and this unique idea,” Royal Encounters founders Haley Sample and Emily Boehm explain.

It’s a hot Saturday in September, and the Indiana University Football Game is going on less than a mile away. Members of Royal Encounters meet in the basement of a member’s sorority house to commence the lengthy task of turning into the princesses and super heroes we know and love.

Preparations are underway for the club’s visit to Middle Way House, an organization that helps survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. The preparations for the visit did not start today, or even the days leading up to the visit: members of the club learn the behaviors and characteristics of their characters, practicing in order to perfect the experience for the children they visit. Members must know details about their characters that children may ask about: who their pet is, if they have a love interest, even the smallest facts are absorbed by the adoring little fans of the characters.

The afternoon begins with crafting the princess’s classic hairstyles on the members. Wigs, hair pieces, pins, braids and lots of hairspray are necessary to maintain the details of the characters that the children look for. To create cartoonish features of the princesses, the makeup has to match the characters such as big eyes and bright red lips. “My favorite part of doing this, is getting to interact with the kids and see how excited they get when they see the princesses and everyone,” Molly Fogle says as her transformation into Belle from the Beauty and the Beast is almost complete.

The members playing characters wait to put on their full costume until they arrive at Middle Way House to preserve them better and limit the possibility of something to happen to them.

No detail is spared in the costumes, many of the dresses have intricate features such as hoopskirts, corsets- similar to a costume seen at Disney Parks. The preparation for visits exemplifies the organization’s passion for providing children with a truly magical experience.

Once the group arrives at Middle Way House, the characters can get fully into costume. Lacing up corsets, slipping into long gloves, pinning wigs into place, the members perfect their final costumes to ensure they are perfect. Meanwhile, a club member not in costume sets up a craft table and lays out props for the kids to use during the visit.

The visit begins with young kids timidly walking into the event room with their family members. Some are excited and some need to warm up first, but the members in costume know how to make all of them feel excited and welcome. The princesses let kids put on basic costumes, use props and create crafts with them. Eventually, all of the children are having an amazing time.

Royal Encounters provides a ray of magical light into the organizations they visit. Despite the child’s situation: sick, displaced, a victim of violence- the club aims to make special connections with them and create magical memories through transforming into the iconic characters the children love.