A very fairy birthday party

(this post originally ran on Fairly Odd Reviews back in March but as I look to phase out that site, I will be pulling some of my favorite posts over to this site; look for more birthday party ideas soon)

My middle daughter has always been a bit of a pixie, with her short blond hair, small stature and tendency to "flit" (aka, never sit still). So, when her sixth birthday came up on the horizon, we decided on a "fairy party", with the emphasis on the fairies that live outside among the flowers and trees, and not those found in skimpy costumes and found in the world of Disney.

I am by no means a trained party planner, but I love to find neat ideas online and to research things to the nth degree. I try not to spend "too much" although my record-keeping is a bit fuzzy. With that in mind, read on to see how I pulled this party together.

Invitations

I had confirmed the date and time of the party with all of the parents over a month in advance, which made me a bit lazy in getting printed invitations out on time.

After stalling a bit too long, I realized I had about one day to get invitations out before they'd be seriously late. Instead of going too crazy, I just printed this Fairy Photo Frame on photo paper and then cut out the picture.



I mounted the picture on white greeting card paper. In the center of the image, I wrote in marker, "You Are Invited. . ." Inside, the girls found the following text:

Wear you fairy best, a tutu will do.
Your wings & accessories await you.

The party is March 8^th from 2-4,
please say you'll fly by.

The birthday fairy Jilly
Waits for your reply!

Decorations

Most of the party took place in the dining room, so I concentrated my decorating to that room.

I covered the table in two light green cloth tablecloths from the Christmas Tree Shop. On top, I scattered some pink flowers we had left over from my oldest's luau party (from three years ago!), and threw some fake pink flowers in some vases (I would've preferred fresh, but I had the pink ones left over from one of the crafts).



Two long strands of Christmas lights hung across the windows; I found the lights at a drugstore in January for 75% off. In one corner was the large mylar balloon bundle that my sister sends the kids every year for their birthday. She always tries to tie them into my party plans, so there was plenty of girlie pink.

The food on this table was decidedly sweet: chocolate pretzel "wands", chocolate-covered strawberries and cookies.



Arrival

When the guests arrived, they were invited to the Family/TV room to choose a head piece. I was originally going to do these as a craft, but decided it was a bit too advanced for a few of the little girls and did them myself over a couple of nights. They were made of some dollar-store head bands, floral picks found in the wedding section of the craft store, green floral tape, some ribbon and a sparkly butterfly clip for each head piece. They were not hard to make, but just took a little time.





I had two boys at the party, and rather than make them wear flowers on their heads, I took some green felt, a stapler and a large feather and made them this elf hat. The ribbons were needed to keep the hat on their heads.



After getting their hats, the kids went into the kitchen to get a fairy tattoo. I had grabbed a couple of sheets that morning at Target for about $2 each. There were some snacks out on this table: fruit skewers, Tings and cheese stars (cut with a small cookie cutter that morning) and crackers (aka, the "healthy table").




Craft Time

Once the guests had arrived, they went into the dining room to make their craft: Fairy Houses. I had fallen in love with this idea after seeing it on the Simple Lovely blog. I cut little holes into Peat Pots for doors, and put out some tiny colored shells, feathers, strips of ribbon and moss (all from craft store), as well as some tiny pinecones and pine needles collected from our yard. Glue was poured into an egg carton that had been separated into individual holders, and they used a popsicle stick to apply. They did their craft on pink paper plates to make it easy to bring home and to also protect the table a bit from over-enthusiastic glue application.



Scavenger Hunt

After the craft, I assembled all the kids into the Living Room to explain the scavenger hunt which is a variation on the idea I saw at Great Fun 4 Kids (see attached Word document at bottom). I took a small gift that I had bought for Jilly and wrapped it about 11 times (enough so each guest could unwrap one layer). At each layer was a new clue that told them where to go to find another gift to take home. Holding their empty favor bags, the kids ran around the house to find the things that would become their favors: little bottles of bubbles, candy, plastic butterflies, gel pens, etc. They also got found their wings and wands (found here) which made them "official fairies".



As a goof, I looked up their "Fairy Names" printed them on stickers and read them outloud at the end of the hunt---the boys received ridiculous "Elf Names". The stickers went onto the favor bags so no one could lose their bag.

Cake Time

My oldest has a milk allergy, so I always make my own cakes and usually rely on cupcakes from my favorite cupcake book ever: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I purchased sugar flowers from Fancy Flours and, instead of Tinkerbell, grabbed one tiny fairy found at Target and stuck her to the top of the Cupcake Tower.



The cupcakes and Dibs ice cream (brilliant discovery because they are SO much easier to serve than scoops of ice cream, and less trash than individually packaged cups) were served in the gorgeous and compostable Earthen Palm Leaf Bowls from Green Planet Parties.

Gift Opening

One thing I try hard to do (not always easy in the flurry of gift opening) is to take a photo of the gift-giver and the birthday child sitting together on the chair. It takes a minute to do, but I usually get a great photo of the two of them together, and I make copies of the picture to include with the thank you card. I've tried group photos, but it's hard to get all the kids to look "good" at the same time, whereas it is easier with just two kids at a time.

Aftermath

This marks the eighteenth party I've now thrown at home for my kids and their friends. Eighteenth, and my oldest is only eight! I'm getting better at reusing what I have on hand versus buying everything from scratch. I try to have a couple of "what if" activities in my back pocket but also try to have time for free play.

And, I'm not sure if I really save any money throwing my own parties, but I know the kids have great memories of their birthday parties and keep asking for them to be at home, so I guess that says something.