When my daughter was little, I loved the creativity of throwing themed parties for her, but I was short on time and energy. One of my favorites was a simple but memorable “woodland fairy” party for her eighth birthday. This party was relatively easy to pull off and left me with enough energy to enjoy our guests and the birthday girl’s special day. Feel free to borrow these ideas for your own party!
Party Menu
No party is complete without plenty of food to keep everyone happy, and these snack ideas are very easy to pull off (almost everything is something you can pick up ready to go at the local store), kid friendly, and all contribute to the theme. Even the dessert, which I chose to make myself, could be created with store-bought cupcakes (or a boxed mix), frosting in a can, and pre-made toppers.
Snacks: “Bark and twigs” (Sun chips, pita chips, and/or straight pretzels), nuts and seeds, forest berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries).
Beverage: Nectar (very sweet juice such as mango nectar).
Dessert: Fairy toadstool cupcakes. I followed a recipe from Martha Stewart which no longer appears to be available online, but there are many other ideas online. I also added little fairy toppers.
Dessert: fairy toadstool cupcakes with fairy toppers.
I was very proud of these cupcakes, beautiful to look at, and they were fairly easy to make. As I mentioned, I can no longer find the recipe, but the basic instructions were:
(a) Prepare cupcakes using a white or vanilla cake mix (boxed or store-bought would be fine!)
(b) Slice off the tops of the cupcakes and invert them – creating a mushroom top. Affix with frosting!
(c) Frost with icing of choice (if I recall, one of the natural dyes created the lovely hue for mine, and the spots were made with white chocolate chips).
(d) Dust with cocoa powder, and add toppers if desired.
Activity: creating fairy habitats.
The featured activity for our party was creating “fairy homes” out in the yard. I was able to find all of the nice glass and ceramic canisters at the local thrift shop, and I purchased additions such as beautiful stones, mini plants, potting soil, etc. at the local craft and home improvement stores.
Success: finished product! Each child took home their very own fairy habitat, and – as you can see – they were very pleased with them!
Favors: fairy wings, fairy dust, and of course the fairy homes! In addition to the fairy homes, each child was also able to take home their own fairy wings, and a little vial of “fairy dust.”
More Tips
– I perused Goodwill to find glass jars and canisters for habitats.
– I went to a local home improvement store for mini individual potted plants.
– Local crafts stores and online shopping supplied decorative stones, dried moss, nontoxic glitter etc. I also purchased a bulk pack of fairy wings online.
We lucked out with beautiful weather and a lovely day in the garden, and the kids had a marvelous time. Feel free to borrow these ideas!
Tournesol Adventures 