I could lie and tell you that I offered to host this Fairy Garden Par-Tea because one of my nearest and dearest friends was expecting her third child four weeks before her eldest daughter’s fifth birthday party, but that wouldn’t be the whole truth.
Truthfully, I have a daughter who was born in the middle of winter and loves fairies. I also have a backyard begging for an enchanting tea party. Truthfully, we were lazily swinging in the hammock on a gorgeous spring day reminiscing over last year’s Fairy Garden Housewarming Party. And truthfully if I was going to get talked into throwing another Fairy Garden Party by a three year old, then at the very least someone should benefit from what I lovingly refer to as “chronic planning disorder.”
I jotted down some ideas and sketches to propose to May Simone. “How about we make miniature fairy gardens?” I asked. “How about we do a Fairy Rock Hunt again?” she asked. “Deal!” I exclaimed. “Can there also be glitter? Lots of glitter?” she asked. “Oh there will be glitter lots and lots of glitter!!”* This girl drives a hard bargain, but what’s a Fairy Par-Tea without a little sparkle. I love parties that immerse kids in their imaginations. My only goal for this party was to make a little girl’s Fairy Par-Tea dreams come true.
The rest of the planning fell together pretty quickly, until finally, on a gorgeous summer morning, we transformed my backyard into May Simone’s Fairy Par-Tea. There were lace doilies and flower wands, shimmering wings and tea sandwiches, and a flock of five year old fairies fluttering about the garden.
{Activities}
Fairy Garden Mason Jars
We added a few flowers, a bit of dirt, some moss, paper mache mushrooms, and a fairy to create our mason jar fairy gardens. You can also use trinkets found around your house or yard. With a little imagination, pinecones and acorns can become a fairy house and table.
Wand Making
A simple stick can be transformed into a magical wand pretty simply. I hot glued paper flowers onto the tip of these wooden dowels. This Wand Making Table was so much fun to set up. I placed small cups filled with glitter, pieces of ribbon, stickers, strips of tulle, and glue on the table and let the girls’ imaginations run wild.
{Food}
What’s a tea party without tea sandwiches? The menu for this party is pretty easy; we made tiny egg salad, cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches. By far the most popular was peanut butter on homemade banana bread.
{Games}
Fairy Rock Hunt
A simple rock can become magical when sprinkled with a little fairy dust (aka, silver paint and glitter ). Each rock was monogrammed with our guests initial. While the kids were decorating their nature wands, I placed the rocks in the backyard to hunt for.
{Favors}
Every fairy needs her own set of wings! When each of our guests entered the garden, they were given a pair of wings of their very own. I love favors that are functional, and these certainly served that purpose.
The only thing that flew higher than the girls prancing around the backyard were imaginations!
Check out how we built a home for our miniature fairies last year at LuCk!
* I love glitter, but the first rule of glitter is that it should only be used outdoors. Its much more enchanting that way.
