Vignette: How To Throw a Pixie Hollow Birthday Party

Here's my first post about birthdays! I love 'em don't you?  Here's how I threw a Pixie Hollow birthday party for my four year old's special day (I apologize if you've seen these pictures on my other blog).

Any party will need the following:

1. Decorations

2. Special guests (hopefully)

3. food

4. music

5. party favors

6. activities

Our Fairy Guests sat inside for pictures.  If you don't have Fairy Guests 

you can always use this as a photo op for all your wee ones.

1. Decorations.  For our Pixie Hollow party we were having it outside in my mother-in-law's garden (because fairies like flowers and green things growing).  The nice thing about a garden is it is already decorated with beautiful flowers and things most of the year.  My daughter's birthday is in January so it's always a toss-up whether it will be fine but it was gorgeous this year!  So, we focused on a location for our Fairy Guests to sit in and take pictures with the kids.  I used a bunch of tulle my mother had saved from my wedding and pinned it all together.  You can also use a mosquito net or even tablecloths or sheets of pastel colors (white also works well).  My sister bought poster board and made some lovely giant flowers, a Pixie Hollow sign, and a few butterflies and mushrooms to be pinned around the tree.  If you aren't artistic or know no one who is, you can print out a pretty sign on the computer and stick with faux flowers to pin on the "tent".  We pinned a fake flower garland at the edge of the "tent".  You can also use Christmas lights--white is most fairy-like but in a pinch the colored lights will look great. 

2. Special Guests.  I admit it--I have three lovely sisters (don't I?) They agreed to dress as fairies.  Their costumes were not as hard as you'd think to make.  Buy your fairy wings online on Ebay or Etsy to name a few sites that sell them.  I bought these green fairy wings at the Disney store when they were on clearance for $3.00 each!  We bought a few different colors of tulle at a local home store and ran a seam through the top and pulled it together then pinned it in back.  You can cut the bottom to look like flower petals with a jagged point.  Each girl wore a tank top in a similar color scheme and we pinned felt flowers to the necks of the tank tops.  You can use silk flowers as a substitute and put them in the girls hair, around their arms and waist, and even on their shoes.  We had them wear ballet flats in colors that went with their outfits, and each one did their hair and make up differently.

I didn't take a picture of my cupcakes but here are some cute ones from this site: http://cakealicious.com/2008/10/butterflycupcakes/

 

3. Food.  I like to stay away from meal times for kids parties because it gets more expensive and many kids (mine) are picky eaters.  For Pixie Hollow we had an afternoon snack time with all sorts of fairy treats--goldfish crackers, small bagels, pink lemonade, strawberries, and, of course, pink cupcakes with butterflies on top.  You can get cupcake cups and pics in all sorts of themes from bugs to the fairies themselves.  I find it's best to get the napkins or plates in the themed picture and the rest you can do in solid pastels. 

Here is my daughter sitting with her fairy friends (which are also conveniently her aunts)

4. Music.  Music is often overlooked at kids parties but I think it's essential for a great themed day.  I had my husband sift through my ITunes and create a mix of everything our little girl would love--it doesn't just have to be from the Pixies.  We used all the Disney things from Tangled, Enchanted, to Lilo and Stitch.  We even threw in some classical fairy-like pieces that could be talked over more easily.  It played gently in the background and hardly looped at all.  With a little foresight this can become a regular routine at birthdays and it helps so much with the mood.

5. Favors.  I gave each girl a headband with a felted flower on it and each boy a mask with felted leaves on it.  I abhor trinkety bags full of things that cost me an arm and a leg that my children will toss into their room, I'll step on, and eventually throw away.  Don't waste your money on that stuff.  Make it memorable.  Make it simple.  Make it good.  If you can't make it yourself, just put a little more thought into it.  It doesn't have to mean more money spent.  It just means a little more thoughtful planning.  Little girls at fairy parties can be given lots of different things for favors: a bug box and a net, a pair of fairy wings, a piece of jewelry, a butterfly-shaped lollipop, a small stamp of a flower and a little ink pad, a coloring book--many of these things can be found at inexpensive stores and will see more use than those plastic tops that everyone seems to end up with.   

6. Activities.   For our activity I bought a bunch of Pixie Hollow valentines from Target and our dollar store.  I bought some craft foam at the dollar store and cut out flower shapes with them.  Then I glued the Valentine on the front.  The adults hid the flowers around the garden while I told the kids inside what was happening.  Our Fairy Guests showed up and the kids ran out to meet them, then went hunting for the fairies' friends who were missing.  When they found a fairy flower they could bring it to the fairies in the tent and have their picture taken.  The kids loved this activity and my daughter still hides the foam flowers herself just for fun.

And last but not least my daughter gets a kiss from Tinkerbell 

Hope you've enjoyed this post.  I'll be doing party themed posts here and there just to spice things up a bit.  Happy party planning!