Fairy party

For Sarah's birthday this year she wanted to do a fairy party. We alternate every other year with doing a party with friends or doing a fun family outing. Last year she chose to go to the Austin Children's Museum, so this was the year for a party. She was so excited!

 

 

We decided to have me face paint everyone during the party so they could all have fairy masks or butterflies to help them feel 'magical'. It was a lot of fun to paint all her little friends! We let them each choose what they wanted to have the pattern be, but most of them wanted the same thing....except Matthew. No glittery things for him.

 

 

We put magic glitter on each girl,and that seemed to be a big hit! Nathan had set up a webcam on the fireplace mantel and hooked it to the big TV in the family room, so the girls could all dance to fun music and watch themselves on TV. This was a huge success and the girls loved dancing and playing in front of the camera! We decided that this set up with be a staple for all of the birthday parties we throw in the future.

Some mysterious fairies visited the home during the party and left a trail of magical clues and riddles for the children to solve. They had fun reading the riddles and guessing together what the answer could be, then they'd all run in a swirl of skirts, wings, and glitter to the site of the next clue. They enjoyed the prizes at the end: little fairy-sized notepads. Everyone made a magic wand by wrapping sparkley pipe cleaners around writing pens. Now that had a magical pen to write in the notepad with.

We told them the story of the Pumpkin Fairy from Halloween, and she visited our house to share her treasures with the new little fairies at the party. While I was telling the story in one room, Nathan and a friend hid the candy all over the music room and library room so the children could do a candy hunt. They really enjoyed that...sugar always gets rave reviews from kids. :)

A dear friend of mine made the birthday cake and sent it with her husband, so the cake was beautiful. I was planning on making only simple cupcakes this year, but Ashley generously offered to make it as an excuse to use her cake-decorating skills she learned in a class. She's going to deliver her baby any day, AND she's dealing with finals for her Psychology degree. I couldn't believe that she offered to make a cake! The flowers were all so pretty and the kids LOVED eating them. Thanks so much, Ashley!

One of the gifts she received was a pedicure set with a foot spa, nail polishes, stickers, and fun things to pamper herself with. She begged me to do a foot spa night with her, and she loved going to church the next day with her nails painted. She also really enjoyed the art sets, art easel, double-color crayons, sketch pad, jewelry, sunglasses, and crystal-growing kit. I love gifts that aren't 'toys'...it's great to have things that help you learn or experience something new.  (I just LOVE fellow home school moms! Thanks for the science kit!! Sarah and Matthew have been BEGGING to make it right away.)

It was such a special day to celebrate Sarah, and we were so happy to spend that time with good friends. To me the point of a party is not the gifts, but the memories created with friends, so we told many friends to not even bring a gift. We were so happy to just share a fun day with them! Thanks everyone for coming!