Fairy Party: Part 3 (Fun and Games)

Ok, now for the really fun stuff: the games and kids!

Let me introduce you to my friend, Shannon.  She is Monkey's Sunday School teacher.  When she first moved to the area I was almost due with the twins, and after they were born she came over to help a lot. And she's just such a nice person that she volunteered to come help at Monkey's party.  And she's so cool that she wore wings and fancy fairy-like clothing with fun shoes!  (I provided a head wreath for her). 

And I've mentioned my friend Jill.  She's Monkey's Pre-K teacher.  She also taught Chick, back in the day.  Plus she's my friend. She's fantastic.  She came to drop off her daughter and nephew, and ended up staying to help.  She took most of the pictures.

I couldn't have made it through without both of these fantastic ladies!  Thank you, Jill and Shannon!!!!

The first thing that the kids did upon arrival was to get their costumes on.  I had accidentally told Fox that we only needed three bow and arrow sets, when we actually needed four.  So Moose didn't get one...but actually it was probably for the best.  He was the youngest,  and is often too rambunctious and aggressive so I think I'm glad that he didn't have his own.

 

Once dressed, the kids went on a fairy hunt (I'd hidden the pipe cleaner dolls around the room).

I know this is blurry and doesn't show her face...
but I really like this one of Miss C hunting for her fairy.



 

Then they came one at a time to get their faces painted.

Once they'd all found their fairies (or elves) and were all suited up, they played "Fairy, Fairy, Troll" (the fairy version of "Duck, Duck, Goose."  They were supposed to fly rather than run.).  Shannon directed that game (I was painting faces and Jill was doing the individual pictures on the stump), and they played it for a while.  Chick said that was her favorite part of the party.

 

 

Next we played "Fairy Circle" (the fairy version of "Musical Chairs").  It was set to a soundtrack of Enya : )

 

Eliminated onlookers

 

down to the final two.

Then I got out a bottle of "pixie dust."  Not the little little bottles that the kids got (theirs had Pixie Stix Powder inside), but a bigger bottle with fine glitter.  I explained that if they made a wish using the pixie dust then maybe their wish would come true.  So I sprinkled a little into their hands, and we all turned around and blew three times.  I hope some of their wishes come true.

 

Then we ate.  And sang.  And ate some more.  (This was Moose's favorite part).

 

 

Monkey's favorite part was after we ate...she got to open presents.  She got really awesome presents.

 

 

Fairy Shannon glows : )

After the presents we still had a few minutes, so we played "Fairy Freeze" (freeze when the music stops) for a little while.  Then they just looked at the presents and whatnot.  I got out Monkey's pop-up book to try to calm things down (though they weren't super crazy or anything...but I didn't want it to escalate, you know).  It was fairly stressful reading the pop-up book though...I said, "Remember no touching" and "Everybody sit back down" on repeat through the "reading" of it.

Then they got their bottles of pixie dust and it was done.  Really it was all a blur for me, but looking back at the pictures was fun.  Lots of happiness and cuteness.  They are a good group of kids. 

I asked Monkey if she was happy with the party, and she said, "Yes, it was just like I planned it to be."  ha ha!  Glad it worked out for her ; )

 

Fairy Party: Part One (Things Made and the Birthday Fairy Herself)

 

Fairy Party: Part Two (Décor & Edibles)

Fairy Party: Part 2 (decor and edibles)

I don't even know where to start, so I'll share some pictures of the decorations.  I reused decoration from other parties (I love doing that...then I can justify buying or making them in the first place), threw in a TON of silk flowers (everywere!), and then made a few "fairy" specific decorations (some of which were shown in my last post).  This party was definitely a stash buster, so it barely cost anything, but was my most elaborate party so far.

The pixie dust bottles were attached to branches in a vase (from the woodland wedding party that I threw for my sister).  The blue tulle is from my wedding.

Each outfit set was arranged on the piano.  I also did little "bio" cards for each outfit.  It had a fairy or elf name and told about them.  Like "I comfort lost animals" and "I live in bramble bushes" and "I can only be seen at dusk."  I didn't take a picture of any of the cards, but maybe I'll find the ones that went with my kids' costumes and put it on later. 

The bunting/banner thing was so cute...and free!  My friend had the images already on her computer (she compiled them from google), so I just picked which ones I wanted.  Her husband works at a print shop and has to do test prints anyhow, so he printed the pictures for me.  So nice.  All I had to do was cut them all out and string them up (using what I already had to string them).  And he did enough that I actually had three banners (one large, one medium, and one smaller), so it really added a lot to the décor.  (Thank you, Jill & Daniel!!)

The framed mirror, birdhouse, and wreath are all my usual décor.
I just added flowers, tissue-paper covered baby food jar "votives"
(from the woodland wedding party), and the banner.

 

I love the fairies by Mary Cecily Barker...they are by far the cutest fairies out there.  (I won't go too into it, but I'm not a big Disney Fan, and I don't like that a lot of the fairies are so scantily clad.  Barker's fairies are beautiful and appropriate, IMO).  For her birthday Monkey got the most amazing pop-up book that has Mary Cecily Barker's fairies in it...I wish it was my book, it is so wonderful!


Anyhow, I digress.  I hung my fabric strip ceiling décor...my third time using it.  This time I added white strand lights, and a few flowers here and there.  It definitely bumps up the party atmosphere. (I'm considering making another in a different color scheme...for Chick's upcoming party).

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In the food area, there were two tables at which the kids could sit and eat. Our usual kids table plus a card table.  Both tables had silk flower centerpieces, with leaf placemats that I made.  I used a microsuede thrift store sheet for the fabric...super soft and dreamy.  I may have stroked it a bit while sewing : )  My free-motion skills are definitely lacking, but thankfully on a project like this it's ok to have a lot of imperfections.

The big table had toadstool covers on the little stools, and I LOVE them.  The only took a few minutes to make, and when I put them down (in the already decorated space) they made the whole room come alive.  They are made from thrifted stretchy fuzzyish fabric.  I have a ton leftover, too, so maybe there will be a little red riding hood in our Halloween future....

My friend (Jill, the one with the printer husband) likes to go to yard sales.  So towards the end of the summer I asked her to keep an eye out for a few things, and she picked up six teacup and saucer sets.  My Mom and sister picked up a few more at the thrift store. 

Clear plates, to not distract from the leafiness of the placemats, and simple flower napkin rings (made by my friend Megan, while I did some photoshop work for her).

 

The card table had a brown cover on it with flowers on the edge to keep the fabric from hanging down too much.

Hanging above was wedding tulle and woodland wedding fabric strips, with silk flowers.  In the corner was a branch that Fox cut and brought in for me.

 

And of course, the serving table with the food and cake.  Mr. Fox cut wood rounds that served as platters.  These pictures were taken before I'd added the smaller 2" trunk pieces that lifted up the wood rounds.  The center "cake stand" has an empty can as the base...wrapped in sheet moss and flowers glued around the bottom edge.  (Megan assembled that for me, too).

You can see the rooster "Winner" outside...
the kids were very entertained to see a rooster in the window.

 



 

We had "twigs" (stick pretzels), "fairy berries" (strawberries and raspberries, my friend Shannon donated those...you'll hear more about her in the next post), "toadstools" (apple and string cheese), and "acorns" (Hershey's kisses with mini nilla wafers).  Oh, and the best hot chocolate ever (my three kids didn't care for it...how can you NOT like milk, cream, sweetened condensed milk, and melted chocolate?!!  The adults were all in heaven....)

 

And cake.
I'm happy with how the cake turned out.  At first I was disappointed a little...it was good enough, but not as amazing as my "inspiration" cakes on pinterest.  But I consoled myself with the knowledge that I am not a professional baker...I've never even taken a class at the craft store.  Later I was looking at it and decided that it's actually a cute cake. Pinterest be darned ; )



 

So that's the food and décor.  Post #3 will have the actual party!  Cute little kids everywhere!  Stay tuned.

 

{Fairy Party: part one (things made & the birthday fairy herself)}

 

{Fairy Party: part three (fun and games)}

Fairy Party: part one (things made and the Birthday Fairy herself)

Ok, I have spent hours sorting through pictures from Monkey's fairy party that was held this weekend...and I've narrowed it down to a mere 65.  That would be a ridiculous amount, except that I've been slowly working to prepare for this party for FOUR MONTHS.  Mostly to cut down on my stress, since I can never be positive that I'll get to work on things on any given day.  And also because my interest ebbs and flows, so I'd work on it for a while and then put it away until creativity hit again.

Anyhow, it is now quite late, and I need to get to bed...but I'd promised myself that I'd blog today, so I will.  Just a little.  I'll share some of the preparation projects that I worked on.

Each party attendee got a little bottle of pixie dust, so I did labels for that (on bottles purchased for cheap on etsy.com).  They look purple in this picture, for some reason, but they are actually printed on brown paper shopping bags...then I went through and added heat embossed glitter on the words and around the edges.

I did similar invitations, which had sticks at the ends to roll up.  I used some starry wire (garage sale for 10 cents) to tie it up.  It all would have been free were it not for the stinker three year old boy who dumped out my bottle of embossing glitter!  So I had to buy a new one. grrr.

It says:
The fairies and elves are gathering!
Amid the flowers, on glittering wings,
Their tinkling voices this news foretold:
Monkey is turning 5 years old!

So they've worked some magic and cast a spell,
and are throwing a party in Monkey's downstairs dell.
Take no care about thy clothes--
the fairies are providing those.
You only need to RSVP
and a magical time will await thee.

Step into the fairy circle on December 7th from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m.


Everyone also got a little pipe cleaner fairy (or elf).  These are such fun little dolls to make!  And super simple.  The picture that included the boy elf dolls is fuzzy, but it's the only picture that I have with the elves in it.

All of the fairies got felted star wands, which was another super fun project!

The fairies also got wings (purchased on halo heaven), homemade square "handkerchief" style skirts (you'll see them in my next post), and head wreaths. 

Here's Owl modeling Monkey's wreath:

(Don't feel bad for the Elves...they got tunics and sashes, but best of all they got bows and arrows that Fox made.)


I made menu rocks...

...and a welcome sign.  The welcome sign was originally going to be made with "moss graffiti" (blend up moss, yogurt, and water and paint it onto the surface and watch it grow) but the moss never grew.  So sad.  So instead I did the same as on the menu rocks--I just hand-lettered it all on using sharpies.  Then I hot glued moss around the edges of the board, and used some glitter glue to highlight the words.  I like how the rocks and the sign turned out.

{I really REALLY enjoyed all of these projects and am happy with how everything turned out} I made some other things...toadstool stool covers, a banner, and leaf placemats (and other things) but I don't have non-party pictures of them, and I don't want to ruin the surprise of the party décor! Maybe I can blog about that tomorrow.

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Other recent party-related projects were special clothes for Monkey.  The fairy set was her main birthday present.  I made flowered fairy shoes, dress, and wings. 

I don't mind saying so myself, but I think the wings are amazing.  They are one of those things that I can't believe that I made.  And they were really quite EASY! (though I almost didn't attempt them because it didn't seem easy when I was looking through the tutorial: HERE, at Antique Lilac, which has such beautiful fairy dolls and clothes!  I highly recommend this tutorial...I hope I get to make another pair sometime).  On Monkey's wings the beads are homemade from polymer clay.  The wings are made from scraps of fabric and silk flowers and odd little pieces of embroidery floss and wire hangers...little pieces of nothing that add up into a really stunning something.  And it was so fun to do. 

The harness part was made from part of a silk maternity dress that I'd bought for $1 way back when...I bought it for refashioning, since it's not a color that I can wear successfully.

Her dress is actually too short, and I am going to add a dark purple ruffle at the bottom (and probably a pink ruffle as well)...but I haven't had time to do so yet.  At any rate, the purple is painted on, and the flowers are all hand-sewn and hopefully durable.  The dress was made from an all-white women's skirt that I found at the thrift store for $1.50.

Here she is in her completed costume.  This was just after the party...I'd done a little photo corner so that we could get pictures of each of the kids sitting on the stump.

 

 

Isn't she such a cute little fairy?! She originally came down in argyle knee-high socks, and I told her to change into tights.  When I saw that these were the tights I told her to go change, but by then the guests were arriving...oh well, it adds to the whimsy, I suppose. 

{Fairy Party: part two (Décor & Edibles)}

{Fairy Party: Part three (Fun & Games)}