I had been collecting little fairy themed party decorations for the past month or two leading up to Everly’s party last Saturday. It’s always challenging to switch gears from Christmas to birthday so closely together, so I always try to get a head start on things in the fall when I have more time to hunt and gather.
I wasn’t exactly sure how all of the things I had collected or made would fit together - there was a lot of pink and a good sprinkling of woodland themed items. A few girlfriends and my mother in law showed up a couple of hours before Everly’s party to help me finish up the food and decorations (thank goodness for them!) and when I stood back and looked around at 3:30pm, I was happy with what we were able to accomplish. The real proof of success was Everly’s reaction - she had the biggest smile plastered on her face every time she buzzed past me with a trail of little cousins and friends following her.
The day before her party, I dug around in my linen closet and found a couple of tablecloths (which could have used a professional press - but oh well!) and a much too girly shower curtain that I had ordered a long time ago but didn’t work in our downstairs bath. To that, we add a ribbon with dangling silk flowers & some custom printed birthday banners from Minted.com. They have a new birthday party section where you can create custom banners, table decor and signage to accompany your theme.
I don’t do a lot of baking and this is probably the second or third cake I’ve ever made myself. I had a vision for how I wanted to look and after tinting the cream cheese frosting to the perfect shade of lavender, I added fresh berries and some butterflies on wire that I picked up at the craft store. I was really happy with how it turned out.
I saw a photo on etsy of these little birch log cupcake stands and sent it to my wood working extraordinaire mama and asked if she could replicate them. She whipped up five of these darling little stands for me which added the sweetest touch of whimsy. Brent and I used kid-friendly modeling clay to make colorful little mushrooms that we scattered amongst the dishes on the table. The little fairy picks are from the Meri Meri party line. I bought them (along with a matching banner) at a discount off Zulily.
I had SO much fun planning the food for this party! Pinterest was a great source of inspiration and a few girlfriends sent me fun ideas too. Since it was a late afternoon party, I wanted to keep the food light and nibble friendly. On the menu:
Caprese Toadstools with balsamic vinagrette. My mother in law assembled these for me and she figured out that the trick to getting them to stand up is using two pieces of cubed mozzerella with a basil leaf as “grass” in between.
Berry Fairy Wands.
Dark chocolate acorrns. These are super simple to make! I went with dark chocolate hershey kisses and chocolate chips because I prefer them over milk chocolate. Melt a handful of chips in the microwave then use the melted chocolate to attach a kiss to one side of a mini vanilla wafer and a chocolate chip to the other. Let the chocolate harden for about 10 minutes before moving to a serving dish.
We also served little ham and turkey sandwiches cut into flower and butterfly shapes with cookie cutters, veggies and pretzels with dip, and gold fish crackers. I made a pink sparkle punch with 7up, pomegranite juice, and scoops of blood orange sorbet.
Each child got a pair of fairy wings and a wand when they arrived.
We had eight children at the party so I wanted to set up some fun crafts. I moved our kid table into Everly’s room and we set up a station for them to decorate their own fairy house or a butterfly mask with stickers, sequins, and washable markers. I found the little wooden houses at Michael’s for a dollar a piece!
A Happy Birthday song for our sweet three year old. I wish I had more photos of her from the day, but I snapped some photos of the food early in the day and then handed the camera off and spent the afternoon just enjoying time with our loved ones and watching Everly and Arlo live it up! Somewhere along the way, she discarded her blue wings, but oh man, was she cute!
It was a full house! 35 plus folks in a our little home. Soon enough her parties will be just her and a few little friends, so it’s nice to enjoy these big celebrations while Everly is still small.
Brent and I purchased a few gifts for Everly to open at her party and encouraged our guests not to bring a present. Our house is already overflowing with toys from Christmas! Many of them so generously brought her sweet things anyway. In years past, we’ve chosen a charity to donate to instead and I really like that idea but I also struggle with how to ask people to consider spending their gift giving money without it coming off as tacky, unappreciative or forced. I want my kids to have a wonderful birthday experience, complete with presents, but I would love to start a tradition where we encourage experience-based gift giving. A trip to the zoo, a special cupcake date, or taking the birthday child to a movie one afternoon. I am hopeful one day we will strike the right balance between making sure they don’t feel like they are missing out but also encouraging less stuff and more experiences. It’s something we’ll have to feel out as we go along. If any of you have advice or can share your experience, I’d love to hear it!
Everly’s fairy party was a huge success and a joyful day for our whole family. The highlight for me was seeing my daughter float from room to room in her blue fairy wings, laughing and dancing as she went. I could hardly keep up with her! Our goal was to give Everly the gift of a happy childhood memory , and it was quite obvious last Saturday that we had done just that.
Love,
M