Fluttery Fun + Games | 4th Birthday Fairy Party

3.25.2015
Activities are not my favorite part of party planning, but once kids hit a certain age it's kind of a necessity. So we put together a few simple fairy inspired activities that were great for a group of creative 4 year olds...


 Find the Moonstones Remember the other day I mentioned that the girls needed to earn their wings, wands and pixie dust at the beginning of the party? For our first activity we had a scavenger hunt for moonstones.  (if you don't know how this relates to fairies, I'm afraid you'll have to watch Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure to find out). Our moonstones were just glass decorative rocks from the craft store that came in a bag of about 100.  We hid them everywhere in the yard... I mean, everywhere... and let the girls loose with little cups to collect them. We didn't want to have a single winner, so as soon as each girl brought back her filled cup they were able to collect their fairy gear. Less stress and more fun.



Watercolor Butterflies After the running around, we brought the energy down with an art project. I made these at camp when I was a kid and it's fun for any age, but smaller hands will need a bit of extra help.  See below for the tutorial on how to make them yourself!



I also had Tinkerbell coloring pages and extra markers on hand so that the girls who finished their projects quickly could stay at the table and have something to do. We hung their projects to display from a length of twine in the backyard, which also helped everything dry before it was time to go home.


Dress Up Not exactly groundbreaking, right? After everyone finished their art project it was time for cake. Then, for the last half hour of the party, we sent the girls up to Caitlin's room to play dress up. A sweet friend gave us a load of hand me down fairy + princess costumes, so we simply laid it all out on the bed and let them go wild changing out dresses, necklaces, shoes and gloves. It turned into a bit of a parade and catwalk as each girl came downstairs to show off her beautiful outfit, take pictures with the parental paparazzi and then run back upstairs to change again. So very cute to watch.

images © cake. | events + design

Now I suppose it's time for me to start planning Caitlin's 5th birthday... it's going to be here before we know it!

But wait, there's more... have you seen the rest of this party yet?  Cakes \\  Invites + DiYs



Watercolor Butterflies

Supplies
coffee filters (round, not cone shaped)
wood clothespins
pipe cleaners
watercolor paints + brushes
water
markers
glitter pens
google eye stickers

Directions
1. Open the coffee filter so it lies flat on the table and fold in half. Dip your brush in watercolors and then water. Use the same color patterns on the left and right sides of your filter. These will be come the butterfly wings.
2. When you're done painting, pinch the center of the filter and bring the top and bottom sections down to meet in the middle. Clasp with a clothespin. This will be your butterfly body.
 3. Fluff out the wings and decorate the body with markers, glitter pens etc. Add google eyes if desired.
4. Cut a pipe cleaner in 2 and fold half in the middle. Stick in the top of your clothespin for your butterfly antennae.

Images are for personal use only. If sharing them on your site, please link directly to this post.  // Invitations available via Etsy

Enchanting Layer Cakes | 4th Birthday Fairy Party

3.24.2015

Well, I promised you cake didn't I? Instead of a dessert spread, I thought it would be fun to do four different layer cakes for this 4th birthday fairy party.  Naturally I wasn't going to be able to tackle it alone, so I begged the help of my friend and master baker Michele of Cakewalk Baking (aka owner of these pretty vintage cakestands). She and I split the work and created the following flavors: red velvet with classic cream cheese frosting // lemon bundt cake with sugar glaze // chocolate with vanilla buttercream // white cake with fresh strawberry buttercream.  Oh, my mouth is watering just remembering how good they all were.


I wanted the cake table to be the focal point of the party, so I hung mesh netting from the trees above and adorned it with a few ribbons leftover from the wands.  I added a few fresh berries + garden flowers and the effect really was charming.  The girls... and the grownups... were beyond excited to pick out their favorite flavor of cake.





In case you're quietly judging, you should know that I made an attempt at more nutritious kid snacks as well... fruit salad, veggies + hummus, yogurt stars, etc.  But honestly, who can get excited about hummus with four types of cake sitting around?




images © cake. | events + design

But wait, there's more... have you seen the rest of this party yet?  Invites + DiYs \\  Activities 



Images are for personal use only. If sharing them on your site, please link directly to this post.  // Invitations available via Etsy. //  Special thanks to Cakewalk Baking.

Pixie Party | a Fairy 4th Birthday

3.23.2015
The first day of spring was on Friday, hooray! For those of you who have been pummeled by snow, the warmer weather is definitely something to celebrate. And what's more spring than a pixie party, am I right?  Truth is we actually hosted this party for Caitlin's 4th birthday last year, so this post is more than a bit overdue. Let's just say I've been sitting on it, waiting and hoping to inspire you with some fun spring color. Totally intentional, obviously.


When we planned this party, I asked Caitlin what kind of theme she wanted, and she was all about Tinkerbell and the Disney Fairies.  Fortunately for me, I got her to compromise and we made it more of a garden pixie party. I designed a playful invitation in a color palette of teal and peach w/ black + white polka dot accents. She was happy. I was happy.


We had 8 little ladies and their parents over for afternoon of fairy games and cake. At the beginning of the party each girl earned her wings, wand and a pixie dust necklace to wear and bring home as a favor. The wings were a steal from Target and I DiY'ed the ribbon wands and pixie dust (tutorials are at the end of this post). I felt like a fairy godmother passing them out... the girls were in awe.


We tagged each set with a name in order to prevent tears if someone didn't get their preferred color. There a few seconds of pouting, but overall it worked out really well... maybe because I blamed the color choice on the fairies.




images © cake. | events + design

To keep this post from getting too long, I'm breaking it up into a few parts - and you're going to want to come back for the cake... s.  Yes, plural.  If you want to know how I made the ribbon wands and pixie dust, see below for quick and easy instructions.

But wait, there's more... have you seen the rest of this party yet?  Cakes \\  Activities 


Ribbon Wands 

Supplies:
Wooden Dowels
Craft Paint
Washi Tape
Sponge Brush
3 widths/types of ribbon
Glue Dots

Instructions:
1. Cut each dowel to about 1 ft length.
2. Wrap washi around the lower third and dab on paint w/ a sponge brush. Remove washi when the paint is dry.
3. Cut each ribbon into 2 ft lengths. Group each type of ribbon together and tie in a knot around the top of the dowel.
4. Hold knot in place with a glue dot on the dowel.

Pixie Dust Necklaces 
This one is fairly self explanatory. I purchased the jars here and filled them with gold craft glitter. I measured a length of baking twine so it could be knotted around the jar twice and the cord would still be long enough to slip over each girl's head without having to add a clasp.


Images are for personal use only. If sharing them on your site, please link directly to this post.  // Invitations available via Etsy.