I’m no party planner.

It’s not something I enjoy that much- the stress part leading up to it is just not for me!  But, I thought I’d share what we did for Ellery’s 7th birthday, because it turned out to be a fun success and was relatively easy to pull together (oh, and I happened to take a bunch of iPhone pics)!  At first she wanted a zebra party (ummm??? that came out of left field) but then settled on a fairy party.  My Mom had recently made a little fairy garden outside at her house for the grandkids to enjoy, and Ellery really loved it.

Thanks to Gee for the inspiration!

I bought both the terracotta saucers and the  wooden houses for about a buck a piece.  Only one guest commented that they were bird houses, not fairy houses.  SHHH, kid! No one has to know! 

The kids spent a nice long chunk of time making their houses- they each seemed to have a clear vision.

  I found a bunch of great things in the dollar section at Michaels- little chalkboards, the wooden stake signs, paper butterflies, etc.

Other than that, we used everything we already had at home to decorate- paints, glitter, feathers, marbles…

I found a little pack of tree stumps so we hot glued pieces together to make little stools.

I tried to find little fairies, but there was not much out there- and nothing affordable.  I happened to walk by the clearance yarn bin right by the clothespin doll section at Joann, and the light bulb went off!  Ellery and I made these sweet clothespin fairies a few hours before the party.

We had the BEST time hot gluing crazy beehives and frizzy curls to their heads- the orange yarn had wire in it, so it was easy for us to shape it.  I used a felt-tip permanent marker to make the eyes and nose, and we used a toothpick dipped in red paint for their mouths.  Really, I could’ve sat there all day doing it.  So fun!

I had intended to cut paper wings to glue to the back, and make little skirts, but of course we ran out of time.  We had some tulle on hand, and realized if we wrapped it around a couple of times and then tied it at the back, we could have a twofer!  I love the fluttery tulle wings and I’m glad we went that route.  It took all of five seconds.

Ellery wrote on the chalkboard signs.  She did a great job helping me that day- and unlike the random crazy meltdown she had on her actual birthday days before that even brought ME to tears, she was a complete angel on party day.

Birthdays, man.

We served sticks + stones (pirates booty and pretzel rods), fairy mints (Ellery has inherited my taste for these butter mints- she had to have them!), strawberries, and juice boxes.  Nothin’ fancy!

Elle is my foodie and loves French macarons!  So we had those (okay, so a little fancy) in place of cake, though I did last minute buy a pack of mini cupcakes just in case someone preferred those.

The kids loved taking their houses home and they were all so excited and talking about where in their yard they’d put them, and if fairies are real.  It was a great day!

I leave you with a couple of shots of my new 7-year old.  Equal parts very tame and very nuts.

 She is a unique, strong-willed, often reserved, very capable, loving, wild-laughing, tender-souled little girl who saves the best of herself for me and her Dad.  She’s my best little friend, my husband’s little stinky cheese, raw oyster-loving sidekick, and I love sharing things with her because I know she just “gets” things that other kids don’t.

We love seeing her blossom.

-Erin