Throw a Fairy Garden Birthday Party for Your Daughter

Are you looking for a different and delightful theme for your child's birthday party? Or would you like a magical activity to do with your kids? If so, welcome to the world of fairy gardens!

A few years ago I read an article about having a "fairy garden" birthday party theme. It looked cute, so I clipped it and filed it away until this spring, when I did a bit more research and had a fairy garden party for my daughter who was turning 6.

Here is what you need to do:
1. Gather baskets in which to make your gardens. You can use any size, but the ones we used varied from about 7" - 12" in length and/or diameter. This type of basket can easily be found at garage sales, second-hand stores, etc. You may even have several in your attic!

2. Line each basket with plastic. I chose plastic a bit heavier than the food-wrap variety. I did not attach the liner, but just set it in the basket and put potting soil in over the liner to keep it down. Then I trimmed the liner along the edge of the basket.

3. Collect fairy garden knick-knacks. This is fun, and my children enjoyed helping. We collected twigs outside and broke them into 2" pieces which are great for making fences. Other neat things to collect are small shells, pebbles, bottle caps (bowls for fairy food!), small characters (these can be fairies or small animals). Small pieces of mirror make cute "ponds". Garage sales are great places to find these things. Fairy garden "purists" like all items in the gardens to be from nature, but at our party we also used some plastic cake decorations we had around. They added color and the girls liked them. Really, the sky is the limit. Use your imagination!

4. At the party, each child got a lined basket filled with potting soil and I gave them grass seed to plant. You might want to plant the seed a week or so ahead of time so that something can already be growing. You may want to gather bits of moss for the baskets also or have some small flowers to plant also. Then, I put out bowls with the various "goodies" we had collected and let the kids create the garden of their dreams. The children had so much fun!

5. Remind the children to water their gardens at home. Gardens may be kept inside or outside.

Other fun things to do at the party are to watch the video "Kristen's Fairy House" or read the book "Fairy Houses" by Tracey Kane. These tie in with the theme perfectly. I was able to borrow them from my local library.

There are numerous cute fairy coloring sheets online (one is listed in my resources box). This is a nice activity for the kids to do at the beginning of the party while the kids are arriving.

Make a wish, and maybe a fairy will visit your garden and grant it!