Riley's 6th Birthday!

We had been planning on a Hello Kitty party until attending a classmate's Fairy Party - which include the real fairy of course, lol. So despite having bought a chunk of items for H.K. I changed channels and went fairy crazy! I planned a mid-day party on the exact day of her 6th birthday. It was wonderful! Guests arrived starting at 1pm and were greeted by our front door wreath which I think set the tone. Soft pink, green and purple welcomed the fairies inside! I wanted a whimsical feel vs the commercial Disney type Fairy. There were wings which I bought as well as fairy flower wands and hair ribbons which I made for the girls to wear on arrival. The first 45 minutes I had crafts for them on the patio; our fairy Miss Clementine arrived 20 minutes early! There was much squealing and giggling when she arrived and set right to work on face painting. We had arranged for face paints, balloon animals and then a sing along however she did 19 face paints which took nearly all our time together. We had a short amount of time for sing along w/her puppet dog ( I think BINGO was one of the songs). The girls played about the back yard and crafted faries on paper using pieces of scrapbook paper for dresses and flowers and painting their hands stamped onto the cardstock as the fairy wings. They embellished w/ribbon, crayon and rhinestones, the finished pieces were beautiful. I also had clothespins, tissue paper, and puffballs for them to make butterflies with. Halfway thru facepainting w/Miss Clementine, they had worked up an appetite so we started fixing their plates of snacks. The fairy led us off in singing Happy Birthday and Riley was beaming. We took a group picture as well as family pictures. After cake and a little more play, we launched into gifts, and Riley received the much coveted McKenna American Girl Doll (her first and only) from Mom and Dad. A whirlwind 4 hours, days and hours of preparation, sheer exhaustion and adrenalin at the end - such satisfaction in seeing my daughter and all the littles have a ton of fun!

• Best Dressed

  Miss Clementine - the outfit was amazing!

• Desserts

  Homemade Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

• Activities / Games

  Two hours of our Fairy guest, Miss Clementine, Fairy art with scrapbook paper and painted hands for wings; clothespin butterflies

• Budget

  I blew it really. Was trying to stay affordable. I had this idea that outside the cost of the fairy I would spend $100 on food and $100 on decorations. Well I think I tripled this :( But it was so worth the memories and the fun we had, I've never decorated like this before. In all honesty, I spent about $100 alone at the dollar store. I think I used 25 rolls of ribbon alone - that adds up!I have things I didn't end up using that I need to return as well. Because this was my first time decorating in such a way I have many re-usable things such as the beautiful cake plate I bought from Home Goods for 15$, etc.

• Party Favors

  Fairy Wings, Wands, Hair Ribbons, Art, Facepaint, Sugar Cookies

• Best Moment

  When the fairy arrived - the girls were all gasps and giggles!

• What People Ate

  Kids - Fairy Sandwiches, Fairy Fruit Wands, Twigs & Sticks, Marshmallows!, Apple O candies, Grape Mike 'n Ike's

• What People Drank

  Water, Apple juiceboxes, Soda, Beer, Hard Lemonade

• Most Touching Moment

  Singing Happy Birthday

• Funniest Moment

  OMG, this is really bad. At the end of Miss Clementine's visit, she said to watch for her to fly away. Well we have a trampoline which was off limits but they all hopped up onto the edge and were holding onto the netting watching the sky. They refused to get down because it was as high as they could get to see in the sky for the fairy. I was totally frustrated (I wanted them off!) and all of a sudden because they were all looking at me, I flung my arm into the air and yelled "LOOK, YOU JUST MISSED HER!" Then of course they all grumbled, got down reluctantly, there was some pouting and near tears for my daughter. But how do you explain that the fairy in fact does NOT fly, haha!

• Myself

  Party Planner

  I did all the planning, designing, based on about 2 months of studying parties and tutorials online; I made all the craftable items myself; I used downloadable paper design from a free Easter printable (Amanda's party printables) and then designed my own invitation, cupcake toppers, sugar cookie favors, the front door signs. I found the fabulous Keep Calm fairy On online, free printable. So, even though I spent a lot in some areas, I saved too by doing my own printables, making all the food and cake myself, doing all the bunting, photo banners, pinecone decorations, girls wands and ribbons too. I took all my own photos as well. A friend's dad did all the video for us, and we skipped helium balloons in lieu of the strung balloons outside. Also, I had intended on vases of fresh flowers but in the end didn't need them due to the various flower wands, and silk garden baskets I made.