the girl turns 5

For years, I’ve been keeping my children’s birthday parties sweet and simple, and that’s worked for us. However, when The Boy turned four, I threw him a huge “Knights and Princesses” party, complete with handmade tunics and princess hats, a dragon pinata, and nearly every person (adults and children alike) in full costume. It was loads of fun, and after getting a new baby sister, I felt he deserved it.

With The Girl having her birthday right after the chaos of the holidays, it always sneaks up on me. No matter how many times I tell myself to get ready for it beforehand, I never seem to get it together. So with only a few weeks to plan, I decided that it was time for The Girl to have a big, super-blowout party. Since she loves all things fairy, I decided upon an “Enchanted Forest” theme. To prepare, I made magic wands  with this tutorial, (and I forgot to take pictures of them!) and felt masks for all the kids, using this template.

We found an old box of feather masks, and with some fairy wings from the dollar store, our costume station was complete. Each child was then able to make their own costume once they arrived.

We made bubble wands (tutorial here).

One of our guests even came with his magic kit and performed a show for us!

We had a tree-stump cake, with five rings of course!

The kids searched for fairy treasure in the yard.

And for the adults there was great conversation, bubbly drinks, and music making.

It truly was an enchanted party.