FAIRY GARDEN BIRTHDAY PARTY

It is easy to get excited about birthday parties. They are a joyful time, and can be a lot of fun - even in just the envisaging and organising. But after all of the planning and preparation when the clock ticks down and the guests arrive, we try to keep the occasion as low key as possible. 

But there are parameters. Over the years we tend to find that children can get a little restless if there's no structure. So we usually have in the back our minds a run down of how things should go. An activity or two followed by food and cake. Two hours seems to be a good time limit too, and generally we prefer morning get-togethers - from about 10-12 noon. That way the sugar and excitement can abate as the day wears on.

Last year a craft-based fairy-themed birthday party was quite a hit and so this year we continued with this theme but with a twist. After seeing an idea for a potted fairy garden party on Cloistered Away, I thought it would be a great activity for our soon-to-be five-year-old. It also suited our current location as we could set up a table outside and have plenty of space for the children to forage.

In the days leading up to the party, I bought a few craft supplies and also rounded up some of our own, including shells we had found at a local beach and feathers that we've accumulated this past year. We also made some toadstools the day before from air-dried clay, moulding the shape, inserting a skewer and painting with poster paint.

For the party, we carried the supplies in old jam jars (easy to transport with the screw-on lids) and egg carton containers. Everything was placed in the centre of the table. We also bought small strawberry plants for the girls to plant in their fairy garden pot. Each of them was given a terracotta pot filled with soil and were free to decorate the gardens as they chose. There are some amazing creations on Pinterest, but I wanted each child to have the freedom of opportunity to create their own design.

When everyone arrived we gave them all a paper bag to forage in our garden where nothing is precious. The girls picked black-eyed Susan flowers, bamboo leaves, sticks and pebbles. And I had some paper butterfly notes from Poppies For Grace from years ago, which I taped onto skewers, and they inserted into their gardens. Each child also got a little Schleich rabbit to use as a decoration. And along with the potted gardens, this was their party gift.

Food was cobs of corn and organic sausages cooked on our make-shift outdoor fire, and one of our homemade cakes that we make and decorate every year. This year chocolate sprinkles were made to look like a toadstool.

Decorations were kept to a minimum as we are the midst of renovating The Stone Lodge, where we hosted the party. A painter's drop sheet created a neutral backdrop and was adorned with simple white bunting.

Creating the fairy gardens was enjoyed by all and, of course, something you can do at any time of year.

images the indigo crew

RIBBON SHAKER

Another one of the craft projects for the four-year-old's recent-ish birthday was to create a ribbon shaker. The idea incorporates threading - or knot-tying, if they are up to that stage - and attaching a bell. It's super simple but a project that has proven popular. Every few days the preschooler picks up her shaker from her bedroom door and runs around the house dancing and singing while shaking the ribbons and bell. 

Again, before the party I cut all of the ribbon and had everything ready to go in a designated tray so that the activity could begin without too much fuss. Alternatively, you could get the children to select ribbon from reels, if you have plenty. We used some leftover Christmas ribbon for our project.

YOU WILL NEED

Ribbon

Bell

Hoop (we used bangles)

Twine or string

Scissors

1. Cut ribbons and twine to required length. Thread through a hoop in a pattern of your choice. 

2. Attach bell and voila.

images the indigo crew

STAR WAND

For our recent four-year-old's birthday party we created (fairy) star wands as one of the activities. As usual, it was a joint effort. In the morning before all of the children arrived my son and his grandfather were cutting the stars for me from craft paper (using a star template that I keep in my craft box) and I assembled all the bits and pieces in a tin so that it was ready to use come party-time.

We had a few left over after the party and all of the children have made more wands, and adapted them to what materials they have been able to find.

This is a simple activity, but these are often the best as it's easy for little ones to make, and then there's lots of time for them to play with them afterwards.

YOU WILL NEED
Craft paper
Star template
Pencil
Scissors
Craft or lolly pop sticks
Tape - we used Washi tape as it's easy for little hands to tear
Feathers for decorations

1. Using a template, draw an outline of a star on a piece of craft paper. Cut out with scissors.
2. Tape star to the back of the star. Tape feather to the front. Adapt according to your craft supplies - you could decorate with stickers, attach a bell or several feathers on a piece of string.

images the indigo crew

FLOWER FAIRY WINGS

When the preschooler asked to have a fairy party, I immediately thought it would be fun to include craft activities. Almost from the start, I wanted to get the children to make their own wings. This would keep them occupied, I hoped.  But I really wanted them to get involved, and to make it easy and enjoyable for them. I also wasn't keen on getting out paint or glue, if it could be helped.

After chatting with my friend Belinda Graham of The Happy Home Blog, she gave me the idea to use clear sticky paper, such as Con-Tact, for covering books. After a little more research on Pinterest, I decided to make the wing frame from wire. When out sourcing I spotted white wire coat hangers and this seemed like a good solution.

Each wing set was created from two coat hangers bent into shape and then twisted into the centre to hold them together. Elastic was knotted onto the wings so the children could put them on and off themselves.

Four templates were created for the wings. A top and bottom left and right. The bottom wings were cut larger to be  able to fold over and secure over the wire.

The wings were prepared the night before the party so that we were ready to go once the girls arrived.

Adults needed to apply the sticky paper but then the girls were left free to create their flower arrangements.

When finished, the top layer of sticky clear paper was placed on top.

Each girl created quite a different design from the other.

Because we had estimated the length of the elastic the night before without a fitting model, some of them were too short. We added two long white pieces of ribbon - bowed into hoops - so they could wear the wings comfortably.

Four days later and the flowers are still looking quite fresh. The flower fairy wings are a hit.

images the indigo crew

FLOWER WALL

In the past we have used balloons en-masse to decorate our dining room for at-home birthday parties. However, as the four-year-old's party was themed "flower fairies" it seemed the obvious choice to use nature-based decorations. After finding wax flowers in abundance at the markets, I wanted to use them in some way. Because they have sturdy stems, I went with the idea of attaching them to the wall using masking tape. Breaking them into smaller stems meant that the weight of them would hold easier and after initially considering an archway of the flowers, the less traditional dispersed effect was more appealing.

As it turned out, it was also easier for little hands to help. When they saw me attaching the flowers to the wall, they wanted to do this too. They did it in a random way, with some stems upside down, which they thought was funny. I quite liked the effect, and they were having such fun, I didn't want to dampen their enthusiasm. In the end, my mum was cutting the stems, I was applying tape and the girls were sticking them to the wall. It was such a great activity to do together.



I quite enjoy decorating this wall in our dining room for 
parties. It helps to transform the space into a special place, and it's also a fun backdrop to take photos against during the party.

images the indigo crew

BIRTHDAY CAKE

This cake recipe is worth sharing. We've made it for 12 children's birthday parties, and every time it all gets eaten - even by the children, who often only eat icing on some cakes.

Every time we decorate it slightly differently, though. One time we created a large star on top out of chocolate sprinkles. Another time we made the shape of a cat's face from liquorice and a pink marshmallow nose.

For our most recent birthday party, for our four-year-old, we created a star out of raspberries and decorated the plate with flower petals.

The butter cake recipe is by Donna Hay, and in the Donna Hay Modern Classics Book 2.

INGREDIENTS
125g (4 oz) butter, very well softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup caster (superfine) sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), sifted
1/2 cup (4 fl oz) milk

1. Preheat oven to 150ºC (300ºF). Place the butter, vanilla, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and milk in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on a low speed until combined.
2. Increase the speed to high and beat the mixture until it is just smooth.
3. Grease a 20cm (8 in) round cake tin and line with non-stick baking paper. Spoon in the mixture and bake for 1 hour 5 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool for 5 minutes then turn onto a wire rack. Serve plain or spread with basic icing or butter cream frosting, below. Serves 8

Butter cream frosting
Place 250g (8 oz) softened butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Add 1 cup sifted icing (confectioner's) sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and beat until well combined. Spread over a completely cooled cake and refrigerate until set.

image the indigo crew

HOMEMADE FAMILY BIRTHDAY PARTY

 

For many years we had parties in the park because our small apartment couldn't accommodate a children's birthday party. However, quite a few times we got rained out and so had to reschedule or relocate. When we moved into our current home and had space to host a party, we were happy to finally have the chance to do so.

We have always enjoyed making birthdays a special celebration, and creating them ourselves - from the food (homemade sausage rolls and birthday cake) to the decor and the entertainment. (Last year for a science party, we created our own experiments using a salt pendulum and a fishing game with magnets and different types of metal.) We like the children to see that we can create our own fun. Where possible, we also like them to get involved in helping create the day - from helping in the kitchen to decorating the walls.

While there's often a big mess to clean up afterwards, there are also lots of memories too as we often let the balloons float around the house for the next few days. It's a nice reminder of the fun that we've had.

This year we created a scalloped wall decoration that was even easier than I was expecting.

Here's how to create our feature wall.

YOU WILL NEED
Crepe paper - white
Tissue paper - gold (If you can find crepe paper in a nice shade of gold, all the better)
Scissors
Washi tape

1. Cut a scalloped shape out of folded crepe paper, ensuring you leave a join on either side of about 2cm. This will give you a strand of scalloped paper about 2m long.
2. Alternate with a gold paper. We had to use tissue paper and as it wasn't as long had to hang in three parts. We folded the paper in a similar style to the crepe paper and cut.
3. Alternate one row of white paper with one row of gold. Or you could use one colour en-masse.
4. Add helium-filled balloons for fun.

images the indigo crew