...and then there was the Party...

It started months ago with a time limit; no planning of the party until the week after Valentine's Day.  The planning began with the list of party games and deciding on the perfect fairy foods menu, and ended in a flourish with the final stage of any party planning, the party invite:

Come join us for a Fairy Good Time!

March 26 mark the date

It’s a party to celebrate

Ria Howard turning 8!

We’ll start at 2 and be done by 4

Come for snacks, crafts, and more!

 

There was the excited week of phone calls and emails of RSVPs.  There were the trips to Michaels and Joann's, to the grocery store, and to Target for those last-minute party items.  On several of these trips, a very excited little brother invited everyone, cashiers, customer service folk, and random strangers, to come to the party.  Then came the day...the big day....the Party Day for our little Princess Fairy.  Everyone was excited as we cleaned the house, set up tables, and got ready for the party.  

 

 

 

The guests were eagerly greeted at the door and "fairfied" with their own fairy headbands.  A scavenger hunt took place in the backyard with a flurry of little girls running across the yard, finding butterfly clips in various fairy houses hidden throughout.  Daddy had done his usual magic of writing up poems of clues for the fairy scavenger hunt:

 

 

Are you ready for some fun?  You have your team and the hunts begun.  This will be the first of clues that tell you all just what to do.  Listen now and look alive, for there are more clues that you must find, in total, five.  Each message you find, a little poem, will take to you a fairy home.  There are many kinds, here's a few, my dear, of different fairies found that you'll find near…

1. Stone Fairy

2. Garden Fairy

3. Evergreen Fairy

4. Willow Tree Fairy

These are the different fairy's homes you'll be looking for.  At each home you'll find a clue that will take you to the next home on your hunt.  Each member of your team will find their name and a butterfly clip along the way.  Just take the one butterfly clip for your team and move on to the next clue.  Don’t tell the other teams what clues you have already found!

1. Stone Fairy!  Look around in the yard, where this fairy lives is round and hard.  You'll find its home sitting on the ground, now go out back and look around.  Its near a pile of rocks, not far off, a power box.

2. Garden Fairy.  These are common in places where, there lots of plots and fresh dirt found there.  Look in the yard, you'll find a gate that will lead to you this fairies home and don’t be late!

3. Evergreen Fairy.  Evergreens are tall and wide, and these fairies help keep them green with pride.  Go and look for two tall trees, and then look behind them and in-between.  You'll find a fairy home and near you'll see the next clue for your team to read!

4. Willow Tree Fairy.  Willow trees grow really big, with help from this fairy among it's twigs.  Look out front, you'll find it there, and treat fairy's home with care.

5. You've done it all and found the clues so soon you'll know what you must do.  These fairies tend to run away, whenever kids come up to play.  But do not worry because each of you, get your own fairy home, its true!  Dress it up, and take it home, and maybe one day a fairy will make it, its own!  Head back inside and see it with your own eyes…

 

 

At the conclusion of the hunt, everyone came inside to find their very own fairy houses to be decorated.  Blissful moments of quiet creativity followed as paints and accessories took the fairy houses from standard pieces of wood to beautiful, individual expressions of each little girl's (and one little boy's!) own fairy magic.  

 

 

 

 

There were snacks, and cupcakes, and presents.  

 

 

 

And in the end, there was one very happy, blessed, little girl, who finished the evening with a few close friends enjoying her new gifts.