My sister turned 50 in December. She asked me if anyone was throwing her a party........and when I heard no one was, I stepped in and said I would throw a Fairy Party for her. (Something we talked about years ago) As we all know the holidays are not the best time to throw a Birthday party............so it was pushed back to March. However with my art show we pushed it back again and finally a date of April 2nd came to be.
I planned to cook and serve a brunch type food with a champagne punch. There would be crafting time and of course dessert. So let me share some photos, insights and a budget of $200 (which I did go over and eventually turned into $300) for nine people which included my sister and myself.
Invites were easy. I created a cute publisher image and that was sent via text. (cost /time)
Thank you gifts: Cute fairy lanterns in gift bags. Total cost ($30) The dollar tree is a great place to pick up the mason jars, flowers, battery operated lights and glitter cricut sticker paper on a roll. I have free access to a Cricut, so I made the fairy silhouettes for the lanterns and fairy stickers for bags. I purchased gift bags from Hobby Lobby when they were on sale. I went to Michaels for the moss. I watched several "how to videos" for making fairy jars and it looked simple enough. Well, maybe it is not that simple. We forgot to water down the glue and we ended up with opaque gold glitter jars. I then had to use a toothbrush and water and scrap the glitter off so you could see the fairies. A hot mess. So this took days to do in between work. Time spent: about a week in between working....but I do believe they came out gorgeous.
Wands for everyone: I saw a beautiful wands for $36 (a piece) on the internet. This was not in the budget, but Sculpey was. I purchased $30 worlth of sculpey...I figured I could make beautiful wands too. I already had wooden dowels and paint. I really wanted something special to attach to the wands so I spent $10 on a jar of real rose quartz. Of course I viewed several "how to" videos on using sculpey and it really is easy to use. Actually I love it. So time spent.......approx. 12 hours including (sealing the wands after they cooled) (FYI: I did bake the rose quartz to the sculpey...it was fine in the oven)Total spent $45 In addition, we needed the wands to make fairy potions.
We had two different Crafts: At 5 and Below they sold a Potion set for up to 6 people. So I purchased that and then went to the Dollar Tree and purchased additional vials, bottles for mineral spirits and more glitter. I did create a little booklet with magic spells that I handed out. Two of the potions you needed your wands to wave over the potion. The second craft were wooden birdhouses that can be painted and decorated. Cost $35. Really no time preparing except for making sure everything was accessible to guests. My thoughts on two crafts..........two are too much. We only focused on the fairy potions and there was not enough time to decorate birdhouses. So save your money and only offer one craft........really that is all you need. Now I have birdhouses sitting in my studio. LOL
Wings and floral crowns: Seriously I started making the crowns with real vines, but when I saw how much flowers cost and I would still have to weave them into the vine........I stopped what I was doing and ordered floral crowns from Amazon. I received 10 for $20. It was worth it to purchase and not make. Wings......I purchased a few wings from the Dollar Tree for anyone who needed a set. Total cost $35
Decor: Hanging Floral. I had wooden dowels on hand and saved some paper flowers my Mom no longer wanted. I used dry vines from our yard to wrap around the dowels and then weaved the paper flowers in. I did purchase plastic beads that look like swarovski crystals in blush and clear and slid them on floral wire to create a glass bead garland. This took approx. 8 hours to make. Cost $20
Hanging Paper Mache mushrooms: I love paper clay. I created mushrooms out of aluminum foil and then covered them in paper clay. They took about 3 days to dry and then I painted them with acrylic paint. Once they dried I sealed them with acrylic spray. Cost $15. Time: These took about 16 hours total.
Fairy domes: Cost $10. I made these the same time as the lanterns. I used the same materials. The domes were from the Dollar Tree. Super easy to make once I learned how to apply the glitter.
Food signs: found branches, wood slices, moss and flowers. Cost $7. I only had to purchase the wood slices. I enjoyed searching for the perfect branches for the signs. I made 7 of these.
Hanging photo backdrop: From Amazon. Cost $20 ( I plan to use this for a possible art show in the future.) The backdrop was a hit. Everyone was taking selfies and loved it.
Tablecloths: 2Fairy vinyl tablecloths from Oriental Trading. $10 (I wanted something that could be tossed )
We did use fine china and silverware. It costs less but you do have dishes to clean up...I am fine with dishes to wash.
Flying fairy wishes: We all loved the flying fairy wishes. We tried to light them in the tent but it was too windy............so inside in the kitchen it worked. We were all clapping and laughing when the wishes flew. Absolutely purchase these. Cost $15
My garage has a few saved pieces of wood from previous projects..........which was perfect for fairy doors and a sign post.
My sister made us outdoor mushrooms out of plastic bowls, felt and paper towel tubes. The cardboard tubes were spray painted white and she used E6000 to attach the bowls. White felt was glittered and attached to the bowls. Cost ($7)
Ooh, the tent, side panels, tables and sheers are from my art studio.
With any outdoor event, you have to be flexible. Originally the weather was forecasted to be on the cooler side: however, the day of it was blazing hot. I planned to have the food outside with a beautiful table set..... but with the temperature being so dam hot.... I left the food, plates and glasses inside and served buffet style. We had to carry our plates and drinks outside. I did make sure to have the air conditioner running inside the house so guests could go in if they were too hot outside.
I had some oops moments.....but I rolled with it. And despite the warm air it was a beautiful day and everything was naturally gorgeous.
Enough play time (maybe not?) it is time for me to get back into my messy studio, clean it up and start painting. Instagram viewers probably think I gave up on my art career....never LOL.
Happy Spring (or Summer if you are in New Orleans)
Christin
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