Party Theme: Tinkerbell and Fairy Friends

I love having a little girl and planning fun, frilly parties. When my daughter was three-years old, everything revolved around Tinkerbell. It only made sense to plan her birthday party around that theme. We tend to have two parties, one for the family, and one for friends. Ideas for both parties have been combined here.

There are many invitations available with Fairies and Tinkerbell on them. We made it easy on ourselves and chose one of those pre-made invitations. Inside of each invitation we included a little packet of glitter that was labeled "Pixie Dust."

Check out Zazzle for some cute Fairy Party invitations.

For the friends party we focused on child-friendly finger food. Grapes, strawberries, and apple slices were available for grazing during the party games. An assortment of sandwiches were made and made festive by using a large star shaped cookie cutter. Instead of having one big birthday cake, I made cupcakes. The cupcakes were displayed on a Wilton Tinkerbell Cupcake display. The children decorated their own cupcakes using tubs of icing, lots of sugary sprinkles, and some M&M minis. Many of the decorations never even made it to the cupcake. The children had a great time and the parents enjoyed watching them.

For the family party, I went with the store bought cake that had a Tinkerbell picture on it. The cupcakes were brought out again for the cousins to enjoy.

Our main activity was playing a life-size version of Candyland with a Fairy theme, instead of candy. The "game board" was made by laying down sheets of colored construction paper throughout the dining room. Game cards were made with sheets of colored construction paper cut in half. Instead of specialty spots with candy names, the specialty spots gave the girls a chance to pick up a piece of a fairy costume. Wings, wands, tiaras, and pixie dust helped complete the look. I was able to find these items at Dollar Tree, which was really money-saving. The girls would pick a "card" and move to that colored spot on the "game board." Each girl "won" the game when she had collected all the parts of her costume. the girls then kept the costume for their party favor.

Of course there was a lot of flittering and fluttering as the girls played "Fairies" with their costumes.

The cupcake decorating mentioned above kept the girls entertained for another 10-15 minutes.

We have a family tradition for opening gifts. Each gift giver comes up and sits beside the birthday child when their gift is being opened. This makes the giver feel special, and the birthday child can show their appreciation immediately to the giver. We take a picture of each gift giver with the birthday child, and send a copy of the picture with the thank-you cards. We do this with family and friends, and it has helped our children learn not to take receiving gifts for granted.

For thank you cards, we send photo cards. I like to include a collection of pictures from the day. I order extra prints of each guest to include in the thank-you. Recently I have also been creating photo books of the day for my children to remember the event. There are many places that provide these services at an affordable price.