A Fairy Tea Party

This year Elina's 4th birthday party was a fairy tea party and it was so much fun! Lots of prep work, but lots of fun.

She invited 4 friends (A, E, G, and L) and everyone came dressed up. As the girls arrived we took pictures while they still looked "fresh." It was a good thing because as the party progressed, A was gradually taking off more and more of her jewelry (it's tough work being fancy!).

The girls loved running through our streamer doorway--it was almost like they would burst onto the scene. We had no idea it would be such a big hit when we did it!

First the girls decorated little wands with glitter glue and sequins. Being 3 and 4 years old, they used WAY too much glitter glue and the wands didn't dry in time for them to use them during the party. But what else did I expect? During this time I also got each of the girls' handprints for a keepsake. After the craft, the girls ate lunch. We poured them pink tea (pink lemonade) and served them peanut butter sandwiches, fruit, and cheese. We served them all in cute shapes or pretty patterns. Each time we brought out a platter, the girls would all gasp and look at each other in disbelief. During lunch, the girls just sat there, chatted, and laughed. We couldn't believe how well-behaved they were. They each took turns saying funny words and then all the other girls would laugh loudly. Elina would just toss her head all the way back while she laughed. They were all so cute. They would've spent the entire party sitting there and chatting if we had let them. Then at the end of the meal, all the girls brought their plates to us to help clean up. What polite girls!

Then we played Pin the Fairy on the Flower. I tried to guide the girls' hands, but sometimes it was a lost cause. If the girls didn't get their fairy in the "fairy zone" they got to get back in line to take another turn. Everyone got a prize--a Tinkerbell stamp on their hands and a pair of fairy wings.
Then we played our second game, Hot Teapot (just like Hot Potato, but with a teapot). This was the funniest part of the party. We played it in reverse, so that if you were caught with the teapot, you were out of the game, but you won a prize (Tinkerbell fruit snacks). We played Tinkerbell music and started the game. G was the first out and ate her fruit snacks on the sofa, while she watched the girls play. All the girls saw how yummy the fruit snacks looked, so all of a sudden they wanted to be caught with the teapot. At one point, E just held onto the teapot and didn't pass it on, in hopes that the music would stop. The girls started passing the teapot slower and slower...and they would all eye J (she was in charge of the music) to see when she would press the button to stop the music. In the end, L and Elina both had their hands on the teapot (in the process of handing it from/to one another) when the music stopped, so it ended well because they both got out at the same time. In this video, it's only L and Elina left. I just love the way they pass it to each other. Since it's only the 2 of them, the teapot gets passed quickly...but every time they take the teapot, they bring it close to their body for a quick second. It's so cute!


Then it was cake time. The girls sang "Happy Birthday" loudly and then devoured their cakes. They also drank more pink tea from actual teacups this time. They were really careful and didn't spill any of the tea.


Then it was time to open up gifts. Elina sat in her special birthday chair and we put an empty chair next to her. She would pick a gift and whoever gave her that gift would sit next to her in the empty chair. They loved this because they would help Elina open the gift and explain stuff to her about the gift. In the video, you can see that L is VERY hands-on during the gift-opening process. Elina said that it was ok because L was just "trying to help." Awwwww, what great friends. Elina got great princess and fairy gifts from her friends. Afterwards, Elina gave each girl a hug and then they all wanted to do group hugs. Awwww.