And, the tradition of taking birthday pictures on our front steps continues (to learn more about this tradition, click here).
This year, Grace wanted to have a fairy garden themed birthday party hence the 'have a Fairy happy birthday' front stairs. Another year, another memorable picture.
This year, instead of obsessing about the weather, worrying that if it rained, I'd be hosting 13 little girls in my house...we decided to have the party at a local nursery. Rain or shine, 13 little girls would celebrate Grace's birthday...not in my house!
You can take the party out of the girl's house but you can't take the planning out of the girl's heart. SO...even though the party wasn't at our house, I could not forget about all the little details that make a party special.
Centerpieces were all DIY and included some of our newly planted flowers. My husband teased me that I'm one of the only people that would bring my own flowers to a nursery.
Each plant had a bit of fairy whimsy (borrowed from Grace's own fairy gardens).
The tables were covered in vintage linens.
Pink stained glass butterflies (made by my father in law) completed each table setting.
Grace loves being the center of attention but is generally too quiet to actually command attention. Being that it was her birthday, it seemed only fitting that all attention should be on her. As a result, I decided to have all the girls play a 'how well do you know Grace' game.
The game included 20 questions like; What color is Grace's room? (yellow) What animal is on Grace's backpack? (peacock) What is Grace's favorite color? (mint green) What does Grace want to be when she grows up? (be a vet) What is Grace's favorite animal? (pig) What is the name of Grace's dog? (Riley)
The competitive nature came out in the girls, each one seriously contemplating their answers, wanting to prove they knew Grace the best.
Where I typically DIY all aspects of Grace's party, I couldn't resist ordering these edible butterflies.
These realistic butterflies were placed on top of each homemade cupcake.
The butterflies were almost too beautiful to eat.
Almost.
Other snacks included flower shaped watermelon. A nice balance to those sugary cupcakes.
When snacks were finished, the fairies stood in a row...
and they began to create their own fairy gardens.
The fairy gardens included a fairy, birdhouse, chair, 3 plants and a pebble road.
When the gardens were complete, I sprinkled fairy dust (aka glitter) into each little girls' palm. They each thought of a wish and then blew the fairy dust over their fairy gardens.
By the look on this little fairy's face, I'd say her wish came true.
My wish. Well, my wish is that this sweet little girl stay little for as long as possible. I don't want to blink and find that she's headed off to college.
In the end, I'm just happy because I do think she had a 'fairy' happy birthday.
