Olivia’s Pixie Hollow

Welcome to the land of fairytales! It’s finally here! I have been dying to share this party for almost a whole year! Last August we celebrated our little Olivia turning 4 with a Pixie Hollow party. If you know me then you know that fairies are my jam and anything enchanted is totally up my alley. Enchantment to me is like magic, it just makes everything special and that is what childhood should be all about, believing in that magic. So when it comes to my kids parties I try my hardest to bring as much enchantment as possible and this party was oozing magic. Definitely my most favorite party I’ve EVER done. I wanted Olivia to look back on this day and think…”That was the day I was a real life fairy.” Usually about a month before my kids birthdays I take their yearly milestone photos. I love to document how much they’ve grown in a year and it gives me another shoot to plan out and put my creativity to work. I blogged about Olivia’s 4th birthday Fairytale Session a few months back if you need a refresher and believe me you do because it all ties into this party. The quick run down of it though is we set out into the “Enchanted Fourest” in search of Fairies to invite to her party. After much searching we weren’t successful so we left a pint sized invitation for them in hopes they would find it and one might show up to her party. So here it is, a look into all the little details I poured my heart into for this party!
For the location I picked a big open field close to our house so I could run home quickly after set up to freshen up a bit. The party time was from 5-7 which my husband thought was nuts but since her birthday falls in the middle of summer it helped to have it later in the day plus I was totally hoping to catch some amazing light towards sunset. When the girls arrived they were able to pick from a collection of beautiful fairy dresses sent to me by Senang Kids to change into. Once everyone was changed they were able to enter the fairy garden through this amazing pint sized fairy door my husband and I designed. This was no small project figuring out how to make it freestanding and actually open plus make it safe for the kids to play with but in the end it was absolutely perfect and I love it so much!Once thru the door the girls gathered around the kids table for some treats & fairy berry punch. I made this amazing manzanita tree centerpiece. It ran the whole length of the table and featured 3 gold glitter speckled trees growing up from a bed of moss. All along the moss I set out little fairy playgrounds for the girls to play with. I cut out wood circles from thick plywood we had laying around and then covered them in a wood grain fabric for coasters. I used two different sizes of bamboo plates and glued the small one on top so it wouldn’t blow away in case it was windy. I trimmed the larger plate entirely with green moss and added some fun jewels, glitter butterfly cutouts and little mushroom toadstools I found in the Fairy section at Michael’s.  I had my husband make me two custom benches for seating. I painted some wood logs gold for the end supports and he trimmed out the seating part out of plywood and screwed it all together.  I set up a gathering spot for our little fairies to relax in with some coordinating blankets & pillows. It featured the little magic box & fairy friendship kit I made for Olivia’s Fairytale Session. Olivia was obsessed with Tinkerbell for quite some time so when she said she wanted a fairy party I knew she was referring to something along the lines of Tink. My style though isn’t really character parties so I just pulled different aspects from the movies she loved and incorporated them into the party so we were both happy. Like this Pixie Dust tree where all fairies gather to get their magic dust that makes them fly.  If you know anything about Tinkerbell then you know she collects lost things. So I too started collecting lost things for the girls to gather.  My mom made these adorable satin drawstring pouches for the girls to fill with their lost treasures.  A moonstone plays a major part in “Tinkerbell & The Lost Treasure” which Olivia has seen countless times. I found some little blue marbles to represent those along with a few other fun treasure the girls would love.
Bubbles are another one of her favorite things so they had to be incorporated. To make them more magical I found small glass jars at Hobby Lobby and filled them with bubble solution. Then added gold glitter so that when the bottle was shaken they would sparkle. After attempting to make my own bubble wands and not being happy with them I found these on Etsy and they were perfect.  Hung just above our gathering spot was this amazing chandelier.  The amount of moss I used for this party was astronomical! I took an old lampshade and covered it completely with moss then added some of those magical jewels.  Yogurt covered raisins are Olivia’s favorite snack! Now onto the dessert table. This was so much fun to design. I wanted it to look like a tiny little fairy village and all the treats incorporated to play a part. Fairy wand cake pops & other specialty desserts were made by Sweets by Gigi. Cake was made by Confection Deception. I knew I wanted to make it a major part of the display with moss all over it but didn’t want to add moss to a real cake so I opted for a fake one. Olivia’s only request for her birthday party this year so far was that there be a real cake. 🙂 I absolutely love it though and it still sits in my office just like this for me to admire every day! Check out this little ladder I made that I hope to never have to make another one again! Lollipops are from Sweet Carolines Confect. Jelly Bean river….yes please!! My favorite treat of all were these snail cake pops. So amazing!! I was running a bit behind schedule on my set up, it’s a lot for one person to do and go home in time to make yourself presentable for other people so I was a bit rushed when taking the photos. I didn’t get any good shots of the mini cookies but you can almost see how cute they were here. This year I definitely plan to enlist some help with set up. Enchanted Beans courtesy of Jelly Belly!  This right here makes it all worth while. This is what I’m talking about….that magic of childhood! The laughter…the innocence….totally carefree. Just dancing in the field with her bestest fairy friends and not a care in the world. If I could give her that every day I would!!  As the girls were dancing in the field there was a knock on the door and it just so happened to be a fairy that flew all the way in from Pixie Hollow a.k.a Once Upon A Time Character Company.  Olivia was quite happy to hear she found the invitation we left for them in the forest. She showed the girls her fairy pouch that held a special kind of pixie dust that when sprinkled on her head makes her grow much much bigger so she could come and play with all of them.   They read stories together….and had makeovers. Wasn’t that the most magical time?! The reason I waited so long to share this party was because I submitted it to Mingle Magazine and am happy to say it was picked up for publication in the summer issue that is on newsstands now! 6 whole pages dedicated to my little loves special day. You can pick up a copy here or at your local Barnes & Nobles.