I’m a little bit in shock. Somehow my beautiful teeny tiny baby girl is four next month. Four is officially a little girl and I will admit I’m a little bit scared. Being four means heading off to school and the end of our afternoons snuggling on the sofa or crafting in the kitchen. On a positive note being four also means I get to have fun with the birthday planning!
Over the past couple of years we have had lots of fun birthday party themes. We’d immersed ourselves so much in birthdays around the birthday season that we helped every old couple down the lane create their Best 50th Birthday Party Ideas.
Molly is definitely a girly girl. She adores the pink and the pretty. Most importantly she is obsessed with all things Disney Princess. They are her absolute favourite and she loves nothing better than watching a spot of Cinderella, Ariel or Belle. I have to admit I’ve rather enjoyed watching my Disney favourites again although they do loose their appeal after the 100th time!
The Theme
I know the obvious would be Disney princess and probably what Molly would love most but I wanted to try and keep it slightly more child like for one more year. Taffeta and Tiaras can wait. I am also mindful that a lot of her little friends are boys and therefore wouldn’t really appreciate this too much! I couldn’t deviate too far from the Disney theme though so am taking inspiration from another favourite of hers, Tinkerbell, and all the woodland beauty that entails. I’m thinking of mini toadstools, fairy wings and pixie dust. Molly would probably adore this Tinkerbell outfit too if I was going all out on the theme.
I always have grand plans of everything I would love to create for the party but in reality I normally run out of time and never manage it. As such I’m going to try and focus on a few key areas to work the theme in to and hopefully create a little bit of Pixie Hollow in my home.
The Decor
I am going to try and keep it simple with the decor. Being November I don’t think creating a mini woodland in the garden is going to work! It also means that guests are likely to be spread around every room and I don’t fancy decorating the whole house. I am therefore planning on creating a woodland inspired table where I can display the cake, snacks and general goodies. I would adore to create a little woodland glen with some pretty fabric hung from trees and piles or cushions but that will have to wait until the summer. Unless I manage to make one in the corner of the lounge!
We recently had some trees chopped down in the garden so I am planning on using some wood slices as platters for food. If I am feeling adventurous I may add a strip of fake moss down the middle as a table runner but it all likelihood it will just be green paper (you have to be realistic after all!).
I have seen some lovely leaf Garlands on etsy which would look really nice strung behind the table. We may do some home made versions with real leaves as Molly will love going out to find them for this. Ferns and florals definitely need to be featured and hopefully I can create some simple little jam jars full to adorn the table.
Finally there will of course be little tinkerbells and her fairy friends scattered about. I was planning on getting Molly these for her birthday so they will double up as table decorations dotted amongst the cakes and flowers.
The Food
As a cake baker you would think I would be creating some wondrous creation! I feel a lot of pressure to get the cake right when in reality the girls would probably prefer a good old chocolate caterpillar like we had as children! I am torn between going full on tinkerbell in pretty pastel shades or to create a more rustic woodland affair. This is definitely much more my style and I can envisage layers of cake piled with buttercream and adorned with fresh flowers, greenery and little animal figurines. Oh, and of course some Tinkerbell dolls! Little toadstool cupcakes will look super cute around the base and scattered over the table.
There are some really love snack ideas including strawberry toadstools, chipmunk banana chips and cucumber flowers. Those are the healthy options but there will definitely be some more sweets added in. I personally want a stack of Doughnuts as well!
The Crafts and Games
It wouldn’t be a party of mine without some element of crafting. I love it and seem to have passed this love on to Molly. I always try to have some fun element at her birthday whether it be cupcake decorating or making mermaid headdresses last year.
To fit with the fairy woodland theme I have a few ideas in mind. First up is some cute Tinkerbell cookie wands. Molly and I can prebake the cookies and then on the day the children can add icing and sprinkles to their hearts content. These sort of edible activities always seem to be a winner in my books!
Creating a little fairy house would be just perfect. I am planning on getting some cheap wooden bird boxes that that children can then paint and glitter to make their own fairy hideaway. I am also a little bit in love with the idea of creating fairy gardens. This is something I did lots as a child and hoping the girls love it as much as I did. We used to add stone paths and mini plants, little egg cups of water as ponds and mossy grass lawns. Just adorable.
It’s always nice to have some games to play as the kids get older. The classics such as musical bumps and pass the parcel are always a winner but I am planning a ‘lost things’ treasure hunt. For those of you that haven’t seen Tinkerbell, lost things are little treasures that wash up in Pixie Hollow from the mainland. I am going to hide little treasures and favourite objects such as toys and necklaces around the house and the children have to find them all to win a prize.
The Party Bags
Having been to a lot of parties I try to steer away from the traditional party bags full of plastic toys and sweets. I like to find something that the children can use again after. For the little girls I want to make these cute fairies in a jar you can see in the gallery below. I am saving jam jars which I will fill with moss and a little tinker bell toy.
I’m not sure the boys will necessarily appreciate a tinker bell doll but I adore the mini terrarium idea so may fill theirs with woodland creatures or provide them with a little bundle of stick crayons.
What party ideas have you had for your small children. I do love a party theme so please do share all. I just hope I don’t get a touch of the Green Eyed Monster and change my idea!!
Image credits: Dessert Table by Dulcet Creative | Deer Cake | Floral Cake | Shoes | Punch Bowl by Dulcet Creative | Crayons by Dulcet Creative | Fairy Houses |
Oh my goodness Lottie this is just magical!!! This is definitely one of the lovely things about being a parent and has made me SO excited for Elle’s birthday parties.
I absolutely love the cake with the twig garlands and pretty flowers…would be incredible for a wedding too. And I LOVE the fern decor obviously! 😉
The little girls attending the party will love those fairy jars, so much nicer than plastic tat!! x
I have a feeling it is a wedding cake Fern but I have to aim high with the cake! Yes, Ferns are rather lovely aren’t they!!!! x
Arghhhh I LOVE this theme!!!
I am pinning the whole thing and squirrelling it away for a couple of years…..infact I’m getting a bit excited already, which considering my little ones first party was only on Saturday, may be a little premature!
Ha ha! I definitely squirrel party ideas away for a whole year! Its just all so pretty x
Wow, I’m in love with all of these ideas. What a great idea a woodland theme is… I might copy this for my next party! My baby had his first birthday party at the weekend and we had a Peter Rabbit theme. I decorated one table which had the cake on (my mother in law did a spectacular job – check out my Instagram to see it – @minimaisonuk) and various decorations including a banner and a light box. I used Merimeri party bags and, like you, I prefer to put longer lasting things in them, so each child (mostly toddlers) received a Beatrix Potter book along with a balloon.
The food was done in the style of a garden with food on sticks sticking up from a popcorn grass, and was served directly to the table (also decorated with Peter Rabbit). They did cupcake decorating at the table (read: they shoved them in their little mouths faster than the wind!), leaving them with one of our Peter Rabbit cupcakes to take home. My mother in law had also made carrot cake cupcakes for the adults at the party to eat while supervising their little ones. All in all it was really successful. Roll on the next one… I love kids parties! x
Oh my gosh. This sounds immense!!! I love Peter Rabbit so that is just the cutest theme for a first birthday. And giving books is such a sweet idea. I’m going to take a peek at your instagram now! Woodland is definitely one that works well for kids parties and so many fun ideas you can do making it quite girly or really animal focussed xx
These ideas are all beautiful! I wonder if it’s socially acceptable to have a fairy themed party for my 31st?! We used to make mini fairy gardens when we were little too, and my mum used to leave trails for us to follow in the garden, a game which she called fairy footsteps. I hope you’ll share the details of the party on here afterwards as I’d love to see what you do x
Ah, thanks M-J. Mums are the best aren’t they. My mum used to write teeny tiny letters to us from the fairies. We have no idea how she made her writing so small. She had kept lots of them and the letters we had written and she gave them back to me on my wedding day. It was so sweet. I definitely think it would work for a 31st. The ferns and flowers are uber stylish if you mont the actual tinkerbell dolls! I shall hopefully be sharing the party (now there is no pressure to actually make it look like these pictures!!) xx
I’m trying my best not to go too Pinterest-potty for my baby Fern’s first birthday celebration but this feature isn’t helping! I was planning to do a very lite woodland theme with lots of Ferns and forest motifs featuring, and you’ve given me lots of ideas! Love the deer cake topper in particular. I think low-key subtlety just went out of the window!!
Ooops, sorry Philippa! I think you can do quite a cute pared back version though with just some lovely blooms, ferns and pretty cake. It’s the absolutely perfect theme for your little Fern though so has to be done really. xx
That cake!! It might be the most pretty thing in the world?!
Ahhh we did Woodland Fairies for Holly’s 5th birthday – very much one of my faves and I’ll definitely be repeating that one when Niema is a little older. Before we did the party we’d had a lovely family picnic, just the 4 of us, where we’d made a den under a tree with drapes to eat under and afterwards went to find fairies (they had written us a letter inviting us to come to their woods, of course) and I’d hidden little fairy dolls in mini sleeping bags and those gorgeous little schleich bears for Elijah to find. They were completely taken in by the magic – we even went dressed up… with face paints on (wow, I was a much more fun mummy than I am now!) I SO wanted to hold her party in the real woods after that but was far too scared of losing other people’s children… so had it at home instead but tried to keep the vibe. I did flower wands and bought loads of different colours of thin ribbon from ebay , which we used to dangle from the wands but the biggest hit was setting up a drape den in the garden and doing hair braiding with the same thin ribbon. I’m not good at those fancy ones they do on holidays but we did some good old boho stye plaits – super easy and they could choose 3 colours to plait into their hair… it was such a last minute after thought while setting up but the girls STILL talk about it 6 years later and ask to do it again!
Love love love the idea of serving the food on the wooden platters… and totally popping the fairy jars in my planning notebook. They’re just the most special little gift!
Oh my gosh Amanda. You are the party queen! I adore your idea of the pre party picnic inviting the birthday girl to the party. Molly would love that. I may be stealing an idea or two here! xx
Oh my goodness, Amanda that all sounds absolutely magical! You’re making me wish I had a girl to add to my brood… I’ll have to put my hat on as to how I can make this more unisex / boy-centric (I try not to be blue is for boys etc etc but I think I’d struggle to get my boys interested in fairies!). Love, love, love this though.
Perhaps you could do gnomes and elves Joanna? That could be lovely too! x
Oooh but bears and tigers… my boy loves the magical woodland too! We did the best ever camping party for the boy with dick whittington style party bags (red sacks on garden cane sticks) full of marbles and mini torches and trail mix… and made feather headdresses and a giant game of kerplunk with plastic chicken wire, garden cane and ball pool balls! Boy parties are definitely as fun to do… until they get to be nine and ask to do boring things like lazer-quest (which is fun but I don’t get to decorate that one myself)
Yep, you are definitely the party queen! Party planning goals right here! x