Fairy Garden Party

Although planting season is long over (sorry it's taken me 2 months to post about this), I wanted to share images and ideas from my very fun and very successful Fairy Garden Party.



I've been wanting to have such a party since I saw an article about "fairy gardens" in Better Homes and Gardens. I cut the pages out of that June 2004 issue and tucked them away in my idea binder. I thought they were so cute and the perfect kid-friendly project. I finally got around to planning and executing a party this year.

My sister, mom and niece looking over the magazine pages.

It just so happens that one of the blogs I love and subscribe to, tiny happy, featured what Melissa called "flower-crowns" and I knew it would be perfect for my as yet unplanned fairy garden party. I bookmarked the blog post and tucked it away, much like I did with the magazine pages.



I took the spirit of the flower crown and made just some minor adjustments. Rather than sewing elastic to the back of the ribbon to make a head band, I left the ribbon long to tie at the back of the head. I kept each "crown" unique, using just one kind of silk flower for each. I made plenty so that my nieces would have fun choosing her favorite.


The secret to a proper fairy garden is choosing small plants and whimsical planters. I found most of the plants in the "walk on me" section at the nursery. Things like mosses, short grasses and tiny succulents work the best, as well as any diminutive flowers and low growing herbs.


I found all of the baskets and containers at Goodwill. It just so happened that I went in on a discount day, so I got all of the containers you see here for just over $6.


I decided to use our old TV trays for work tables. We used to use them all the time, but now they're relegated to the attic. They ended up being perfect for our party.


First the girls picked out their container of choice, then the filled them with potting soil.


I had a bunch of old aquarium stones in iridescent pastel shades that worked perfectly for secret paths and decorative elements. Here M is picking out just the right ones for her path.

She decided to do an entire road with the stones. Thank goodness I had a lot!

Lisa is helping C pick out just the right stones for her garden.

Putting on the finishing touches

K is all done with hers and watering it all in.

This is my mom's basket. Isn't it beautiful? She picked up small sticks from the yard (of which we always have many!) and was taking them home to make a small fence for her garden.


This one is mine. I have a short wandering path to the enchanted garden and the sticks in the back are the forbidden forest.


This is M's garden. (I'm not sure why I didn't get a better shot of it.) You can see that she made a little stone circle decoration with one in the center. A fairy stonehenge, perhaps?

Here is C's lovely garden.

This is K's. She spelled out "love" with her rocks. It's the image I'm currently using for the blog header. Utterly charming.


And this is Lisa's. Again, another beautiful, tiny garden, ready for its fairy inhabitants to arrive.


Although it's too late to have your own fairy garden party this year (if you live in the northern hemisphere, that is), there's always next spring. I can tell you that it is a lot of fun—for all ages.