We wanted to celebrate our youngest daughter’s 9th birthday and over the year we’ve cycled through different themed birthday parties: ice skating, gymnastics, art, tea parties, sports themes.  We were looking for something engaging and fun and a little different this year, something that wouldn’t break the bank and that could accommodate our daughter’s recent gluten free diet.

We came up with a great idea to host a Fairy Garden birthday party at our local garden center. Warm, inside, and surrounded by lovely flowers it almost made us forget the cold winter just outside!

At most garden centers and craft stores like Michael’s you’ll see the trend of children’s fairy garden items being sold in the do it yourself areas. You can buy or make items for a Fairy Garden. Last summer my younger daughter and I started a Fairy Garden on our deck and we had lots of fun.

The birthday party was set up when we arrived with small green bowls set up per invitee. We set up food on another nearby table and waited for the guests to arrive.

These small, imaginative gardens let you explore the fantasy of a little magic person living in the comfort of found objects. Acorn caps and Walnut shells become furniture or bowls, and a simple walk in the woods can be used to collect more natural items for the garden.

The birthday party host explained with an example how you build a fairy garden and she set up a table of “ingredients” from which each girl could create their own garden.

The girls spent and hour creating with the final touch being fairy dust gently sprinkled over their creation.

Everyone took home their garden and with only a $12 fee per person we ended paying less than a normal party and we could bring our own food and set it up the way we’d like.

Our daughter is on a gluten free diet so it gave us a great opportunity to share with her friends some great snacks and foods that taste great and are gluten free – including the birthday cake.

If you’re in the Vancouver, BC area looking for a place to host your Fairy Garden party we had a great experience at Gardenworks.  If you’re outside of Vancouver check your local garden center and ask!