Amelia wanted to have some kind of fairy party for her seventh birthday. If you've followed this blog much, you know that we spend a lot of time at Huntley Meadows. The girls love to find fairy houses in the tree trunks there and hide things in them. For a few years now I have envisioned a treasure hunt there and Amelia's party was finally the perfect opportunity. The planning and prep ended up being really simple. As much fun as it was to plan Elsa's camping birthday party, it was pretty time-consuming. For this party I was limited by the location...couldn't really go overboard with decorations since we would be hiking a mile on a public trail into the woods. I was excited to reuse some of the materials from Elsa's party—the burlap, the birthday banner, and a cake stand.
I made another screen and Amelia helped me print backpacks for the party goers to carry and use to collect their treasures.
A few of the treasures:
I had fun going to Huntley Meadows early on the morning of the party and hiding all of the treasures which I had wrapped in burlap. We had 10 treasures to find. Ben and I had fun staying up late the night before writing the clues (be assured they rhymed and were pretty awesome). We had walked the trail a few weeks before and decided on places to hide the treasures and drawn up a map. Amazingly, I was able to locate all of the spots again. I used little gnome and mushroom picks to mark the spot of the treasures to make them a bit easier to find.
The last clue led them to the birthday banner, a nice log to sit on, and mushroom cupcakes.
It ended up being a rainy day. We were disappointed at first, but it didn't rain much while we were hiking and the trees protected us from getting wet. The forest looked incredibly green and beautiful and the rain kept most people away so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. And it sure beat the 100 degree weather we experienced a few days later.
The kids spotted a frog here:
Oliver desperately wanted to get his hands on some of that red frosting:
The girls were troopers with all of the walking. On the way back we walked along the boardwalk and found lots of animals.
Amelia with her good friend from school, Rhiana, who just moved to India for a few years.
The prospect of opening up presents back at the car also helped motivate the girls to make the long walk back.
So absolutely cute! It looked so whimsical and lovely. You need to write a party book.
ReplyDeleteAmazing party as usual. Lizzie had so much fun and I have been anxiously awaiting the blog post so I could see pictures. I'm so impressed with all the cute details.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the most creative girly b-day parties I've seen! Wonderful style, planning and all of the little ladies look like they had a blast! I currently follow Kimi(california pixie)and that is how I found your blog. Thanks for sharing the wonderful post!
ReplyDeleteTutu
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Thanks! I'm glad you stopped by!
DeleteHi! I jumped over from Kimi's blog, too. :) What a beautiful forest, and great idea! Love woodland themes (had a woodland-themed baby showe last fall), and the forest hunt and adorable markers were perfect! It looks like it was a great time :)
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteHi! I found your blog as I'm thinking of hosting my daughters 5th fairy party at the same place! Your party looks AMAZING and I love your blog. I'm a bit worried about weather (party will be early Sept) and was thinking of combining the official park birthday party with guide with some sort of outside walk/hunt. Do you have any feedback after having a party there? I'm not even so sure the guide/party package is necessary but I want the 5 year olds to have fun! Thanks! Love your blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm glad you enjoy the blog. I didn't look into the official party there because I was trying to keep to a small budget, but it's probably a great way to go. Little prep on your part. The girls definitely loved running through the woods looking for the treasures. It was a little rainy but the tree cover kept us dry. I was a little worried about people messing with the treasures I had hidden since it is a public trail (I hid them a few hours before the party) but we did it on a weekday morning and there was hardly anybody there. A weekend might be more busy. The girls also loved looking for wildlife out on the boardwalk, which is probably what the guide does with them for the official party. Good luck with your party!
DeleteWe are having a woodland fairy party in a few weeks, and as searching for some ideas, I stumbled across this fantastic post. Our setting won't be as enchanting as yours, unfortunately, but hoping for some fun nonetheless. Can you share with me where you got the treasures (gnomes, mushrooms, etc.)?
ReplyDeletethanks!
Hi Amy, I found most of the little gnome and mushroom goodies online from Oriental Trading. Have fun with your party!
Deletethanks! I've been hosting fairy camps for my daughter and her friends every few months with different themes, and woodland fairies is the next. You can check out other camps we've had on my blog creatediscoverexperience.wordpress.com
DeleteCheers!
Bummer! I can't find the mushroom rings on the Oriental Trading site. They are so cute too! My daughter is having a woodland fairy party in October.
ReplyDeleteI landed at your blog when searching for fairy party scavenger hunt clue examples and was tickled to see that we've both done camping and fairy parties, both have Elsa's (my niece is Amelia) and my first pick had Elsa been a boy...Oliver! What are the chances? Looks like a beautiful party!!! Good job Mama!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! What fun coincidences!
DeleteWhere did you find those adorable wood looking mushrooms??
ReplyDelete