Hosting a child book party about fairies |For what it's worth

I just spent the best afternoon with my 8 year old grand and her friends (+little brother)! She and I decided several weeks ago to host a book club party for kids. It all started after our weekly trip to the library and a discussion about the books we had finished reading. I told her sometimes grown ups have book clubs and all choose the same book to read and then have parties to talk about them. That triggered her to ask if she could have a party. So naturally we began a search at the library for a book that her friends would enjoy. After we looked at a number of books she decided a book about fairies would be perfect. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and the stories are about fairies of the different seasons.

Fairy statue on table with Sunshine and Showers fairies book

Once we had decided on a book I thought using the actual book as the invitation might be fun too. It’s such a beautiful book with lots of illustrations. My next step was to search Amazon and order books for each of the guests. As soon as the books arrived in the mail we chose a date two days before they start back to school making it both a book party and an end of the summer get together. Together we hand wrote invitations and slipped them inside the book covers then drove to each guests house to hand deliver them. Needless to say, the girls were excited when we explained we would be having a party themed around the book.

fairy book open to show illustrations- crafted bird house- butterfly- paper doll fairies

We gathered fairy figurines and miniature furniture items to set up some little vignettes around the house then decorated the craft room and the dining room with a magical fairy theme. In the craft room I placed two long work tables so that all eight guests could sit together while they painted and decorated bird/fairy houses. I added ribbon streamers and lots of silk flowers down the table center. Each place had a small paper plate to hold paint, glitter pens, stickers, a bird house and other supplies. On each chair were fairy wings that delighted the girls. Oh, and little brother got dragon wings that he and I fashioned out of wire coat hangers and green tissue paper.

craft table set up for fairy house painting

They were quite creative adding glitter, stickers and flowers. When they were almost done with the little houses I handed out paper doll fairies that I printed on card stock and cut out ahead of time. I’m telling you these girls are a bunch of fashion designers. With very little guidance they cut silk flower petals and leaves into some darling dresses then glammed them up with glitter. Everything is twice as nice with glitter, right?

The girls really loved the painting and fashion designing, they were reluctant to leave the room for snack time! Amazing. When they did make it to the dining room they were excited to see more ribbons, butterflies and fairies dangling from the chandelier. They loved the fruit kabob bar where they speared their favorites to look a little like fairy wands then gathered around the table for watermelon slices and cupcakes.

I’m not sure they noticed the center piece was a figure of a fairy sitting on a pedestal reading a book but they did notice the big bright suckers and some cute slap bracelets. They chatted excitedly about the different fairies in the book while they dined. I also purchased a DVD about fairies but they were more interested in returning to the craft room and making more glittery creations so I went with it. One of the guests brought a big fairy book from her own book collection that I read to them while they continued to create. It was a fun book by the same author of the book I provided to them put together like a scrap book/journal of an artist that discovered real fairies in the garden.