Last year, when Fiona started loving all things Tinkerbell, I knew that would be the theme for her 3rd birthday. The next thing I did was make no-sew tutus (yes, sometimes it is best to work backwards!) That was a fun, creative project to get the juices flowing (just some satin ribbon and strips of tulle, lots of knots and a few hours from nothing to really cute skirts). Next came the blog searches...hwtm is my favorite, but there were so many other great creative ideas out there it was fun to pick and choose game, menu and decor items from.
I had to keep my eyes peeled all year for thematic elements so I could get the big ticket items on sale or buy them a little at a time. Even expensive parties aren't that bad if you spread them over several months! I found felt crowns in the dollar spot at Target and Dollar Tree had different colored fairy wings and matching slippers. I got Tinkerbell body glitter at Walmart so the girls could have pixie dust on their cheeks.
I couldn't decide for the longest time what kind of favors to do...I knew I didn't want to just give out the little plastic toys that are so easy to find. The price adds up and you end up with a bunch of little junk that you know ends up breaking immediately or heading straight to the trash. I also didn't want to just fill bags with sweets. I ended up finding little books from Walmart.com. They had tons of different Tinkerbell themed activity/sticker type books that would be super-fun and weren't pricey. I had to get all different ones since I was buying way ahead and didn't know how many guests would end up coming...I knew it would suck to end up with 3 of the same coloring book if that many guests couldn't make it. I HIGHLY recommend that tactic since it really pays off. I meant for the favor bags to be a little fairy floss (cotton candy), a few pixie sticks, some stickers and the activity books...which I did do, but then in a later shopping trip I found a craft kit of Tinkerbell candy necklaces on clearance and then the Dollar Tree had these super-cute Disney Fairies hair accessory kits so those ended up in the pile too.
With all that loot, what oh what would the favor bags be?? At this point I was almost going to have to use recycled plastic grocery bags! But no! I remembered I had bought a package of plain canvas totes from Oriental Trading some years ago & still had them somewhere...and then BAM!! The most brilliant thought came...I could have that be an activity for the moms during the party. They could decorate the plain tote into a little 'purse' for their girls which would double as the favor bags. Awesome!
By this time things were really coming together...a mommy/daughter fairy party. Next I had to come up with the menu...tea party style? Of course...it had to be that! I could do all kinds of little sandwiches and pretty punches and lovely little tea cakes...eeerrrrchhh. Wait. Fiona doesn't really like sandwiches...and I think one of the girls might have a peanut allergy so no little pbj triangles. Hmmm, what can I serve? Well, Fi loves chicken nuggets and she likes anything that involves dip...OK, Neverland nuggets it is. Then we had Iridessa's rainbow fruit salad, Rosetta's garden veggies (tiny carrot & celery sticks) with dip (ranch dressing), Pirates booty (you know, like the neverland pirates!) Silvermist spring water (little water bottles with diy printed labels), Pixie Punch (pink lemonade). For the moms, we were slightly more sophisticated with our Tinkerbell Tea Party favorites...curried chicken salad on mini-croissants, little ham & provolone on ciabatta paninis, open faced cucumber on baguette sandwiches; lemon-pistachio scones with lemon curd & fresh whipped cream, our pixie punch was a cranberry-lime spritzer and we had orange & almond infused white hot chocolate (thank you Gale Gand!)...for the 'tea' part of the tea party. 
I had several sweets to choose from too...fairy cakes (mini cupcakes), cherry-rhubarb hand pies, Pims, spring oreos, rainbow vanilla mini-meringues and homemade colorful sugar cookie sandwiches (shaped like little buttons and served from a jar!)
Finally, I had to decorate...this is tricky because it's 2 weeks before Christmas so I needed to try to blend the party decorations with my Christmas decorations...tricky, but very successful. I went with a kind of enchanted winter garden. The living room has my most 'serious' tree...It's a peacock theme to go with the existing bird theme of the room and the blue & green existing color theme. This is also the room where the girls would get 'glammed up' in their fairy outfits & glitter cheeks. Next I hung a pretty variety of snowflakes from the ceiling along the hallway. I have a little trio of lighted trees in the hall with a few snowflakes on them.
The dining room was next and that is where the moms would be for craft and lunch. I wanted to go all out in there so I draped sheer fabric & curtains over our tall bookcases to have them blend into the back ground. White, sparkly tinsel garland hung along the top edges and I hung large clear plastic snowflakes on the walls between the bookcases & ceiling. A large white wreath rests on the top of the sideboard hutch. I placed a nice white damask table cloth covered with a Tinkerbell-green organza cover on the table. On top of that was another green plastic table cover to protect the cloth during the craft time. I decorated our 7' slim white tree with silver, hot pink & turquoise blue. I had 3' pink tree in a corner decorated with lavender & tinker-bell green and a 4' feather tree on a plant stand decorated with our wedding ornaments.
The family room had pink and green streamers twisted & hanging from the ceiling fan to corresponding points of the room, I unrolled 'turf' colored table covers onto the floor and put Fiona's little tables & chairs for the girls to have their lunch there and be able to watch the 'Pixie Hollow Games' that I saved on our DVR. 
The food was spread out in the breakfast nook where I reversed the sliding door curtains (so the white lining was facing in), I hung pink tulle from the curtain rod & large fairy wings were pinned to the curtain liner. Little wired butterflies were stuck into the tulle and I hung a little flower fairy garland across the whole width of the doorway. Food was displayed on silver charger plates that looked similar to 'gears', giant thimbles (waste baskets covered in silver cake board liner paper), and a 3-tier glass tray.
My husband took individual pictures of the girls & a group shot. He later printed off a picture of each girl which I gave to the moms...each with their choice of a glittery picture frame (a craft I did last month using plain white frames, glitter, tissue paper & mod podge!).
I had Sam (Fiona's nanny) show the girls a Flower Fairy pop-up book so they could try to find the fairies hiding on each page, while I got the moms set up with their craft. Meanwhile, my sister & I finished getting the lunch items set out.
Right before lunch I had the girls play 'pin the bug on the flower'. OK, so this was less successful since it is not an easy task to wrangle 5 3-year olds into taking turns, being spun around or keeping their eyes closed (are you kidding me? I knew there was NOOOO way I would get them blind-folded!)...but it took up some time so I guess there's that.After lunch we opened presents, then gave the girls a treat (a fairy cake) & sent them outside to help Tinkerbell find some lost things...I attached little colored bells, big buttons & flowers to floral picks and along with some colorful feathers, hid them around the back yard. The girls had a blast running around out there and it helped get some of their wiggles out. Thank heavens the weather was nice because it would have been CRAZY if they didn't get some outside time.
While the girls were running around outside under the watchful eyes of my sister, Sam & my husband, I took the moms back in to fill up their tote bags with the favor goodies. The whole party from start to finish was under 2 hours which was just about the right amount of time. Everyone had a great time and I think Fiona will be talking about this for ages!
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