Once upon a fairy garden party

FLOWER GARLANDS, A GRAZING TABLE OF SWEET TREATS AND A RESIDENT UNICORN SET THE SCENE FOR A SPECIAL TEA PARTY.

Seed and Bow Flower Farm in Tauranga was the perfect location for Lucy Andrews’ fourth birthday party. The theme was ‘fairy garden’ with an emphasis on being eco-friendly and sustainable. We chatted to Lucy's mum, Jill, about her little girl’s enchanting day.

What sparked the idea for this theme?

Lucy loves fairies and flowers, exploring the garden, and having tea parties. While it’s tempting to use disposable products for children’s parties, we wanted to use real crockery and cutlery, giving the girls a ‘grown up' experience while not contributing to landfill. It meant a little extra washing up but it's worth it to reduce waste and keep New Zealand green. 

Tell us about the party…

We created a fairy tea party with a long table set up under a beautiful flower cloud garland beneath the trees. All the decorations were reusable or were locally sourced real flowers; we used a lot of David Austin roses, which are grown at Seed and Bow Flower Farm. For activities, the girls decorated a wooden letter (their first initial) with moss and dried flowers. A grazing table was the order of the day and the girls loved choosing what they liked and being able to go back for more when they wanted. The garden has its own horse corral and the girls had rides on a beautiful horse that was dressed as a unicorn. The cake was made locally (by Decadence), and I added some pressed flowers to tie in with the theme. For take-home gifts, each girl received a wild flower seed bomb (to create their own wildflower garden) and a fairy wand. We didn’t want to buy lots of plastic for our guests to take home, only for them to throw it in the bin in a few weeks’ time. 

Lucy and her friends enjoyed feeling like big girls sitting at the table by themselves, pouring drinks for each other and playing in the garden. Naturally, with so much garden to explore, towards the end of the party they were hunting for fairies and playing hide-and-seek!

Any tips for planning a 4th birthday party?  

We let the children eat as soon as they arrived and I think that helped them settle into the party and enjoy themselves. It’s still very difficult for four-year-olds to resist party food and wait until after the activities to eat!

What are your tips for planning an eco-friendly themed party?  

Buy plates, cups and teapots from an op-shop, they're cheaper and can be re-used. Try not to buy individually wrapped lollies and food – if you’re worried about cross-contamination, you can plate items individually. Try to use real flowers and foliage as decorations. You could always ask friends and family if you could use flowers and leaves from their gardens. 

SHOUT-OUT TO THE PARTY PEOPLE:
Venue: Seed and Bow Flower Farm, seedandbow.com. Venue hire included craft session, flower arrangements, 'unicorn' rides and take-home gifts of seed bombs and fairy wands. Cake: instagram.com/decadence_nz. Fairy doll from leblonddesign.co.nz; Moss from magicmoss.co.nz; Wooden letters from Spotlight; Cups and plates from Nana’s cupboard and second-hand stores.

Flower Press, $30, seedandbow.com; Rylee & Cru Sadie Dress – enchanted garden, $109, littletrooper.co.nz; Fairy Wand, $25, seedandbow.com; Decadence Cake, instagram.com/decadence_nz; Kmart Wooden Letters, $2 each, kmart.co.nz; Jamie Kay Organic Cotton Muslin Headband in gold, $10, jamiekay.co.nz; Wild Little Bunch Wildflower Seed Bombs, $19, seedandbow.com.