A Pixie Birthday Party

My little girl V is turning one on the 13th of this month.  It's so hard to believe that she's been with us a year while at the same time it feels like she's aways been with us.  At the end of last month we used part of Mr. Viever's paternity leave to travel to see friends and family and at that time through her birthday party celebrating her first year among our family members in Arizona at my in law's home.  We did the same for S when he turned one and it was so nice spending time with family and being with those who loved us most to celebrate the life of our child so we had to do it again for V.

V is a bit on the small side and I call her a little pixie, so a party theme was born! Now some random background, I'm not a fan of Tinkerbell.  Just plain don't care for her, her sass, or the fact that Pixie Hollow took over what used to be Ariel's Grotto at Disneyland- I know I'm a bit of a freak but Ariel's my favorite!  So when I was on my search for decorations, I wanted fairies but not of the Disney sort.  I found the perfect little cupcake toppers and matching garland on Amazon and suddenly two days before we were to leave for Boston for a week, (we're a little on the nutty side and planned travel to Boston for a week, one day at home, then drive to AZ for the weekend of party fun and a relay triathlon) I was struck with a NEED to make V a party dress to match the fairy decor.





I used Zafarani's Saffron Twirl dress (It's still on sale price for $5, go get it now!) as my base for the dress knowing that it would make the perfect party dress and that with a small adjustment to the back button band I could create some awesome removable wings.  So I ran off to JoAnn's during  naptime and bought fabric and all I needed to make wings-- that's right make the wings, never mind the fact that I ordered wings as party favors already.... crazy lady right here.

During her second nap, I used these tutorials (no sew wings and these gorgeous textured wings which when I have the time I want to fully do justice) as  guides to make my own wings. I didn't quite follow either exactly as I knew I wanted the center piece to attach to the dress as in the second tutorial but I didn't have the time to do the layers or the wire shaping of the second tutorial.  I did do some sewing for my wings as I used one set of panty hose and did the bottom portions of the wings separate from the top requiring a seam as I wanted more shaping than the first tutorial did.  Also to attach the pantyhose to the center I also hand stitched the panty hose in place there then used felt with my glue gun to cover up the wire and any panty hose ends that were sticking out.  I also used a glitter glue stick in my glue gun to add some texture to the wings before spraying it down with fabric glitter paint.  Thankfully I remembered to throw the dress fabric into the washing machine at this point otherwise sewing when the kids went to bed would have been postponed, whew!

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Now to the dress.  I changed up a few things.  I added an additional skirt layer of a shimmery/glittery tulle material to mimic the look of the fairy dresses in the decoration pieces.  I also made it so that the button band was removable (rather than sewing in the band as instructed I made the whole dress and then did two button holes on the dress and attached two buttons on either side of the band) so I could use a band without snaps for the wings on days we didn't want the fairy look.  The outfit was done with one day to spare for packing for our whirlwind adventure.

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The food.  I knew I was going to need to pick something that would appeal to the toddler crowd and the great-grandparent crowd while also being easy to prepare.  So we went with the theme of brunch finger foods.  We made apple pie dip and cinnamon chips, bacon corn muffins, set out the fixings for fruit parfaits; bought a few different sweet dessert type breads (banana nut, pumpkin strudel, and pound cake), mini cinnamon rolls, BBQ wings, and a veggie tray; catered a few subs and our favorite slushy drinks Eegees (local to Tucson, if you are ever in the area you HAVE to try some my favorite combo is lemon strawberry and favorite flavor of the month cherry cider, and get some fries and ranch too, yum).  My in laws made a mu shu pork dish for lettuce wraps and my husband's grandmother made sausage/potato/gravy burrito wraps.  All in all the food was GOOD and best of all we didn't run out of anything.  My in laws actually informed us this last weekend that they were still eating down the leftovers a full week post party.



Lastly I made fruity cupcakes (used 1 banana and subbed the second for 3 medium strawberries and substituted the honey for maple syrup) topped with a little whipped cream sweetened with a little maple syrup.  Birthday girl was very happy with her first tastes of cake.  Kids and adults alike also got to have mini ice cream cups served with their cake though the birthday girl missed out on them (mean mama I know.)

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Party ended post cake when the birthday girl declared (loudy) that it was naptime.  Our littlest guests left donning Peter Pan hats or fairy wings while our grown up guests were invited to TAKE FOOD HOME!  All in all it was a wonderful family gathering and a lovely celebration for  our girl's first year of life.

-- Viever