Get all the details and ideas you need to throw a simple and creative fairy garden tea party for a birthday or other event. I give you the exact ideas I used, a supply list, and some spceific suggestions. A two-hour party chedule is also included!

This is the first year that Zoey was able to have her very own birthday party. 

With her birthday being just five days before William’s, we have done combined parties the previous two years. Now, with Zoey having her own school friends, she was very excited to have a “girl” party with her classmates. 

I gave Zoey a few ideas for party theme options and she chose a combination of all three. Naturally she would since she loves just about everything. 

Except bacon. She really doesn’t like bacon. 

Not going to lie, I took her party theme choices and ran with it. 

Through lots of Pinterest, brainstorming, and combining what Zoey loves with my teacher-trained structure, this simple and creative fairy garden tea party came together in a few weeks.

I am detailing all of the party below so that if I have ever had to throw one for Hazel, I have a quick look back and if you want to throw your own, you have a comprehensive reference.

This post contains affiliate links.

Fairy Garden Tea Party Schedule

It is definitely the teacher in me (combined with keeping my own three tiny humans happy and busy) that likes to have a schedule when faced with a group of kids. 

Having a schedule for this simple and creative fairy garden tea party meant a few things: 

1. We would be able to get to every activity. Since Zoey wanted to have a tea party and build a fairy house, I wanted to be sure we made it to each. I added in water games because it is my default summer party plan and I wanted some more active games for the kids after they sat doing their fairy gardens.  

2. No kids would be feeling left out. Though most of the girls invited were from Zoey’s kindergarten class, we had a few outliers. Keeping everyone on a structured activity helps alleviate some kids not being included. These girls were all so sweet, but general grouping off just happens when kids (and adults) get in large groups. 

3. It would keep a structure to the party. Have you seen a group of 15 kids have unstructured time together? Things can get a bit crazy. Having a schedule of activities keeps it all more orderly and doesn’t give room for much mischief.

The party was scheduled from 10:30-12:30. This is the schedule I had planned* with more details on each item below: 

10:30-10:40 – Arrival and Dress Up

10:40-10:50 – Fairy Garden Scavenger Hunt

10:50-11:20 – Building Fairy Gardens

11:20-11:50 – Water Games 

11:50-12:15 – Tea Party 

12:15-12:30 – Fairy Bingo

*We ended up off schedule as the Fairy Garden Scavenger Hunt and Fairy Garden Building took everyone longer than I thought. They were so serious about it! We also did not have time for Fairy Bingo as we were just bringing out cupcakes at 12:20.

Arrival and Dress Up

We planned 10 minutes for everyone to arrive. This gave the girls time to greet each other and parents time to get the lay of the land. 

With this being our first hosted drop off party, I wanted to have a chance to say hello to parents and make sure they felt comfortable and we could exchange phone numbers if needed before leaving. 

As the girls arrived, they got to choose a set of fairy wings and a flower crown to put on. They were so excited to have a set of wings and proceeded to fly around the yard in a pack flapping their arms and pretending they were flying.

Arrival took about 15 minutes while everyone got settled in.

I debated about getting each girl a full dress up of skirt, wands, rings, bracelets, and necklaces to complete the fairy look and give a nod to how much Zoey likes to dress up, but it would have been too many moving parts and little items to lose. The wings and crowns were plenty to make some happy little ladies.

Fairy Garden Scavenger Hunt 

I spent quite a bit of time gathering items for the fairy gardens before the party. With 15 gardens to make, I didn’t want to go over budget, but I also wanted items that the kids could be creative with. 

After spending way too long in the dollar store and then an afternoon with Zoey and William helping count and sort packs of gems and beads, we had 12 items for the girls to find.

Before the hunt, each guest wrote their name on their own bucket, was given a scavenger hunt sheet, and a crayon. I explained how they had to find all their items for their gardens to create this beautiful space for the fairies, and off they went in a flurry of sparkly wings. 

The girls were so meticulous about finding everything on their list! Many of them wanted to find the items in order, which resulted in multiple loops around the house. There was teamwork, there were questions, and there was a group hunt for the bin of leaves that was hidden in the leaves.

Building Fairy Gardens 

Once the majority of the guests had found the majority of the items on their lists, everyone gathered at the table to get to work building their fairy gardens.

Each place had a 12 inch saucer, a fairy house (they are actual bird houses, but it worked perfectly), a three color paint pot, paint brush, and a bag of playdoh.

The girls were so creative! Between the painting, Play-Doh, and stringing beads, these little ladies spent over 30 minutes building their gardens. It was so special to see how each of their minds worked on how to assemble all their items into their gardens. There was much discussion and much pride on what they all put together. 

I purposely chose three specific things to include in these fairy gardens to have this craft portion of the party keep their attention longer: 

1. Paint. I do not enjoy paint with kids because it is such a mess and so much clean up. Zoey and I put three color paint pots together before the party, so everyone had the same (and minimal) choices. 

2. Beading garlands. The girls had to find a pack of beads and two pipe cleaners. I showed them how they could string the beads on the pipe cleaners, stick their dowels in playdough bases on their saucers, and tie the pipe cleaners to it to make a beaded garland to go across the top of their houses.

3. Play-Doh. For items to stick to the base of the fairy gardens, I wanted to avoid a bunch of glue and tape. Instead, I went with Play-Doh. Each kid had their own bag of playdoh to put on the base in any way they chose. This was the first time I made Play-Doh at home. It is so easy and such good quality!

Items the guests could use to make their gardens. All of these items were part of the scavenger hunt.

• 1 bag of gem stones – Each bag had 10 stones 
• 1 wood curl 
• 1 glitter pond – I cut out little cardboard ponds and glued glitter to them ahead of time.
• 2 popsicle sticks 
• 2 sparkle strips – This was a sparkly ribbon cut into strips. 
• 2 pipe cleaners 
• 1 bag of beads – There were 30 beads in each bag. 
• 4 flowers – These were bunches of fake flowers I cut up from the dollar store.
• 1 animal sticker 
• 4 heart stickers 
• 2 wood sticks – Dowels cut in half. 
• 2 leaves – Also from the fake flowers.

Other fairy garden items that you could use include: 

• Bark 
• Moss 
• Birds
• Glass 
• Butterflies 
• Rocks 
• Pinecones 
• Keys 
• Thimbles 
• Buttons
• Moss
• Little pots

Water Games 

Once the girls were mostly finished with their fairy gardens (some of them wanted to spend much more time working), we switched over to some water games. After 30 minutes of sitting, the guests were ready to move. 

Rob and I had brainstormed a few water games for the girls to play that would not put teams against each other, did not involve just pegging each other with water balloons or wet sponges, and would keep the illusion of the “fairy-ness” going.

Game 1: Erase the Spider

Rob drew spiders with chalk on plastic bags that were taped to some folding signs (perks of being a real estate agent). The guests were tasked with erasing the spider using water balloons to protect their fairy gardens. 

They were so into this! Most of the six year old girls I know love to be in an imagination world, and this was just perfect for them. 

Pro Tip: Only bring out one bunch of water balloons at a time. This will help lengthen the amount of time they get to play and prevent all the balloons from being gone in approximately 10 seconds.

Game 2: Fill the Honey Jar

Another imaginative game, each guest had a sponge and a red plastic cup with a line on it. Guests had to soak their sponge, run to the other side and squeeze the water into their cup (or put the honey into the jar). The first one who filled their cup to the line got to do a victory dance that everyone else had to copy. 

With 15 cups lined up, things got a bit confusing here at times, but everyone was giggling and working hard to load their cups.

Game 3: Save The Raindrops 

Drill 2-3 holes in the bottom of enough red plastic cups for each guest. Filling the cup with water from a larger bucket, guests then had to put the cup on their head and run over to a bucket and dump the remaining water in without removing the cup from their head.  

To keep the fairy illusion, we dubbed this game, “Save The Raindrops”. This game definitely had the most laughter by far as the girls were getting soaked while their cups leaked over them as they ran.

Tea Party Lunch

Zoey is very into all things fancy right now. She loves Fancy Nancy, loves dressing up, loves having fancy food, and loves talking fancy. (She also loves to be messy and dirty.)

As such, the tea party lunch was designed with fancy in mind. Each guest got their very own china tea cup (which doubled as a party favor), we served tea sandwiches on fancy plates, and poured pink lemonade, “tea”, out of a real teapot. 

Zoey absolutely adored it. There were audible gasps from the girls when they saw their teacups and a second wave of shock at the bright pink drink.

The guests all sat to eat for a solid 20 minutes. The tea was flowing, the fruit was devoured, and the strawberry cream cheese sandwiches went missing first. 

What We Served For the Fairy Garden Tea Party

• Fruit cups – grapes, strawberries, blackberries 
• Madeleines 
• Mini blueberry scones 
• Strawberry funfetti cupcakes with purple frosting and sprinkles
• Peanut butter and nutella sandwiches cut into triangles
• Strawberry cream cheese sandwiches cut into rectangles
• Pesto, tomato, and cheese sandwiches cut into rectangles 
• 8 ounce water bottles – We kept these in a cooler nearby, so as the guests got thirsty, they could just grab one.

Other Food Ideas

• Butterfly shape cheese and crackers 
• Mini pretzels, or “twigs” 
• Cucumbers and tomatoes on a stick 
• Peppers and carrots in a cup
• Cream cheese and jelly sandwiches 
• Strawberry cream cheese and banana slices sandwiches 
• Mozzarella and tomato sandwiches
• Egg salad sandwiches 
• Cucumber sandwiches
• Hummus and shredded carrot sandwiches

Parent Pick Up & Fairy Bingo

Following suit with the kind of teacher I was, I over planned for this party. 

As a backup, I had this printable Once Upon A Time Bingo game at the ready. The idea was we could play it after tea and while we waited for parent pick up. We didn’t need it as we were barely serving birthday cupcakes with five minutes to go.

While the girls waited for their parents, I pulled out some more water balloons, sponges, and let them run about together to play. 

Zoey was pretty tired by this point and was having a little rest until the umbrella. She really wanted to open her presents as this was the first time we allowed guests to bring them. Understandably, she was very excited to see what her thoughtful friends brought.

Fairy Garden Tea Party Goodie Bag 

With the guests making their own fairy gardens, having a bucket of unused scavenger hunt supplies, and their very own china tea cup to take home, I opted not to do an official goodie bag. The kids were already pretty loaded with items! 

However, before I made the choice to skip the goodie bag, I had these items on my list: 

• Pixie sticks 
• Bubble wands 
• Woodland pencils
• Chapstick 
• A fairy figurine 
• Bracelet

Fairy Garden Tea Party Supply List

My nervous organization kicked in in preparation for this party. I had each section of the fairy garden tea party divided into bins, so as things arrived in the mail or I picked them up at the store, I could just put them in the proper bin. It made finding everything on the day super easy! 

Arrival 

• Fairy wings 
• Flower crowns 

Scavenger Hunt 

• Buckets – These were 2 for $1 at a the dollar store 
• Sharpies 
• Tulle ribbon
• Ribbon 
• Scavenger Hunt cards 
• Crayons 
• Containers to hold the items to find

Fairy Gardens

• Paper towels 
• Little cups for water
• Paint brushes 
• Paint pots – I got these and cut them in half, so 3 colors per child
• Paint – 3 colors of washable paint 
• Fairy houses – These were $1 each at Michael’s
• 12 inch plastic saucers 
• Wipes 
• Sharpies – For writing names 
• Placemats 
• Play Doh – I sorted the 4 colors into baggies for each child. 
• Fairy garden items – You can use what you like. I had: gems, wood curls, glitter ponds, popsicle sticks, sparkle ribbon strips, pipe cleaners, beads, fake flowers, animal stickers, sticker hearts, wood dowels, and fake leaves.

Water Games 

• Water balloons 
• Plastic bags 
• Chalk 
• Sponges 
• 1 small cup (8-12 ounce) per guest 
• 1 large cup (16-24 ounce) per guest
• Large buckets for water 
• A drill – To put holes in the cups ahead of time
• Optional: Towels for guests to use

Tea 

• Food based on your chosen menu items 
• Tablecloth 
• Plates – I ended up using our everyday kid plates instead of plastic. Easy to put in the dishwasher! 
• Napkins – This is optional. I bought some, but we didn’t actually use them. 
• Silicone cupcake holders or small cups for fruit
• Teapot 
• Tea cups – Check your local thrift store for china cups, or go with this non-breakable option for younger guests.
• Serving plates or trays

More Fairy Graden Tea Party Activity Ideas

As I was researching for this party – thank you Pinterest! – I kept a running list of activity ideas.

While I ultimately picked what was best for my group, there are some other really sweet ideas you could incorporate.

Pick your activities based on your age group and the attention span of your guests.

• Decorate your own teacup 
• Make your own wand
• Free the Fairies – Freeze fairy figurines in balloon ice balls before the event. During the party, guests have to chisel, melt, and attempt to free their figurine from the ice. 
• Relay / Obstacle Course – Jump between lily pads (use these dot markers), blow bubbles, fill a cup with “bees” (beans), and crawl through a log (kid tunnel). 
• Group Games – These could have a fairy twist to them. Musical chairs could be musical toadstools. Freeze tag could be save the fairies. 
• Tea cup stacking
• Freeze Dance / Fairy Dance Party
• Anything with bubbles

This simple and creative fairy garden tea party ended up being so much fun and quite magical for these little guests. I loved that I was able to keep everyone busy playing, designing, hunting, and eating for the two hours they were with us to celebrate our Zoey. By the end, no one seemed to want to leave, which is always my goal for a good event. 

If you throw a fairy garden tea party, make sure you tell me all about it! I would love to hear how you put it together to work for you.