Hello, welcome to our magical winter fairy birthday party wonderland! We’re so happy you’re here to celebrate Caroline’s second birthday. Our theme this time is winter fairies, who like the ice, snow, cold weather animals and of course, pine cones:

Fancy Chalkboard

Fairy house and magic tree

Welcome to my cottage, friends!

Caroline’s yearly books, from her first day til this month

Don’t forget proper fairy attire:

Wings, headbands & antlers!

I spy some fairies!

Please have some food:

Thumbprint cookies (so, so, so good. Insanely good. You won’t believe it good.)

Candy Cane Chex Mix, Caramel/Chocolate/Candy Appples

Sparkling Brie Bites (these are now a tradition, since we had them last year too)

Gum drop fudge (I used those sparkly gummy fruit wedges – DELICIOUS)

My mom made her traditional Christmas coffee cake

Coconut snowballs, Pita Trees

Pancake tree-tower, dusted with powdered sugar and surrounded by extra sparkling cranberries (I used the store brand complete mix, which was surprisingly good!)

Caprese Pops (pin link, original pin goes nowhere)

Reindeer Cookies –  E said these are his new favorite Christmas cookie

Cucumber sandwiches – ALWAYS a hit

Pinecone cheeseball – I ignored the recipe and mixed 1 block cream cheese with a tub of Rondele herb cheese and added a little dill and garlic powder. Then I ate ALL the leftovers for dinner.

Snowman marshmallow pops

Microwave popcorn in paper cones I made with scrapbook paper and a hole punch

Olive wreath – This was the only thing that was TOTALLY gone at the end

Fruit tree – thanks to my mom for doing all the work on this

Cupcakes – white box cake mix with homemade frosting (1 stick butter, 1 block cream cheese, 1 2 lb bag of powdered sugar, the end)

Sparkly polar bears! Reindeer! Narwhals!!

Extra cupcakes

I forgot to take a picture of the buttermints, but they get 5 stars definitely will make again

Help yourself to a drink:

Homemade gingerbread donuts on “milk bottles” (actually those store-bought frappuchinos) (idea from here)

On the hot cocoa bar: candy cane dippers, peppermint sticks, mini M&M’s, mint marshmallows, regular marshmallows, whipped cream, 2 kind of creamer, whipped cream vodka (THIS IS A THING), peppermint schnapps, Bailey’s, sugar sprinkles, milk hot chocolate, dark hot chocolate, coffee, hot cider.

Decorate a tree to take home (or eat right now because they’re delicious):

Caroline really enjoyed this part of the party

MESS.

Don’t forget your party favors:

Red & white glitter play dough in mini mason jars with printable tags

Magic wands I made from dowels, tiny eye hooks, ribbon and jingle bells (I totally forgot to give them out!)

Foam ornament decorating

The birthday girl had a wonderful time (even though her brother blew out her candles):

Thank you friends for coming!

I actually missed photographing a lot of details and people because I was too buy enjoying my own party (for once!) Despite a lot of things not going as planned – Caroline refused to wear EITHER of the “princess dresses” I planned for her, misplacing her beautiful hair bow (not that she’d wear that either), forgetting to give the kids their magic wands, not getting many photos in the photo booth – I think everyone had a really good time and that’s what is really important at a 2 year old’s birthday.

Sites and Sources:

My Pinterest Board

Tips for writing on chalkboards (dipping the chalk in water worked REALLY well)
I made the chalkboards using garage sale frames, spray paint (silver and chalkboard colored) and a piece of particle board
Wings are from both a local bargain store and The Hair Bow Company
Headbands and antlers from Oriental Trading
Tissue paper snowflakes from Oriental Trading
Branches, crystals, ice cubes, paper stars from Save on Crafts
I made the tent with Ikea curtains and an embroidery hoop (tutorial here)
Balloons from Oriental Trading
The Fairy House is a the Discovery Kid’s Playhouse I bought on clearance after last Christmas for $10
Mini light strings, paper gingerbread house, red lanterns, various other Christmas decor from Ikea
Hot cocoa k-cups purchased at Bed Bath & Beyond
Deer cupcake toppers, cupcake wrappers, paper straws, sprinkles from Bake It Pretty
Super awesome tree stump stands were made by my dad
Winter animal cupcake toppers were custom made by PaperPartyParade
All banners, signs and labels were made by me using cardstock, my printer & free fonts found online

Pretty much everything else is from Target or Michael’s

That was really fun but I am SO glad it’s over and I can concentrate on wrapping Christmas gifts and not baking for 12 hours a day. I think my theme for next year is just going to be “Milk & Cookies” and I’ll spread out all the cookie-making over a month so my feet don’t feel like they’re going to fall off from standing in front of the stove. Mmm…cookies.

p.s. I forgot to include the beautiful invitations my friend Denae designed for me! She did Evan’s dino invites too & is so talented.