Sherwood Forest jubilee

Barclay* and his best friend from school Finn* happen to have birthdays the same week. Finn requested a woodland birthday ages and ages ago, and his genius mother reserved a wonderful group campsite at Black Mountain in the San Bernardino Forest Sherwood Forest for the festivities for both boys, who turned six.

The weather was perfect all weekend—high 60s during the day and only 47 at night. Perfect sleeping weather, even for Starboy!

It was a Robin Hood birthday party. 

The kids sewed their own hats. And later made their own paper crowns.

Finn's dad dressed as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and offered archery training, after showing the kids how to make their own bows and arrows (the dads were all really into this). The archery lesson was totally slapstick, in the style of maybe the Three Stooges, or Oliver Hardy. The kids loved it.

Then he kidnapped the two birthday boys and tied them up and fell asleep. The boys escaped and the Band of Merry Men stole the sheriff's gold and made away for their lair in the hills.

Starboy loved being a forestman.

Even Techman wore his hat all day.

One of the more interesting gifts, in my opinion, was this great book. Lots of great ideas and easy-to-understand illustrations. However, these were given nary a glance, in favor of two Hot Wheels-style motorcycles, which were so popular they had to be disappeared until the trip home.

It was great family time and a great weekend. Love!

*Nearly everyone gets a code name here, to help with privacy.

Ready for Sherwood Forest

With his fairy adventures behind him, and now attuned to the "themed" blockbuster birthday party, Starboy suited up as a forestman for a Robin Hood themed birthday campout at San Bernardino Forest's Black Mountain Sherwood Forest last weekend.

Thinking that a great costume might be a giant step ahead for Halloween in a few weeks, I decided to go for it and do the whole shebang—hat, tunic, cape, details. Truth be told, I also was inspired by Jim at Sweet Juniper, in my hometown, but he's a tough act to follow.

I haven't sewn from a store-bought pattern since seventh grade home ec. But how hard could it be? I used McCall's 2854.

Fairy Party—gnome hats

Thinking that some of the kids might want to be a gnome instead of a fairy, I thought I should whip up some gnome hats before the party, so everyone could feel included. I think I got two yards of red eco felt at 40-50% off, so the cost for about a dozen hats was something like eight bucks.

These hats were a little different from the Red Gnome hats I made this time last year. Those were secure, and very German, but since they covered the ears it was sort of a weird experience wearing them. Not great for a party.

I used the dimensions on Tradewind Tiaras for a traditional cone hat, and they worked great. I added about an inch to them for the kids with bigger heads (I made only two of these, and that was plenty. They would have fit some adults as well.) I sewed the seam on the machine then turned them inside out. Didn't take long at all.

I also used her trick of a flower hair clip as a decoration on the hat—thank you, 99-cent Only store.

Of course, the option of a hat meant that some kids wanted to be both a gnome and a fairy. I expected that.

What I didn't expect was that some kids wanted to decorate the hats! It just goes to show: where there is a glue gun and pieces of faux nature, there will be endless creativity.

Hey. She's a kid at heart.

It occurred to me that I didn't really have to go to the trouble of the flower fairies and the gardens at all. I should have just offered the hat project! Sometimes "keeping it simple" is a "hindsight is 20/20" situation for me.

Fairy Party—reading tent

I fell smitten with the lovely play tents that are all over the blogs these days, and decided that a tent would be a nice respite from party revelry. There were flower fairies hanging inside, and fairy stories.

I used this pattern from Namesake Design, and it could hardly have been easier. The fabric is two vintage sheets from Etsy, which is the key to quick assembly—only four seams! Add a hula hoop, a large ribbon, and some type of decor, and the whole thing was done in under 90 minutes.

Um, except for the photography, which was completely overlooked. Blogger fail. Maybe if you squint you can see this beautiful thing in the background.

The sides could have been staked out a bit, and it was quite warm inside. It also could have used a lot more pillows to sit on. So it didn't get much action. The parents all thought it was a 1920s fairy changing booth. I used a child's hula hoop from the dollar store—a larger one might make for a more spacious tent. Stay tuned. I still can upgrade.

If you can make one out of playsilks, or can afford something like the Sarah's Silks Canopy, that might end up being more versatile. But this one sure came together quickly.

Fairy Party—treats

 See those big, open spots that would have been perfect for quiche?

I'd hoped to do more with my serving table, but with painters pushing up to the last minute and another freakish heat wave, it was not to be. I'd planned on spending bits of the whole week planning, arranging, setting up...but instead I got the second half of the day before the party (after we attended another great birthday party) and up through the night.

Thank God for Venus, who not only helped with the centerpieces—twice—but also stayed late that Saturday night to help me set everything up and make some key decisions. And she loaned us a table.

The lemonade was delicious. I hit about seven different thrift stores to collect punch cups, to avoid throwing away a lot of paper cups. We used some paper cups for coffee. A couple of days before the party I froze lemonade into ice cubes so that the melting ice wouldn't dilute the drinks. It worked great, though it was strong enough I'd suggest having at least 1/4 of your ice be regular ice.

I have a carrot muffin recipe that really is unfrosted cupcakes in disguise. They held up well in the heat and disappeared quickly. Well. Except for the big second container that I forgot to put out.

The infamous challah-hogs. Now that I've made them twice, I can safely recommend that you use some other bread recipe for hedgehogs. The challah doesn't stand up. Though the kids loved the flavor.

"Cloud cookies" from Trader Joe's. Starboy claimed he ate "one" of these, but Techman thinks the number was more like 21. Except for lemonade, I think this was the only thing he ate all day, which made bedtime really fun.

Ladybug apples. I loved this idea, which I saw online. It may have fared better with a pre-test on the chocolate. I melted some dark chocolate in a double boiler with some milk, but as you can see it didn't flow so smoothly through the squeeze bottle. I should have just used frosting.

I put the Thumbstumbler to work making ladybug apples. Because she loves crafting so much. Thankfully, she came an hour early to help out, and finished off the apples, which I really wanted on the table. Lifesaver!!

Wouldn't these have looked cute on the table? Yeah. Too much work. And the nice mozzarella sticks I got wouldn't stand up. Bail, bail, bail. I offered the cheese sticks, but at the last minute (around the time I realized I'd forgotten to serve the quiche, after a lot of people had left), and I had to leave them in the cooler lest they sag in the heat. So...suffice it to say that the week following the party was a heavy cheesestick week for Starboy. Ah well, another time.

Fairy Party—fairy gardens!

This wasn't his first rodeo.

 It's like you could buy it in a store. Maybe they can put him through college, selling these.

One of the activities at the fairy party was, of course, making fairy gardens. I'd asked each guest to bring a planter filled with dirt, and any extras they wanted to include, but I got worried that some people would forget, or be overwhelmed, so I ended up thrifting a dozen planters and baskets and filling them with dirt in advance. (Thanks Shelley!*)

All of this launched from The Magic Onions' contest last spring, and Donni has some fantastic ideas for gardens, with links to tons more gardens made by kids and adults.

Thrift store fairy peeking out. Is that a birthday gift for Starboy?

Fairy Party--activities

 Fairies, fairies, fairies! We had flower fairies from clothes pegs as a parent-n-me activity...

Flower fairies from pipe cleaners...

Fairy dress-up, gnome hats and a fairy reading tent behind the flower fairy station...I can't remember if I brought out the fairy rubber stamps as well.

Fairy gardening...

But my favorite was the fairy house scavenger hunt. There were four houses and two gnomes hidden around the yard, each with treasures the fairies and gnomes offered the children. The guests were allowed to take one treasure from each place (a bit of a learning curve on this with a few of the three year olds).

They were all finds from Rite Aid's dollar section earlier this summer, roughly 30 gems for a buck. Total score.

Gem sentry.

Fairy Party—dècor

Yesterday you saw closeups of the fairy centerpieces, today you can see the rest of the dècor. 

I wanted to create a fairy wonderland, like Trés Juliee did at her daughter's fairy party a few years ago. It was the spirit I wanted to duplicate—especially since the magical Trio Events helped her get her Fairy Spirit on. Trying to replicate the look created by two fantastic events companies wouldn't be practical, so I was happy to come close, while missing a few of the fussy details.

Nearly everything was purchased on sale, at a thrift store, or made at home.

I collected more inspiration on a Pinterest board here. And here.

Fairy Party—centerpieces

 Remember these lovely fairy lands that Venus and her kids helped us create?

 All that work, to be ready in advance?

Well, these beautiful planters died. After weeks of near 100˚ temps, while we were out of the house when it was being painted, and no water—well....they couldn't be expected to thrive. Had I known the house painting was going to be a six week process and not a two week process, I wouldn't have made these so far in advance.

So, frantically, the day before the party, we rebuilt them. It probably added another $20-30 to the cost, with the replacement of some baby's tears and sedum. The larger plants all were succulents clipped from the yard, and they survived just fine.

 We re-arranged the fairies' front yards...

 Re-grouped the pots...

Added new details. These pots, and the white ones, were bought on mega sale at Joann. The others were Goodwill finds. The textural balls were on über-sale at Joann as well. Remember my inspiration from a few years back? I'm delighted that the effect was the same.

More ideas are gathered here and here.

The effect was lovely, and simple. I hope to keep them alive around the yard, but these 100˚ days are making that challenging. We loaned them to some friends for James'* age three birthday party, we'll see how they fared.

*To help with privacy, nearly everyone gets a code name.

Fairy Party—What I forgot

Mmmmmm....breakfast.....

So remember that long quiche night I wrote about, prepping for the party in advance? Luckily I'd left those four quiches in the freezer, since the party had to be pushed back. And I specially moved them to the fridge two days before the party to make sure they were thawed in advance.

Where I left them, until halfway through the party, when most people had gone home, their children shaking from carb overload and lack of protein. Along with the two new ones I'd made because I was worried I wouldn't have enough.

Awesome. Quiche, anyone?

Speaking of serving stuff late, I ran out of time to frost the cake(s) before people arrived. I kept thinking I should ask someone to help me out, but I kept forgetting. It was hot. There were flies. People seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Finally my mother-in-law arrived, and she is a trained cake froster. Really. She's taken classes in how to make perfect flowers and everything. I'm sure there's a more appropriate title, but she's basically a super genius of cakes. She got us set up. And arranged for Starboy to have a lot of spoons to lick.

This recipe from Bon Appetit was delicious, but the layers slid apart as fast as the highway on Portuguese Bend during the cutting. The hot weather didn't help.

I'd made two cakes to make sure there was enough for everyone, but since I set it out so late, lots of people had gone home already. So we didn't even cut into the second cake.

 The next day, at a normal temperature, the cake behaved normally. And it was delicious for breakfast.