Katie's enchanted forest fairy second birthday tea party and picnic

For my daughter's second birthday we were very creative in order to keep everyone safe.

I was inspired by the Japanese tradition of hanami or flower viewing picnics and parties. It worked out perfectly for covid restrictions. Each household had their own blanket and picnic basket. No shared dishes, no masks off around others.

Because each family needed their own everything, we had to but a lot of stuff. To avoid having 10 picnic baskets or cake servers or teapots, i sent them home with the families. Because I'm extra as hell, we personalized tons of stuff.

Families arrived to a glam picnic by a koi pond in the park. My husband shortened the legs on IKEA Lack tables ($10 ea, cheaper than the cheapest plastic breakfast trays i could find) which made them the perfect height. I rounded up all the decorator pillows in my house and bought more also from Ikea. (3.99-6.99 ea). I found Japanese three tier picnic bento boxes at Daiso online for $6 ea. I filled the tiers with tea sandwiches, a cheese and charcuterie plate, and a fruit plate. The boxes were wrapped in a traditional Japanese furoshiki which we made from an IKEA duvet cover and printed with iron on images of our daughter. The families also had cold beer, water, juice boxes and sparking drinks. We ate and socialized for a while. At each blanket each child recieved fairy wings, a wand, a floral crown, and a dancers ribbon. my husband and i made the crowns and wands. We used grapevine wire, Crystal beads, and artificial flower and butterfly picks from Micheal's, Daiso, dollar general, and Amazon. I wanted to incorporate Spanish moss, but it looked awful lol.

The ribbons and wands kept the kids running around and exploring the forest.

After a while i served the tea. each family recieved a tea party kit. I bought teapots at Daiso for $3 each, and cup and saucer sets at IKEA for $4 each. My husband and I used Waterslide decals to create Katie teasets for each family. We printed illustrations of LA flowers by a local artist on one side of the cups and an image of our daughter on the other and on the teapots and saucers. We used the same images to print special jars of a berry blend tea and included fairy sugar (sprinkles) and unicorn fairy sugar (colored sugar cubes). I need a tea concentrate and had a thermal dispenser of hot water so everyone got a pot of hot delicious tea.

I ordered slices of Swedish Princess Cake. The kids were guided to a fairy tea. In a wooded area i hung up mosquito nets and lace curtains, and butterfly printed sheers, and hung twenty faceted crystals from bright satin ribbon in the trees. I set a low table with tiered servers of fancy sweet treats and a giant punchbowl of butterfly pea flower tea. I made toadstool chairs out of IKEA wastebaskets ($2. EA) cardboard circles, polyfill,, and the world's cheapest red barstool covers. I was very pleased with the table. My daughter sat at a butterfly throne. We painted a kids plastic adirondack chair gold and attached vines and flowers and a pair of gold faceted wings. I was very pleased with how that came out.

The kids sang happy birthday at the table, then rejoined their families to eat cake. After that, they ran around some more until it was time to go home.

• What People Ate

  Cucumber tea sandwiches, Japanese fruit Sandos butterfly shaped PBJs, avocado sandwiches, Egg salad on croissants, ham and swiss cheese sandwiches, a selection of cheeses and meats, nuts, crackers, grapes, olives, honeycomb, dates and spreads. Watermelon, cucumber, mango, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple and Mandarin oranges.

• What People Drank

  berry compote tea, beer, fruit juice, color changing lemonade, water

• Desserts

  Swedish princess Cake, petit fours, meringues, macarons

• Party Favors

  Wands, wings, circlets, picnic sets, tea sets

• Activities / Games

  Forest exploration, hunt for fairy gardens, photos, flower viewing