Cassie Turns Four: Enchanted FOUR-est Party

This was another last minute party but surprisingly it didn’t stress me out as much as I thought it would. The reason why it became “last-minute” was because Cassie wanted to take part in the party planning this year, she’s FOUR now and of course she wants to have a say in EVERYTHING. So originally she wanted a Unicorn Party and then considered an LOL Party and then a Frozen Party and then we went to the Minnetrista Fairies, Sprites and Light event and that did it for her, we were doing a Fairy Party. Oh and I decided to put my foot down that’s how we finally agreed with the theme, but she was a bit concerned that some of her boy guests wouldn’t come because it was “too girly” so we called it an Enchanted FOUR-est party instead of a fairy party which gave us more wiggle room to include some woodland creatures.

Fairy Invite Template from Zazzle
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The outside set up for the kids

The Set Up

I moved Cassie’s teepee outside and layered some cheap rugs from Five Below to cushion the area. I also draped a floral leaf garland that I found on clearance at Joann Fabrics to match the floral centerpieces on the table which by the way we found at our local Goodwill for $2.99 per arrangement. How lucky were we when we found 4 pieces of those a day or two before her party.

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Those tables were stacked up wooden pallets that I found on FB marketplace and we got it for $3/ piece, there were 8 pieces in this set up. We were so lucky too coz he was the only one selling a ton of similar sized wooden pallets within our area.

I totally forgot about covering the pallets until I finished arranging them (didn’t want the kids to accidentally get splinters), then I realized I didn’t have any table cloth or just any cloth long enough to cover the whole thing. So I rummaged through ,my linen closet and found some quilts we weren’t using at that time, its crazy how you find the most random things at home just when you need them. The pillows were obviously from the living room and I just threw them in there to complete the look,  I would’ve added more if I had more lying around, haha.

The fairy wings from the Dollar Tree made the perfect backdrop and it was so accessible for the kids to grab whichever color they liked (also to take home)

The pop up white canopy tent we purchased from Amazon. Click here for the link.

Made some floral head dresses for the girls and found some Animal Headbands from Dollar Tree for the boys. It’s been ages since I’ve made headdresses so I tweaked them a bit and used floral wire which wasn’t the best move since it made them flimsy but at the same time I didn’t want them to be too stiff and too hard around the girls’ head so I went with it. Here’s my original DIY tutorial from 6 years ago.

Imagine this set up without the greenery, that was what it looked like 30 minutes before the party. I totally forgot about the backdrop and thought it would look fine with just the balloon but it looked so bare. I went to the backyard and started scouring the area for overgrown plants that would go well with the theme, I literally cut the overgrown branches and just taped them on the wall and voila! I couldn’t believe the final touch to Cassie’s dessert table was just sitting in our backyard, and it was FREE too.

The real live flowers on the cake complemented the greenery backdrop I made

Marco loves the red velvet cupcakes the best, I think next time we should try ordering a red velvet cake.

This has got to be one of our favorites from Chef Maggie of Simply Patisserie. A lot of people loved the cake, some loved the cupcakes best and of course the kids thought the cookies were the best. They all agreed though that these goodies were pinterest worthy, the best part is the taste lives up to its looks.

DIY Loot Bags:

Brown Paper Sandwich bags, scissors, artificial flowers, woodland creatures printable, Roll of Jute twine, hole puncher, paper doilies and Thank You tag printable

Best part is you can find all of these at your local dollar store unless of course they’re out of stock (except for the printable)


I had two sets of loot bags ready for the guests, I had some floral ones (in the back) and some woodland creatures up in the front to distinguish which ones were for the girls and which ones were for the boys.

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The ‘Thank You’ cards I found  online from Blooming Homestead and printed last minute, of course it took time to cut them, punch holes and tie them onto the loot bags but I finished just around the same time the first guest walked in, talk about a buzzer beater.

I set up an arts and crafts section on the side where they could paint their own fairy houses or design their own fairy wands

We were so worried about the weather but God kept his promise and made it a perfect day—not too hot, not too windy, not too sunny, not too cloudy…just right!

I wish I took more pictures of the kids in the bouncy house because the kids literally had so much fun with it. A special shout out to Boogie Bounce, LLC , for coming all the way from Indy if I’m not mistaken and for giving us a very reasonable rate, their service was 100% excellent. I was honestly surprised they didn’t charge me all those crazy add ons the bouncy house companies here in Muncie were charging me— like delivery fee (what for? we’re in the same city?), set-up fee ( I guess they expected us to blow that dang thing) and after office hours fee ( yeah, someone was charging us more if rental  went beyond 4 pm on a weekend). They (and I mean a dad and his daughter) came in early to set up the bouncy house, gave us the rules (pretty basic like no sharp objects in there, no wearing of shoes while bouncing inside), as soon as everything was up they left and they were nice enough to leave the bouncy house until morning the next day without additional charge.

Time to blow her candle!

She was sooo happy her classmates and her playdate buddies could come.

My last minute DIY fairy house piñata made out of recycled boxes, left over crepe paper roll, left over ribbons, left over artificial flowers and a whole lot of glue.

Our little guests sporting my hand made headdress.

Never complete without our silly faces family photo.

…And the Birthday Girl is out.

Little brother followed suit

Thanks to everyone who made Cassie’s special day extra special, thank you for coming to the party, for spending time with her and for celebrating out little girl. I also want to give thanks to our family and friends who couldn’t make it, thank you for your birthday greetings and your prayers, you made one little fairy girl extremely happy.

Happy Birthday Cass! Daddy, Mommy and Xavi love you so much, hope you had a blast!


Thanks for reading up guys!

~Rhea

Picture Day Outfit Ideas| Affordable Toddler Girl Outfits from WALMART

*DISCLOSURE:  This post is NOT in anyway sponsored by Walmart.

As most of you know, my little Cassie started “Big Girl” school this year and her schedule for class picture day caught me by surprise. Being a first time school mom, I was unaware that they did that in the early part of the school year, in fact they’re having photos done this week and so I thought it would be great to come up with affordable picture day outfit ideas for all moms out there who are on the same boat as I am.

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So I challenged myself to stick with clothes from Walmart just because its the nearest retail shop to our house, now this post is no way sponsored by them and I myself find the clothing items from Walmart as a hit or miss but I do know for a fact that they’re very affordable so I took up the challenge to look for cute stuff that were less than $15. If you’re a mom looking for last minute ideas, here are some outfits that won’t break the bank, links to the outfits should be on the said items below.

OUTFIT #1:

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(HEADBAND: Amazon/ TOP & SUSPENDER SKIRT: 2 piece outfit, Wonder Nation from Walmart, $12.44 / SOCKS: Amazon/ SHOES: The Humble Soles)

 

OUTFIT #2:

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(HEADBAND: Amazon / DRESS: Short sleeve collar dress, Wonder Nation from Walmart, $7.88 / SHOES: white, Children’s Place)

Take note that this dress would be a great dress if you’re child wants to go as Wednesday Addams for Halloween and I just thought that you’d want to know that it also comes in the color Navy Blue.

 

OUTFIT #3:

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(SWEATSHIRT: floral long sleeve, Garanimals from Walmart, $4.88/ PANTS: military green, Garanimals from Walmart, $4.88/ SHOES: purple pink jelly Mary Janes, Wonder Nation, $3 on clearance; now $1.50 online, cheaper than what I bought it for)

The link I attached for the outfit was for a set, you get the pink leggings with it but you actually have the option of buying them separate which I did so I could opt for the green ones.

 

OUTFIT #4:

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(DRESS: Long sleeve ruffle, Wonder Nation from Walmart, $8.62/ SHOES: black ballet flats, Wonder Nation, $1 on clearance/ BOW: Handmade)

This dress also comes in a white and blue stripe one for a more nautical vibe.

 

OUTFIT #5:

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( TOP & SUSPENDER SKIRT: 2 piece outfit, Wonder Nation from Walmart, $12.44 / LEGGINGS: mustard / Old Navy/ SHOES: Cat and Jack)

And that’s it —5 outfits (mostly) straight out of Walmart and by the way my daughter didn’t mind wearing any single one of these outfits. I just got a note from the teacher saying that if we wanted them to wear something more fancy for picture day, we can send clothes with them and they would help the kids change back when they’re done taking pictures. Seriously, who has time for that? These clothes are cute yet comfortable, our daughters can wear them the entire day.

Hope this post helped, Happy School Picture Day!

~Rhea