The Fairy Farewell Party

Well Friday was Bree’ s last day of school in New Zealand and to make goodbye a little easier we decided to have a special party for her. Down the road from our flat is a fairy shop and they have a special room used for parties. You can book a fairy, princess, mermaid or butterfly party and they will supply a hostess, all the costumes, light refreshments and food, games, and prize bags at the end of the party. Bree has walked by this shop on her way to school every day and has always wanted to go to a fairy party so it seemed an easy choice. I was happy because I wouldn’t have to have eight screaming 6 year olds in my small flat.

We had the party on Saturday afternoon and Bree was only allowed to invite 7 other girls. This was hard for her as she would have liked to invite more but she stuck to inviting her friends from level 2 at school. On Saturday Bree woke up at 6 am running around yelling “it’s my fairy party today, it’s my fairy party today”. However, the party was not until 2 pm so I had 8 hours to keep her occupied – not an easy job. We made several crafts for all the other girls and Bree took the toys that she had gotten in New Zealand and picked out one special toy for each girl. I was amazed at her willingness to do this. She even gave her large doll “Agatha” away and that doll is very special to her.

The party was wonderful and I love that I didn’t have to do anything but I did stick around to take photos. The girls all got to pick their fairy outfits when they arrived and once suitably dressed the fairy hostess had them play some games. Then it was a fairy tea complete with fairy cake and lemonade. I also brought a small going away cake and the girls had that. Then it was fairy dancing – I tell you these 6 year olds are pretty energetic! At the end of the hour and half party all the girls received a small gift bag and Bree brought in her gifts and gave a toy to each girl.

I was a little sad watching Bree with all her new friends and knowing this would be the last time she saw most of them. Bree was fine though and kids seem to live in the moment – not thinking ahead to next week, next month. Once we leave Palmerston next week we will be travelling and I think the excitement of seeing new things will help with the saying goodbye. Also Bree knows she is going home to Canada soon and she is very excited to see all her friends at home. As hard as saying goodbye is, I think the experience over here has been wonderful for Bree and making new friends is probably much easier at 6 than at 16.