April 2009

Cicely Mary Barker.

How to Host a Flower Fairy Tea Party.

United States of America: Frederick Warne and Company, 2005.

I really love How to Host a Flower Fairy Tea Party! Not only is it a visually enchanting book, but it also makes for a super pre-party present for the birthday girl to be.

This whimsical party guide is almost written as a letter to the birthday girl herself, instructing her on how to throw the best flower fairy party ever.

Each page of this thorough party guide is full of delightful Cicely Mary Barker illustrations to captivate the imaginations of both the party planner and her mother.

From the butterfly invitations, to the very simple recipes for a magical Flower Fairy Feast, from venue decoration tips to crafty party activities, How to Host a Flower Fairy Tea Party covers all the essential aspects of planning a perfect fairy party. After a collection of delightful party game suggestions, the guide even includes some essential party planning checklists and time management tools. The activities and suggestions in this guide are more than ample to entertain a small to medium sized group of young sprites.

But, what I really loved most about How to Host a Flower Fairy Party, was not the Flower Fairy's Guide to Good Manners, or the instructions for a special Fairy Keepsake Party Reminder, it wasn't even the little "hand written" reminders from the Flower Fairies to the party planner; what I really loved was the bonus paper-doll-style pop-outs found in the center of the book. This value-added extra provides the party planner with sufficient invitations, name places and fairy table decor for a party of four celebrating sprites, including a stand-alone Flower Fairy Feast menu. (For parties of more than four fairies, these pop-outs should be colour copied and duplicated to supply an adequate number of invites and place names.)

All in all, How to Host A Flower Fairy Tea Party is an absolutely stunning party planning book. I'd suggest that any little fairy princess from the age of five and up will get the most value out of this book. But, that said, any smaller fairy's mum will get loads of fairy inspiration from the pages of this book.

Happy Parties!
*SHELLY SHINDIG*
Resident Bookworm

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