Amalia’s Fairyland Birthday

When you’re almost six years old, nothing in the world is as important as the plans for your 6^th birthday party.  Amalia had been planning her Fairyland Party all summer with her Mommy, who was busy researching and buying fairy-themed things on line and in nearby stores on Manhattan’s Upper East Side (especially Flying Tiger—a new store full of crazy stuff from Denmark.)

The invitations—found on Evite-- went out announcing “Once upon a time, Amalia turned six!”  But two days before the party, Amalia burst into tears because “This place doesn’t look like Fairyland!”

Yiayia arrived from Massachusetts,  Eleni started unpacking her purchases, and by the time eight of Amalia’s girlfriends and their parents and siblings were due to arrive on Sunday August 6^th, the apartment on the 14^th floor had turned into a magical place.

The hallway was lined with flowers and on the door was a poster welcoming all to “Amalia’s Fairy Party.”  (Eleni bought the poster on Etsy, downloaded it and had Kinko’s print it.)

 Inside there were fairy wings and a floral crown for everyone.  And face painting by Jennie

 Here’s Amalia in full regalia and face paint.

 A banner over the table read "I believe in unicorns”. 

On the table was a pyramid of cupcakes from “Two Little Red Hens” in the following flavors: carrot, (Amalia’s favorite), red velvet, chocolate with vanilla frosting, and vanilla with chocolate ganache. And every cupcake had a fairy on top.

As soon as the guests got their wings and crowns, they set to making crafty mosaics of castles.

Eleni had set up a photo booth where she took a Polaroid photo of each fairy to take home. 

There was also “Pin the Wand on the Fairy”, “Fairyland Bingo” and cookies that Amalia had made of fairies and unicorns, for the girls to decorate.   Farinella's delivered their Palam pizzas, which are rectangular and nearly as long as the dining room table.

The climax, of course, was when the candelabra of candles were lit, everyone sang “Happy Birthday”, and Amalia blew them out.

Afterwards, all the girls closed themselves into a bedroom and tore into the pile of wrapped gifts.

And a parting favor for each fairy was a necklace with a small crystal bottle of fairy dust hanging from it, which could be sprinkled wherever fairyland magic was needed.  The necklaces are in this photo, hanging from the “wings” hanger.

The Fairyland Party was enjoyed by all.  Amalia is already planning a Mermaid party for her seventh birthday.  Or maybe a Gymnastics party…

Amalia's Birthday Countdown

On Thursday night, Amalia and her family, including new little brother Nicolas, arrived at Yiayia and Papou's house in Grafton, MA to celebrate Amalia's 4th birthday (which is actually on August 26th.)  Amalia made sure to pack her special dress with a birthday cake on it.  She had asked for a birthday tiara with sparkling lights and a magic wand, which Yiayia managed to find.  Everything had to be in pink, Amalia's favorite color.  Here's Amalia re-discovering the toys she left in Grafton.

 

On Friday the decorations went up, the pool animals were inflated and Amalia decided to try out the pool along with her Mommy and little brother. 

 

Amalia showed everyone what she had learned during swimming lessons in Nicaragua in July.

 

We all got lunch from Bradish's down the road--including their famous fried onion rings and, because it was Friday, they had clam rolls as well.

That night we all ate ate Amalia's Uncle Fred's restaurant, The Westboro House.  Tia Marina, also a birthday girl, had flown in from San Francisco and she patiently cleaned all the tomato sauce off the ravioli so that Amalia would eat it.

Next day Amalia got dressed for the party with all her required accessories: party dress, "I am 4" badge, pink magic wand... crazy straw?

 

When everybody started coming, Tia Marina, wearing her own birthday tiara, convinced Amalia to put on her bathing suit and jump in the pool.

When it was piñata time Amalia got to take the first whack at the Doc McStuffins piñata because she was the youngest.  But a boy who was older finally broke it open.

Then it was time for the cake--carrot cake from Yummy Mummy in Westboro, with a mermaid on it.

Papi and Papou lit the candles.

And Mommy lifted Amalia so she could blow them out.

Then everybody sat around the pool, eating, and Yiayia held Nicolas.

The older Greek folks stayed inside the rec. room where it was cooler.  Then they all had Greek coffee and Nick's sister Kanta read fortunes in the coffee grounds.

They all loved holding Nicolas, because he smiles at everybody. 

Here he is with his Mommy's godmother, Kiki Economou.

"The goodie bags come at the end," Amalia informed her grandmother.  Here she is checking out the loot in her goodie bag with her Papi.

"It was even better than last year's party!" Amalia told her Grandma.  "Because it was so beautiful."

Then  she went back to Manhattan with her family to get ready for her SECOND 4-years-old birthday party to be held on Sunday in Central Park!