6 Dollar Store Fairy Garden Ideas

My daughter’s latest obsession this year is Tinker Bell and all things fairy. I’m here for all the fairy fun! This year we decided to create our own little fairy garden in our flower bed. There are so many cute and fun ideas out there and DIY tutorials on how to make your own fairy houses. I was surprised at how many things I came across in my search for ideas. I wanted to find something that wouldn’t take a lot of time and was also cost-effective.

I got a little frustrated after looking at Walmart and Hobby Lobby and not coming across what I wanted. On a whim, I stopped by the Dollar Tree just to see what they might have…and I never looked anywhere else again. Seriously, the dollar store is your one-stop shop for all things fairy gardens! If you want to make your own fairy garden crafts or use something pre-made, look no further. These are the different houses and items we used from our local dollar store to make our fairy garden come to life.

1. Premade Fairy Houses

This is the simplest way to go about fairy garden houses. The Dollar Tree has a brand called “Fairy Garden” that has premade houses and cute little signs/figurines. The houses are SO cute! We have a flower house, cactus house, apple house, and tea kettle house. I also got some of the cute signs (some say “Welcome”, “Fairy Playground”, “Fairy Crossing”, etc.), and fairy figurines.

2. Wooden Birdhouses

The only downside with the premade fairy houses I mentioned above is that they don’t have a door that actually opens on the houses (something my daughter wanted so the fairies can go in the house). The dollar store also has wooden birdhouses for crafts. We bought one and painted/decorated it ourselves. We use ours as Vidia’s house (she is a wind/high flying fairy in the Tinker Bell movies) and hung it up on a clothesline we had in the garden. This is a fun and simple DIY craft idea, and your kids can personalize the fairy house to their liking.

3. Scent Warmers

We bought a couple of these scent warmers. They are already colored and have different shapes, which are essentially the house windows. They have a big opening that you can put stuff inside and decorate it how you like. You could spray paint them if you wanted to and put flowers or other items on top of them too.

4. Stones

The Dollar Tree has different colored stones you would use for décor or fishbowls. We got some blue and green ones and used them in the garden as fairy pathways leading to all the signs and houses.

5. Cat Bowl

You can’t have a fairy garden without a fairy pond for the water fairies! To create our fairy pond, we simply bought a little cat bowl at the dollar store and filled it with water and some stones (as dewdrops).

6. Garden Decor

We got a couple of windmills, some butterfly garden decor items that you stick in the dirt, a ladybug with a bell that we hung (to call the fairies), and a fun colorful garden stone about friendship to place in the dirt. You could get some garden lights for a little path too.

The sky is the limit when it comes to your imagination. There are so many cute items, and they’re all only $1 at Dollar Tree! We visit our fairy garden almost every day. All you need is faith, love, and pixie dust. Happy creating!

DIY Descendants Birthday Party

For my daughter’s 3rd birthday, I let her pick the party theme all by herself. She actually surprised me with her choice of wanting to do a Disney’s Descendants party. One day, when she was sick and slept with me at night, we watched “Descendants 3” because it was the only kid-friendly movie I had saved on the DVR in my room at the time. She loved the music and quickly became obsessed with it. So when she told me she wanted to do a Descendants birthday, I said, "Let’s do it!" Here are the fun things I came up with to make this theme come to life for her.

Photo Backdrop

Supplies You’ll Need:

• Purple, green & black tablecloths
  
• String
• Happy birthday sign
• Descendants logo, colored
• Tape

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Drape the purple, green, and black tablecloths over a string. I used a clothesline rope.
2. Hang the rope (with tablecloths) on the wall. I tied it in place around each wall.
3. Hang the happy birthday sign across the tablecloth backdrop. I taped it in place on the plastic tablecloths.
4. Hang the Descendants logo on the backdrop. I taped it in place with Scotch tape.

Photo Booth Props

Supplies You’ll Need:

• Prop sticks
• Purple, blue, black, and white construction paper
• Any Descendants-themed coloring pages you want to use
• Scissors
• Tape

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Cut out hair shapes for each Descendants character you want to use. I just eyeballed it. I used construction paper for ours. (Purple paper for Mal, Blue for Evie, etc.). If you have a printer, you could also print some and just color them in. I personally liked the construction paper because it is a bit thicker and sturdier.
2. Color in any Descendants color pages you want to use as props. We used a “Long Live Evil” logo that we have colored ahead of time.
3. Tape all pieces onto prop sticks, and now you have a nice handle to hold the hair in place for the photos.

Birthday Shirt

Supplies You’ll Need:

• White t-shirt
• Yellow, red, and purple fabric paint
• Paintbrush

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Paint a red apple (the Descendants logo) onto the white T-shirt and let it dry.
2. Paint the yellow edges around the logo and let it dry.
3. Paint a purple number (the age of your child) on the apple logo.

Cupcakes

Supplies You’ll Need:

• Cake mix
• Purple icing
• Sprinkles/cake decorations
• Candle

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Make cupcakes or use cake mix in cupcake shapes.
2. Cover the cupcakes with purple icing.
3. Cover the cupcakes with sprinkles. I used Descendants-like colors: green, purple, and blue.
4. Put a birthday candle on top of a cupcake.

Balloons

I blew up some purple and green balloons to tie into the Descendants theme colors. We also had a giant 3-balloon too.

Descendants Coloring Pages

I printed out some Descendants coloring pages and colored them in ahead of time. I hung them around the house and used them for other themed decorations.

I hope these ideas help to inspire you to throw your own Descendants party and have fun with it. Happy celebrating and creating!

Wrightsville Beach Getaway

Back in February, my husband and I decided to take a weekend trip for our anniversary. It was our first kid-free trip in a long time. We didn’t want to go too far, so we decided to drive to Wrightsville Beach near Wilmington, NC. It was our first time visiting, and it was so much fun! Even though it was the last weekend in February, it ended up being the perfect weekend to go. The weather was uncharacteristically in the 70s and sunny with blue skies. I get cold very easily, so it was still too cold to swim outside or lie out at the beach. However, it was perfect for walking along the beach and enjoying the hot tub.

Being February and still colder, we didn’t make a reservation ahead of time. We assumed the hotels would be nearly empty for that time of year. We stopped by the Shell Island Resort first. I was drawn there because each room is an ocean view and a suite with a kitchen. However, they were sold out for one of the nights we were staying. So we drove down the road a little to the Holiday Inn Resort and found a room there. They were sold out for the ocean view rooms. We had a room on the 6th floor with mostly a Harbor view, but we could still see the ocean from our room too. It was so nice getting to walk on our balcony and enjoy both views.

The Holiday Inn Resort was huge and had so many amenities! They had an indoor and outdoor pool, hot tubs, free parking, an on-site restaurant, an on-site bar, and it’s located right on the beach. They also have a fitness center, childcare room, gift shop, and playground. The restaurant has the same menu every day (with one set time for breakfast), but we were so surprised at how good it all was! Breakfast was amazing, as was dinner. We ate there for most of our meals because we didn’t want to leave the resort and the food was so good. They didn’t have the poolside bars open at the time we were there, but you could take drinks from the bar outside or up to your room.

On our first day in Wrightsville Beach, we drove along the main roadway to see everything it had to offer. It is a beautiful area! There are some small restaurants and shops along the road and many hotels/resorts. We tried to eat at one of the restaurants our last night there, but it was over an hour wait even for take-out, so we ended up not waiting. We were honestly surprised at how few restaurants and shops there were. It’s mostly houses and hotels along the beach. There is no boardwalk either. There is one little stretch you can walk where the pier is, but it’s along the parking lot, not the beach.

After driving, we got checked in and settled into our resort. We ate at the resort restaurant. I had pizza, which was amazing, and drinks. We hung around the hotel and took it easy the first night. The second day, we ate breakfast at the resort (which was again so amazing), then we took a walk along the beach down to the pier. It was a bit of a walk but fun and enjoyable too. We hung out around the pier for a while. The Johnnie Mercer Pier is the pier that Dawson’s Creek shot their opening credit sequence at, so I had a blast enjoying the area.

After the pier, we walked along the main roadway back to the resort just to get another look at the area on foot. We ate lunch at the resort restaurant and then spent the afternoon in the hot tub with drinks. It was a much-needed relaxing day. We spent the night exploring the resort grounds and then went out to Wilmington to get dinner.

We, unfortunately, both got food poisoning at dinner and were sick throughout the night. So our last night wasn’t the smoothest. The next morning we ate breakfast at the resort, checked out, and drove down to the pier. We walked along the pier during the daytime before heading back home. The pier is cool, but you do have to pay to walk out on it. I believe it was a couple of dollars each to do so.

All in all, our weekend getaway was so fun and a much-needed kid-free trip. Wrightsville Beach is a beautiful area, and the oceanfront resorts are gorgeous! If you ever get a chance to visit, you should. We’re hoping to take the kids down for another weekend together as a family. The whole area seems very family-friendly. There is so much to see and do if you stay at one of the resorts. There’s nothing better than some good family fun in the sun!