For my entire life my mother has always tried to fill my siblings and my life with a sense of wonder and magic. From taking us up to the renaissance faire in the summer, bringing us to Medieval Times dinner and tournament, or just simply reading us fairy tales, she always did her best to inspire the creative and imaginative sides of us. My favorite tradition she ever started falls on the 21st of June this year. It's the day of the summer solstice! A day when the veil between our realm and the realm of the fae are the thinnest allowing for the two worlds to merge.
Bathing the warm glow of the sun the fae dance, sing, party, and make mischief. The party lasts well into the night and as any good party has, the fairies need a good variety of snacks and drinks. This is where my mother comes in again. She sat us down and told us the tale of the fairies. How on the summer solstice, the day of the year with the longest amount of sunlight, the fae would all come out of there houses and hiding spots in the backyard. Adorned in dresses of flower petals or suits made of leaves they would gather. The tiny band would start to play as couples danced around the yard. sparkling as they twirled around. They would break away to play games or to take care of their pet ladybug, bubble bee, or lightning bug. And at some point during the night they all sat down to a feast.
My mother came up with the brilliant idea to prepare the feast for them. After all they have worked hard for us helping to keep the plants in bloom and the spiders away from the house. My siblings and I were always more then willing to comply, after all according to our mother as a thank you for the feast they would leave us a small gift, and what child doesn't like presents.
Everything needed for the feast is probably already in your house.
- Aluminum foil
- Quarters (or various coins for plates)
- A few pieces of paper
- Markers, Crayons, or colored pencils
- A cookie sheet or serving platter
- various small snacks
- water (or drink of choice)
- small decorations of your choosing
- glitter (optional)
To start off with have your child color a picture for the fae to use as a place mat. It helps a lot during cleanup to have something covering the cookie sheet. I did a quick drawing of a few fairy size place mats in a field of flowers, but anything goes have fun with it! If you've got more than one child you can either separate the one piece of paper into sections or have each child make their own feast for the fae.
Next take the tinfoil and cut it into small approx 1 inch squares. You will need twice as many squares as you have coins. For the plates simply wrap the coins in the tinfoil. As a child I was always a perfectionist and I needed to get the foil as smooth as possible. Arrange them on the platter
To make cups place the center of a tinfoil square on a finger and wrap the foil around yours or your childs finger. make sure to press the base flat so the cup will sit up without tipping over. Set one cup by each plate on the platter. This step definitely works better with smaller fingers. Try to make sure the cups are secure as you will be filling them with liquid a little later.
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| A finished place setting. |
Now comes the fun part. Have your child pick out a variety of snacks for your fairies friends to enjoy. My siblings and I usually picked a few different types of cereal, cookies, fruit snacks, sprinkles, or even little pieces of fruit. Make sure to slice up the treats after all fairies are very tiny.
Place your chosen treats onto the plates, then fill the tiny gobblets with a little bit of your drink of choice. I would stick to water or juice, as the tray is going to be sitting out all night and something like milk may not smell so nice in the morning. I found it easy to use the spoon to fill the tiny gobblets.
As you can see from the pictures some spilling or leaking is going to happen. The fae understand that they're tiny and we are kind of big and clumsy creatures. They don't mind in slightest if the picture you drew gets a little wet or if the food is a little soggy. It's all the same to them. :)
Move the whole tray outside if weather permits, and decorate the tray with any other little things you want. I chose to put two nice little tea lights out there so they had light to eat by, although it was about noon when I took the pictures so I didn't light them yet, I added a few flowers and a cute little gnome for them to play to play with. Be creative as you want to be! You can make napkins, you can use dollhouse furniture any thing you desire to add, go for it! The hard part is falling asleep knowing that right out in your backyard fairies are dancing the night away, hopefully they wont be too loud. ^^
**The Following Is For Parents Eyes Only**
You can either wait until morning before the children wake up or do this next part after they have fallen asleep. Go ahead and gobble up (or throw away) the little snacks and drinks you left for the fae. Make sure to leave some crumbs after all the fae are tiny they can't eat all the food. Plus they're a little clumsy as well knock a cup or two over and spill the water. move the plates and cups around, make everything a little askew to look like it was used. sprinkle the glitter over the tray.
As a kid the best part of throwing the party for the fae was always that a new small toy of some sort was sitting near the party we made as a thank you from the fairies. Cleanup is so simple all you need to do it unwrap the change from the tinfoil then scrape the whole tray off into the garbage. Wash the tray you're finished.
This was such an amazing part of my childhood, and a tradition that I hope will last for generations to come. I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as I have. If you make your own Summer Solstice Fairy Party please be sure to take pictures and share them with me. I would love to see them!
