A Sweet Flower Garden-Themed Birthday Party for Kids
Hello! In another post, I shared how we like to keep birthdays simple — but this one’s all about what we actual got up to and how we planned the morning.
This was for Heppy’s 7th birthday, and this year we went with a loose flower garden theme. We wanted something homely, playful, and creative, with different stations set up around the downstairs space for the kids to explore at their own pace.
Here’s what we had going on:
Flower Fairy Playdough – I made two big batches of homemade playdough using [this recipe] and dyed it with some food colouring I had left over from the cake. I added lavender and some dried petals I already had. We set it all up outside in a tuff tray with loads of cutters and stamps, and the girls played with it for ages!
Hair Braiding – Heppy specifically asked for one of my friends — whose daughter was also at the party — to come and do braiding, because she knows she’s great at it. It was really simple and didn’t need anything extra, there was lots of happy girls!
Hair Tinsel – This was such fun! I found a big pack of hair tinsel in a charity shop and still have so much left — let me know if anyone needs some for a party! They’re basically tiny sparkly strands you bond to the hair with a little bead. A friend’s daughter came and helped with this. Heppy only had a few in (me too!), and they looked really special. Heppys are still going strong, but you can take them out earlier if you want to.
Nail Painting – Heppy has a little collection of nail polishes, so she laid them out for her friends to use. We’ve got a mix of brands we like and know are less toxic: Rex London, Manucurist, and my favourite Namaki.
Potion Making / Flower Garden Free Play – We set out bowls of petals, herbs, coloured water, and jars for some imaginative potion mixing. Leading up to the party, we’d dried out lots of petals, which we then mixed into bowls of coloured water. We added ladles, spoons, funnels, and extra bowls for mixing and pouring. A friend had given us a stash of small potion bottles (little bottles from something she’d ordered) with labels so that the kids could name their creations. We also made ice cubes with petals frozen inside for them to drop in — they loved it!
Necklace Making – Instead of party bags, each child got to make and take home a necklace. I ordered little glass bottles from eBay (I couldn’t find any on FB marketplace or vinted but it’s worth a look) and found small gemstones on Vinted that would fit inside. The kids added gems, glitter (if they wanted), and dried rose petals, then we tied them up with string to wear as necklaces. You can see a photo here.
On-theme Playmobil – And finally a friend lent us a Flower Fairy Playmobil set, which we set up to one side for anyone wanting some calmer, open-ended play.
We set the party between 10.30-1.30 and we had lunch around 11.45. The time went very fast and all the activities were affordable but so loved. My only cost was the hair strands from the charity shop, the bottles for them to make necklaces and things to put inside as well as the food. Using what I had, I reckon I spent around £45 altogether.
We wanted it to feel like some friends were popping over for a play. Expectations were low and they had so much fun!
