To celebrate the start of the school year, my daughters Stella (6) and Hazel (5) recently had a few friends over for an extra special play date. My girls love dressing up and reading stories, so this fairy tale themed playdate was right up their alley! We brought their play tables and chairs into our living room, added a cardboard castle playhouse, and created a special reading nook with a princess canopy tent. The playdate guests arrived in their favorite dress-up clothes, and spent the afternoon crafting crowns, making their own fairy tale books, and sipping special drinks out of goblets!
Since we had a few sit-down crafts planned, we moved Stella and Hazel's two play tables into the center of the room and ran a pink chevron runner down the middle of them to connect them together. There was a fairy tale sticker scene and a set of mini markers waiting for each child, along with bowls filled with princess foam stickers and colorful adhesive jewels. 
Everyone was excited to get down to crafting when they arrived! 
The cardboard color-your-own castle was a fun addition to the fairy tale theme. We decorated it with pom-poms and flags before the party and set out markers and stickers for the guests to add their own creative touch to the castle. 
I decorated some shelves in our living room with princess tiaras, gold crowns, and mini star wands and strung a bit of gold pennant banner. I covered the console table with sparkly gold sequined fabric and used it as a table to hold the goblets and craft supplies. 
The kids really felt like royalty getting to drink their rainbow pop rocks floats from these medieval goblets! 
We had these cute princess crown lollipops as another treat for our friends. 
Stella wore a regal queen purple gown and Hazel wore this sweet pink princess costume! The kids also got to wear foam tiaras they decorated themselves with the stickers and jewels. 
Our last activity was to make our fairy tale books. The kids got to decorate a nice hardbound book to take home with them and finish writing their own story. Find all the details of how we made them here! 
My favorite part of the play date was this simple reading nook I created using the princess pink canopy tent. I rounded up the girls' pillows and bean bags and layered them underneath. 
It was so sweet to see the kids nestled in this cozy spot reading outloud to each other. A fun way to end a very magical playdate! 
If you'd like to plan your own fairy tale playdate, don't miss the tutorials for the pom-pom decorated castle, make-your-own story books, and rainbow pop rocks floats!
