1. Is your kid the most?
☑︎ Yes
☐ No
2. Do you have unlimited money to buy four sets of party decor when your kid wants the most?
☐ Yes
☑︎ No
Welcome!
Clara turned six and asked for a Unicorn Mermaid Fairy Magic birthday party. Going for it all - I respect the move.
I decorated with none of those things.
Instead, I bought decor I could repurpose for other celebrations and crafted a scavenger hunt that provided the party theme, the main activity, and the party favors. Four themes in one hunt that provided three key party elements!
It was magical. Watching them move through the hunt with wonder and excitement and be gifted with the magic of all three mystical beings was joyful and moving.
Here's the step-by-step, along with what to buy to do it yourself. As far as amounts, we had 15 kids attend. I had enough for 18 kids to have a full set of items, and it turned out to be great that there was a little buffer, because we had backups for when a few kiddos lost track of something along the way.
Unicorn Mermaid Fairy Scavenger Hunt
Several days to several weeks/months before, occasionally leave some seashells around for your kid to discover.
If you have access to free shells, great, but we're landlocked here in Nashville, so I bought these:
At the start of the hunt, I gathered the kiddos and told them I'd just received a basket and a message. This was the special message:
Dearest Friends,We are the Mermaids of Coral Hollow, and we have been waiting for the arrival of this special day. Clara, you may have noticed our seashells in your yard. We have been expecting you. Each of you, take a bag. You will need them. Our fairy and unicorn friends have asked us to join with them on this day of celebration to give you all a special gift - our magic! Follow the clues in the message we have just sent to Clara’s mama’s phone. Good luck, and may the magic in your heart guide you!
Love,
The Mermaids of Coral HollowNow go!
The kids were off!
Here are the mermaid bags:
24 Pack of Mermaid Bags - see most recent price on Amazon ( ✓prime One-Day)
Something I appreciated about these bags is that the range of colors was really rich - if you want flashy, that's there for you. If you want understated, that's there for you too. As understated as sequins get, that is. My son loved the brown one. Another thing I appreciated was that there wasn't a little silica gel packet I had to fish out of each one before we began.
The message that the mermaids sent to my phone was just an album of photos I had taken of the hiding places. I showed them a photo, they went off to find that spot, then when the items were found, I showed them the next photo.
At each stop, they found a small organza bag of "fairy tears." Sometimes people call them fairy stones or fairy rocks. The general gist is that fairies leave them in special places for special children to find. They're the flat glass marbles that people use as vase filler. I bought these:
Flat Glass Marbles - see most recent price on Amazon ( ✓prime)
And here are the organza bags:
Organza Bags - see most recent price on Amazon ( ✓prime)
I filled each organza bag with a little more than enough so that each kiddo would get one. I didn't want the hunt to degrade into mutiny and bloodshed, so I put only one single color in each bag so that we could move through the hunt without any moments of conflict over who got what color at each hiding spot.
At the first stop, I included this message:
Each child shall take 1 fairy tear and place it in their mermaid bag.
I only included four fairy tear hiding spots in the hunt, but if you want to do more and think that the kids will stay in it, go for it.
The final hiding spot included a basket of unicorn horns, wands, and this special message:
Congratulations on finding your magical items!
Here are your instructions: Put on your unicorn horns and decorate your wands. Gather on the back deck with your wands to activate your magic. Wait for Clara’s mama to count 1-2-3, and all together, you will say the magic word - Alacazam.
My friends, your magic awaits! Go!
The basket contained these unicorn horn headbands and this set of you-decorate-it wooden wands.
Unicorn Horns, 18 pack - see most recent price on Amazon ( ✓prime)
The kiddos headed to a table with art supplies. I'd say keep the supplies fairly limited because you want them to make their decisions quickly and easily so that the wand decorating finishes up without bringing the momentum of the hunt to a halt. Put out enough to avoid war and bloodshed over supplies but not so much that they linger so long that they get hungry and lay waste to entire lands - if you're a parent, you will know what this means! We included the sticky jewels and ribbons that came with the kit and Clara's pile of crayons and markers. That's it.
Once all the wands wands had been decorated, the kiddos gathered on the back deck - you'll need to do some light corralling. Under the deck, four parents were hiding with these confetti cannons:
Yes, there was confetti all over my yard and I didn't care. If you don't want that, these exist: Water-Soluble Rice Paper Confetti Cannons. The confetti is made of rice paper and will dissolve with the first rain (or your hose). I didn't buy them, so I can't vouch for them, but it looks like a good idea. I just wanted the brighter colors that come with the cannons that I bought.
However you use your space, remember - the important thing is that the cannons be shot from out of sight and away from the kiddos and other people.
And this was the magical moment! I counted to three, the kids all cast out their wands with an alacazam, and they made their magic!
Now it lives in their memories and in their imaginative play. I have heard that The Mermaids of Coral Hollow frequently appear at home and on playdates. I'm excited to see what mythologies they make around them.
Feel free to customize this hunt for your family and friends, and please tag me on Instagram (@mizzbrooketansley) if Instagram is something you do - I'd love to see yours!
Here is the decor I purchased that I feel I can repurpose into other celebrations or uses. Note that I'm not linking the bunting, and that's because I can't recommend the one that I bought. Did I get hundreds of feet of bunting for cheap? Yes. Was it falling apart as I opened the package? Yes. I would do bunting again, but next time I'll spend a little more to get something more resilient.
Rainbow curtains: see most recent price on Amazon ( ✓prime)
I love the rainbow curtains. It comes in fourteen different colors and five different sizes, so you get what you like and what fits. It came with little extras, was wonderfully sparkly, and gave us a moment right after the hunt was over for parents to grab a group photo of all of the kiddos.
And coming soon, The Mermaids of Coral Hollow book! It can accompany your hunt as a gift to your birthday kiddo - keeping the magic, imagination, and memories fresh and alive. Here's a sneak peek of the art:
Follow me via any of the social media accounts you fancy (icons are on the top left of this page) or sign up for the newsletter (on this site's homepage) to know when it's released!
If you would like to see the video my incredible bestie made of the day, here it is!