Looking for a fun and very creative way to occupy children (and adults) at a party or play date? How about making darling little elf and fairy houses? Whether you want to believe in the little enchanted creatures or not, these houses are fun to build.

I have to admit the original idea came from this lovely party store, Acme Party Box Company in Palo Alto, CA. I was browsing there one day looking for woodland decorations and party supplies. I don’t recall exactly how the fairy house discussion started but one of the owner’s, Lisa, showed me an example of a fairy house and I was sold! It was so cute. A small cardboard “upside down V” frame glued to a flat cardboard piece covered in sticks, moss, acorns and tiny pebbles making it look like an adorable woodland fairy house. She told me they could get the supplies together for me, including the cardboard structures. Done! We had our party craft! My original plan was to have the kids paint terra cotta planters at the beginning of the party and then pick and plant plants before they left. But let’s face it, fairy houses are way more interesting! Note that older kids can likely do without the cardboard structure and go more freeform with a simple base.

Over the following couple weeks I decided to amp up the construction supplies. I wanted to add more color and fell in love with some felted toadstools I found at Feltville, another Etsy site. I also added a variety of colors of moss, mini-pumpkins and hemlock cones from Teresa’s Plants & More, an Etsy Shop and multi colored pom poms, like these from Amazon. We added to the sticks and bark from Acme with items we found in our own yard like pinecones. The final addition were these small wood ladybug stickers my daughter had gotten on a trip to Vancouver Island last summer – I was glad to finally have a good use for them (normally they are strewn on the floor waiting to be cleaned up or just sitting in a cabinet). You can get them through Amazon.

Given the little hands that would be working on these, I purchased a bunch of smaller glues so we had enough for everyone. They have been handy to have for future group projects as well (we just refill them from larger containers). You can purchase them on Amazon. If you have older kids working on this, a glue gun would make it easier to be more creative and would dry faster.

To make it even more fun, I had a custom sign made for the table (as seen in the first photo above)! Check out Deep Blue Sea Designs on Etsy if you’d like one too.

Everyone one, young and old, loved the craft. The kids, boys and girls, were very engaged in their creations with eager parents assisting. And each house turned out just darling! I highly recommend your doing something similar if it works with your next party theme! Perfect for an afternoon play date as well.

A few tips:

Set everything out on a table so it is like a buffet for the kids, with similar items in multiple spots so everyone has easy access. I used some plastic cups to hold sticks and got some clear food containers from Whole Foods to hold small items like the pom poms and acorns. Make it look nice and it’ll be lovely décor as well.
Be sure to have a protective layer on your table. I taped large sheets of light green craft paper to our table, which was benches put together.
If you have young kids, be sure to make or buy the cardboard frames so they have a structure to work with. Older kids can probably just build on flat cardboard.
Get smaller glue containers for small hands. While the 1.25 oz glues cost the same as their larger counterparts, it is worth it. They are much easier for little hands to use. And if your kid loves crafts s much as mine, you’ll have many future group crafting opportunities to use them again. Or pass them along to another family for one of their parties.
Leave a marker out for parents to write their child’s name on their house.
If I had had more time I would have painted the frames green to make them a nicer base, but I doubt anyone would ever have that much time.

Shopping guide:

Pom poms from Amazon
Moss, mini pumpkins, hemlock pinecones and other great tiny items at Teresa's Plants and More
Little ladybuys from Amazon
Custom Construction sign from Deep Blue Sea
Felt mushrooms from Feltville
1.25 oz glue from Amazon

If you would like us to create a kit for you including everything you'd need to host this craft just reach out to us to discuss.

Want inspiration for an entire party/play date theme? Check out our Enchanted Woodland Party theme!