Dear Sugar: DIY Diverse Fairy Garden

Dear Sugar:

I'm a bit behind on the fairy garden trend...and pretty much all trends. Because I'm a mom of four, and trendy really isn't a word I'd use to describe myself.   (If the top knot and ripped jeans ever go out of style, I'm out of luck.)  

Recently I gave my screened-in porch a makeover.  (Thanks to all of you who gave me suggestions on Insta and Facebook!  I have the BEST followers.).   We strung new patio lights, got a brand new rug, splurged on a wicker sofa (and fun throw pillows), and an accent table.  (I told the kids, that's mommy's sofa.  GOT IT?)  I kept our round table and four chairs, because my kids like eating snacks and doing their art on the porch.  

The table looked so bare, but I didn't want to put anything breakable, tall, or alive (think, no plants, please) on it.   I wanted something attractive, but also child-friendly.   Then it dawned on me, why not create a fairy garden?  

This seemed easy enough, until I sat down one evening to order fairies.  Of course, I was determined to find fairies with brown skin and black curly hair.  Guess what I turned up?   NOTHING.   Nothing affordable and adorable.   Nothing that was the right size and material.  In a tizzy, I went to Michael's that evening:  and all the fairies were female and pasty-white.  (Insert eye roll.)  I then vowed to think of a new table decoration because fairy gardens suck.  Dramatic?  Uh, yeah.  A bit.  

The next day I decided to search Etsy one more time, because Etsy is bae, and then I swear I heard the Hallelujah chorus and a light shined down from heaven.  There they were:  adorable, kid-friendly, Black child fairies.  And not just girl fairies, but boy fairies too!   

Fast forward to today:  we have a gorgeous fairy garden on our table, completing our porch makeover!   So I'm here to tell you how we did it so you can create something similar for your space. 

DIY Diverse Fairy Garden  

1:  Find a container (or a place).

My mom's fairy garden is in her yard.  But we live on property that has loads of wildlife (think turkeys, groundhogs, deer, and fox).  I didn't want my beautiful creation to get destroyed, dug around, or eaten.    And I have zero desire to have live plants in my fairy garden, so I skipped a container that drains.  Instead, I stumbled upon a super cool wooden container at Home Goods for $25.  They had many options available. Make sure if you get a container, it's shallow and large in diameter/size so it's friendly for playing. 

2:  Buy or find filler.
I nabbed these sparkly white rocks at our dollar store.  Six bags adequately covered the bottom of our container.  Bonus: it is also fairly heavy, so there's no knocking the container off the table accidentally.  The white offers a nice contrast to the container color and cost just $1 a bag.  Then I got blue/green smooth rocks for the "river," also just $1.

3:  Order your fairies.  

Here's the MOST fun part of this process.   The fairies from MyPrettyPeggy are customizeable.  Yes, you read that correctly.   Boy or girl? Mermaid or fairy?  Have another idea?  Just message the owner and let her create your vision! 

The fairies are small enough to be in the fairy garden, but not so small that they get lost among your garden's other accessories. As you can see in my pics, she created gorgeous, detailed fairies for each of my kids:  a pink and flowery fairy for my oldest, a teal and more simple fairy for my second daughter, a firefighter fairy for my son, and a yellow fairy for my baby.   The detail on these fairies is so incredible!  

My Pretty Peggy is offering my readers 15% off their order with the coupon code SUGAR15.  

4:  Accessorize.

I felt that our garden needed a fairy house.  I love this one because the little door opens!   

I also ordered a variety of small accessories so the kids could arrange and rearrange.   

If you're like me and have zero interest in keeping things alive, fake succulents and little plants are everywhere these days.  

Now I know there are fairy garden accessories everywhere (Michael's, fabric stores, etc.) right now, but I found that Amazon had awesome variety and prices, and honestly, who can pass up fast and free shipping (no taking all your kids to the store)? 

5:  Open up the garden for play!

If you want to make the fairy garden opening extra special, here are a few fairy books and an activity suggestions.  Notice the brown fairy girls on the two books and game?  



-This post contains Amazon affiliate links.