Building Houses in Western MA: for Fairies!

I happen to have extensive new construction experience in Western Massachusetts, including managing the marketing of new construction subdivisions in Westfield and working as General Contractor and assistant to the carpenter on one of my own homes. I was glad of this experience when my daughters and I decided to build fairy houses this past weekend.

Inspired by a new Tinkerbell movie in which a little girl creates a fairy home and manages to capture Tink, my girls and I embarked on a creative adventure to build our own fairy houses.

Using cardboard boxes we fashioned the house and roofing, cutting open a door. We then went foraging in the woods for items that a fairy might enjoy, such as pine cones, birch bark, twigs, leaves, grasses and acorn tops. Using these items we created tables, chairs, beds, curtains and even a hat stand!

Once created the houses were placed in the garden and entry welcome stones were added along with bridges over tiny moats. All told my girls spent hours on the project and were very intent upon making their homes just right for the fairies that might stumble upon them.

The day after placing the houses in the garden the girls went outside right after breakfast to see if fairies had visited. An animal or even the wind had managed to knock a few things about and my girls took it as a sign of the houses being occupied. I decided to play along with their joy over the visit and last night added “pixie dust” (glitter) to the houses to infer that a fairy had shaken the dust off their wings when they entered.

The girls are now totally convinced in the existence of fairies (hey, they COULD be real) and I did a bit of asking about to see what people thought fairies would like in their homes or leave behind.

A close friend researched it for me and came up with the fact that fairies do not like iron. They love chocolate and sparkly things.

I think I will encourage the girls to leave an M & M in the houses to invite the fairies to visit further. I am still looking for suggestions as to what a visiting fairy might leave behind besides glitter….any ideas?

Now I am sure there will be a few of you that will think I am awful for fibbing to my daughters, but we are having so much fun and I want them to stay young for as long as possible. I feel magic all around me and am the first one to shout out “I do believe in fairies” when I watch Peter Pan. This project was a wonderful bonding event and a great chance for us all to be creative and share a wonderful story.

Edited to add:
Based on the recommendations of friends on Facebook and Lorri-Anne in the comments below I am fashioning a Christmas gift of books on Fairy Houses, field journals and garden statues for the girls.