How to Make Mushroom Decorations for a Fairy (or Super Mario) Party

My daughter turned six this past weekend, and she asked for a fairy party at home. It was great fun, and I'll post more about our decorations and games later this week. One of my favorite decorations was a cluster of red and white mushrooms in the yard. While they were easy to make, I thought I'd share what I learned to make it simpler for anyone else looking to make decorations for their Enchanted Garden, Pixie Hollow, or even a Super Mario Bros. party.

What You'll Need:
- Bowls of various sizes
- Red Tissue Paper
- Plain white paper
- Tape
- Empty bottles and cans of various sizes, for the stems
- Scissors

I originally planned to make the caps out of Papier-mache, but once I started making them, I realized I wouldn't need the bowls during the party, and I could use them for the caps. I covered them with red tissue paper, and my daughter helped cut out the circles and tape them to the caps.

I used several empty drink bottles for stems. The Lifewater bottles have nearly straight sides, so they make good stems. To make a tall, narrow stem, I glued two of their tops together, stacked on on another with the top one upside down. I filled the bottom one with water for stability, then covered them both with white paper. For the shorter stems, I just added water to the bottle and covered it in white paper.

I also used a couple of empty cans for stems: a large canned vegetable can and an empty coffee tin. These worked great for the larger mushrooms, and they were stable enough on their own that I didn't need to weigh them down.

Here are the finished mushrooms! Very cute, a cinch to clean up, and so much easier than papier-mache!