Lilli is hopping excitedly up and down in the front garden. Again and again she looks at the street … but there’s still no one to be seen. Lilli is longing for her guests, because today she is celebrating her fifth birthday. Last week she invited her friends from kindergarten to a fairy party and she is very pleased that Imke, Elise, Mali, Milla and Felicitas are available and can all come.
“Lilli, please come in now, we still have a few things to prepare. And you’re wearing your costume but you haven’t got a jacket on!”, her Mum calls for the third time. Lilli sighs and runs into the house. “But Mum, I want to welcome all the guests.” “You may do that, but only once they’re here. And that’ll still be half an hour. Until then you can help me lay the table. You were going to put the napkins on the plates and decorate the table with the paper flowers, weren’t you?” “Oh yes, I almost forgot,” admits Lilli as she goes with her Mum into the living room.
Mum puts plates on the table and Lilli places a napkin with colourful flowers on each friend’s plate. When the cups, cake forks, the jug of juice and bottles of water are also on the table, Mum brings the birthday cake: it is shaped like a beautiful flower and decorated with colourful sugar beads. “There, now your fairy table is ready,” she says to Lilli and places the birthday train with five candles at Lilli’s place as the doorbell rings.
“Hooray, it’s starting!”, Lilli cheers, runs to the door and flings it open. Imke and Mali are standing there, and behind them Elise and Felicitas are just running up the path to the house. The girls say a quick goodbye to their parents and go into the living room with Lilli. All the friends have dressed up as fairies, just like her. Together they admire the nicely set table and the birthday cake when Milla rings the doorbell. Mum accompanies her into the living room: “Now that everyone is here, you can begin opening the presents,” she says to Lilli. The girls sit in a circle on the floor and watch what comes out of the brightly wrapped parcels: a book, a DVD, a craft set, a game and a puzzle. Lilli is pleased that the gifts are so different.
Then everyone sits down at the table and eats a piece of cake. Lilli’s Dad and her brother Steven look into the living room. “Oh, I’ve never seen so many pretty fairies,” says Dad, laughing. Steven only shakes his head. He’s just come from a football match and his hair is completely messed up. “Steven, you’re going to have a shower first while the girls play a few games, and then you’ll help with the fairy treasure hunt as promised, okay?” says Mum. “But I have to eat something first. You’d better give me the rest of the cake,” he says. Mum looks at Steven sternly and gives him a slice of cake. “You’ll get exactly as much as everyone else,” she says. Now Lilli shakes her head and grins. She knows her brother always pretends he’s starving.
The girls play various fun fairy birthday games and have lots of fun. Then everyone puts their jackets on and sets off on the fairy treasure hunt: “Imagine,” Mum says, “the dwarves stole your fairy treasure because it sparkles so nicely. Of course you want to get it back. Luckily the dwarves weren’t paying very good attention and on the way to the dwarf village a star or a shiny ribbon kept falling out of the treasure chest. So you need to keep your eyes wide open so you can follow them and find the treasure.” The girls are excited. Lilli knows that Steven and Dad have prepared a route for the treasure hunt … but she doesn’t know where it leads. So, like her friends, she keeps a lookout for the clues. “There’s a pink ribbon on the lamppost up ahead!”, Milla shouts. The girls run over and next see a yellow star chalked further along on the pavement. “And there’s the next clue!”, Mali calls, pointing at the star. The girls follow the clues criss-cross through the whole residential area … and at the end arrive at the playground. There stand Steven and Dad grinning. “Right, you clever fairies, have a good search for your treasure. In our dwarf village there are lots of really good hiding places. I’m curious whether you’ll manage it,” Steven says to the girls. And it is indeed really hard. Lilli and her friends spread out across the playground and look under every bush, behind every piece of equipment and in every playhouse. “Have you found anything yet?”, Lilli calls to Mali and Imke, who are just coming out from behind a small hedge. The two shake their heads. Lilli turns to the bushes she was just about to search beneath and there she really sees something shimmering through the green leaves. “I think I’ve found the treasure!”, she cries, parting the branches: Sure enough, right at the back by the fence is a box covered in glitter foil. Imke and Mali are the first to reach her, but Elise, Felicitas and Milla run over too. Together they lift the lid and look inside: they find six little boxes, various glitter pens, shimmering stickers, different decorative stones and colourful shiny paper. “Well done, you fairies, you really showed those two dwarves!” says Mum, taking the box from Lilli. “Now we’ll go home and then each of you can decorate your own little treasure box. Agreed?” The girls are delighted and set off. “See how clever we fairies are,” Felicitas says to Steven as they leave the playground. “Exactly!” Lilli says. “We fairies are the cleverest of all!” “Yeah, yeah!” sighs Steven and trudges behind the girls. “Don’t worry. The main thing is that the girls have fun. And we’ll throw you a football party, okay?” suggests Dad.
Unfortunately the afternoon goes by far too quickly and the friends are already being picked up. Of course each girl can take her little treasure box home. “At home I’ll put all my treasures in there straight away. I have lots of lovely stones and shells from the last holiday,” Elise tells Lilli and gives her a hug goodbye. “That’s a great idea, I’ll do that too,” says Lilli. “And then we can compare our treasures,” she suggests to her friend. “But totally secret,” says Elise, “so the wicked dwarves don’t get any silly ideas again!” Lilli has to giggle and glances at Steven and Dad, who are sitting on the sofa. “Well, they’re not real dwarves, but those two do get silly ideas quite often!”, she says laughing and is happy about the lovely birthday party.
If you feel like it, you can play the story with the Little Friends dolls or even Invitations for the next birthday party create. For this there are Little Friends invitation cards available to download and print.
